Ask A Professional: Leading When Times Are Hard: Lessons From a Pandemic

Leading When Times Are Hard Lessons From a Pandemic

No doubt you’re bored of reading about COVID-19 and just want to move on and get your business back up and running. I understand. There are, however, some important lessons to learn from the pandemic, which we would be remiss to ignore. They could be the ticket to a more sustainable way of working and the long-term survival of your business.

There was no blueprint for dealing and surviving the last six months. We’ve had to learn to respond quickly to an unknown environment; one which has provoked responses from panic to apathy, fear to denial. Leaders have had to support employees who’ve been dealing with a very challenging and complex situation. Frustrations have been mounting from every angle; parents trying to juggle daycare and school, employees worried about the health of loved ones, the list goes on. With all that’s going on, it’s not difficult to see a challenge for leaders–how do you keep employees motivated at a time of so much distraction and low energy?

While we can’t change what’s going on in the world, I’ve seen leaders transform their situations and find opportunities amid the chaos by applying some important principles. It’s all about building the character employees want from the best leaders. The tips below are based on the work of Anna Maravelas, Founder of Thera Rising International. She lives by a simple principle: How you react to the frustrations of our new reality will: define who you are as a leader, shape what people will say about you when you’re not in the room, and set the tone for the ever so important culture at your companies. 1) Employees Mirror Your Behavior. If you come to work voicing your displeasure for what’s going in the world, employees will follow your lead, or disconnect, if their view is different from yours. Try to focus on connecting with positive energy, perhaps by emphasizing what we can appreciate in these challenging times. As management consultant, Peter Drucker said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Having been in human resources for 15 years, I can vouch for this reality. It’s the root of so many issues. Employees need you to create an energy of appreciation in order to reinforce a positive culture. When they come to you to vent, don’t connect by taking the “negativity bait.” Instead, empathize with how they’re feeling, express appreciation for where they’re coming from, and pull together to find solutions.

2) Assume there are reasons underlying behavior then search for solutions.

Imagine you have an employee who frequently leaves early, negatively impacting the morale of the team. Do you look the

Crystal Hanson Owner, South Creek HR Fairmont

other way and chalk that up to John being John? Or do you address the issue, work to understand what may be going on, set expectations with the employee, and hold them accountable. The latter point is huge - there is no point in setting expectations if you don’t follow-up. You’ll see no change in their behavior. Especially at times like these, we must open the dialogue to understand what is driving undesirable behavior. There could be underlying challenges that the employee needs help to resolve. If we don’t ask, and make the person the problem, nothing will change. Step back and consider the likelihood that there’s a reason. Gather the facts so you can solve the actual underlying issue. By doing so, you’ll be amazed at how easy problem solving becomes. 3) Hold yourself to a high standard. The only thing we can change in the world is our behavior and our personal reactions are the most powerful way to build the culture we want to see in the workplace. When we change our behavior, we trigger a different reaction from employees. Going back to John, if we assume his personality is fixed, we might avoid interacting with him because we’re unsure how to proceed. However, if you avoid the issue, you risk harming the morale of the team and build resentment between team members, and perhaps even yourself and John. It can be the beginning of a vicious cycle as the employee sees the workplace as uncaring and unsympathetic. This is likely to result in a further decline in productivity and even more negativity. Also, nothing is solved. The only way to break these downward cycles is to look at how we’re behaving as leaders and consider how the outcome might improve if we simply resist the temptation to act on the knee-jerk, negative assumption we initially made.

Crystal Hanson supports local businesses with a variety of HR services and solutions. After a decade as an internal HR professional, Crystal founded South Creek HR in 2016 and became a licensed facilitator in Thera Rising’s popular seminar, “Drama-Free Work.”