RE-TOOLING IN THE MIDST OF CHAOS Don’t Forget the Not-So Obvious By: Sara Bradshaw Ray, CIC In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve all been working double-time to make sure we are meeting the needs of our teams, our families and our neighbors. In an environment of chaos, no one thinks clearly. Yet, in chaos, it’s easy to dial into the obvious “must haves” of the moment and lose sight of the necessary “must haves” to keeping our teams healthy and happy. Believe it or not, “The Science of Happiness” is a real thing and the lion’s share on which the Greater Good Science Center at Berkley focuses their research. They study psychology, sociology and the neuroscience of well-being, so they can teach skills for fostering a thriving, resilient and compassionate society. Through their research, they’ve discovered the four keys to happiness at work: purpose, engagement, resilience and kindness. This seems logical, but in the upside down world we live in right now, all of this looks completely different, or it should, in order to keep our teams healthy and effective in the work from home bubble.
“Trust me, the old “normal” will likely never exist again.”
PURPOSE
Our purpose is what gets us up in the morning and out to do what we do best. We’re not “out” anywhere right now, and when we get “out” again, it will likely look drastically different. Being able to define and see the results of being engaged in our purpose EVERYDAY is the fuel that drives what we do, yet in our current situation, can we still see if what we’re really doing is what we want to do? And what we’re doing is really meaningful to us and aligns with our core values? Are we really making a difference? Our teams need to be able to see this every day in order to maintain their purpose for life and their work – which boils down to happiness. The lack of direct contact with the impact of our efforts can deprive us of our purpose – so make sure you and your teams can see the daily impact of your purpose to keep the fires of our passion burning.
ENGAGEMENT
Zoom, Teams, Google Hangout and even FaceBook Live chats are becoming well-known household names. If we’re not using these amazing tools to truly connect with our teams in a very genuine, authentic way, we’ve missed the magic of the face-to-face interaction that’s critical to engagement. Even more than before, our contacts with our teams have to be at a more personal, vulnerable level because of the socially distanced microcosm we’re working and living in right now. As leaders we might have never extended ourselves before. This isn’t a put on your suit jacket, synch up your tie and sit at your laptop in gym shorts kind of gimmick though. This is truly leaning into our teams to work harder, maybe longer and certainly more personally than we’ve ever worked to inspire and authentically engage our people.
24 | Kentucky IA - Summer 2020
