Ready Or Not, Here I Come

Here’s what leaders can do to best prepare themselves

A year ago, just about every video conversation started with figuring out the world of remote work. Fast forward to today and just about every video call starts with conversations about figuring out how to return to work. Many suggestions focus on the physical and financial factors, but less emphasis is placed on the psychological factors. Businesses that don’t get ahead of the curve and equip their leaders to have a range of conversations are in for a rude awakening. Uncertainty, anxiety, and lack of control are the perfect storm to increase burnout and decrease productivity.

Returning to the workplace is both an employee and employer partnership that needs to have diversified and flexible approaches. In this article, we’ll focus on what leaders can do to best prepare themselves. Similar to the importance of following the science around safely returning to work physically, we need to follow the science related to leadership, growth, and influence.

Organizations will need to equip, empower, and engage leaders, so they can be ready for reopening. Businesses will only get one chance at the initial reopening process. Just like moving to the remote work process, people will remember the emotional experience and how they were treated.

A common mistake leaders make is they get out of balance on where they are focusing. Some leaders focus only on getting results and the business, while others are givers and only focus on supporting others. Then there are the ones who are too good at self-care and would put on your oxygen mask in addition to their own if there was an emergency on a plane. There is a business case for this balance. People who spend time helping others receive psychological and physical benefits.  A people-first leadership approach that starts with self-care and also includes taking care of your team, your business, and the greater good gives you the most return on your investment of time.

We have found in our research that women are better at reading what engages and motivates others than men. People with personalities that allow them to take charge regardless if they are the identified leader or subject matter expert are assets and can be powerful positive influencers. Alpha females are naturally inclined to buffer some of the dark sides of alpha personalities, such as being overly dominant, shutting people down, or being overly self-focused. By aligning with alpha females and engaging them to lead parts of the agreed-upon reopening process, you will increase the probability of a successful reopening.

Not much is certain about how reopening will go, but what is certain is that people will have a range of responses. The best thing leaders can do is prepare for as many possible situations and responses as possible. One effective approach is to have a diverse range of people identify all the possible conversations that may need to be had and plan how to respond to them.

Crises will happen again and again. The work of Tedeschi and Calhoun at UNC has taught us about Post-traumatic Growth. If we can take this concept and be proactive and build growth skills prior to the next event, we will be more able to not only remain resilient but also able to lead others through the event. It’s important to know where your strengths lie related to the foundational skills that allow people to grow through adversity. The Growth Through Adversity Survey is a way to understand where a leader’s strengths lie related to 11 growth skills that are found to predict growth following adversity and overall well-being.

What motivated people before Covid, may not be what motivates them now. Everyone’s life took on new responsibilities and complexities. One of the most inspiring leadership approaches is to meet people where they are and lead according to what drives them rather than what drives you. In his book, Human Motivation, Harvard psychologist David McClelland looked at social motives and what drives our behavior inside us. His work led to the development of motivational currency, which is a simple approach to reading and leading based on an appreciation of what drives each individual person. The core four motivators are Performance, People, Power, and Purpose. With fewer in-person interactions and more virtual interactions, it’s even more important to increase the probability of successfully influencing people by suspending your initial instinct and leading with intention.

No matter what the change, crisis, or complication, conversations are a leader’s greatest tool.

There is a natural flow to challenging conversations that starts with building a connection and leads the person toward some type of growth. Employees returning to work need to know that their leaders are on the same team and have a plan. Borrowing the Connect, Care, Challenge framework from Growth Consultants who help people grow through trauma is a simple approach based on research that any leader can master. Connect is about building a bond and paying attention to what is really important to a colleague. “Active listening” where someone just goes through a checklist of behaviors often backfires.

A leader needs to do better and focus on understanding and caring, which brings us to our next step, Care. Demonstrating Care by empathizing, using the same language that your colleague is, and offering support are critical to set up the next step, Challenge. Challenge is not about being confrontational. It is a kind way to try and help the person see growth, consider a different possibility, or take one positive step. It can be as simple as asking a question such as, “What have you learned about yourself?” or “How can you use this experience to help others in our organization?” The balance of Connect, Care, and Challenge demonstrates respect while creating forward movement.

While business leaders are not psychologists, they can be psychologically minded and master the art of meeting people where they are so they can help them get to where they need to go next. Returning to the workplace will have no shortage of anxiety and challenges. This is an experience that no leader has faced before, so why do we expect that doing what they have always done will work? Time to grow in the right direction together.