I was facilitating a Leadership Development workshop. Simone turned on her video and apologised for her low energy. She was feeling the impact of the heat, working from home, with no air conditioning. Even through the filter of ZOOM, I could see how drained she looked. Later, in a call with two friends also in Jamaica, they described the heat as being like a wall of hot air that hit you when you opened your front door – not a blast, but solid heat.
Growing up in Jamaica, heat was always a constant in my life. Seasons in the tropics are just variations of how hot it is, and we are finely tuned to the slightest of variations in temperature. Even so, this summer, people who live and work in the tropics find themselves feeling unprecedented high temperatures.
Soaring temperatures are a reality all over the world. And it affects us, our team and how we work. Therefore, it’s something that leaders have to deal with.
How heat impacts us at work:
- Our physical health – exposure to high temperatures may result in heat stress, exhaustion and even stroke. Dizziness fatigue, nausea and even loss of consciousness are some of the symptoms. Think about your team members travelling to work on public transport, having to walk to the workplace, or being on the road if their job requires it e.g. sales representatives doing sales calls.
- Reduce productivity – excessive heat can hinder team members’ ability to focus and concentrate, hence lower productivity, more errors and reduced efficiency. This will have an impact not just on their performance but on the overall team and organizational performance
- Emotional wellness – excessive heat makes us miserable! Living in Toronto, I experience great extremes of heat and cold. I can cope with the cold by layering and covering up, but there’s a limit to my ability to cope with excessive heat. Heat makes us physically uncomfortable, and this leads to us being emotionally stressed, and irritable.
- Mentally, coping with the heat is draining. It’s so frustrating to experience this new state, and the uncertainty of it all – will the temperatures rise even more? Is this really the beginning of the end for humans on the planet? The news is not good, and this is mentally draining for us all. How do we adapt, solve problems and make decisions in this state of uncertainty – and to some, doom and gloom?
So what’s a leader to do?
First, take care of yourself. Review the list of impacts above, and honestly determine if any of them apply to you. How and when are you exposed to the heat? How are you feeling? What’s working for you to keep yourself cool – physically, emotionally, mentally? Check out my 1-minute “cooling” audio meditation at the end of this blog.
Now to those you lead:
- Make the physical work environment comfortable – is the air conditioning working? If there is no A/C, can you provide fans, or open windows? Make sure your office has plants that are kept watered, as these will provide much-needed moisture and coolness.
- Consider flexible work hours, so that team members can come to work early in the day – or whatever suits them. And do discuss with them their home situation if they work from home – how can you help make them more comfortable there?
- Hydrate hydrate hydrate – provide easy access to water throughout the workplace. Please avoid bottled water, as this has a huge negative impact on the environment, and is a significant contributor to global warming. Good old water fountains work wonders, along with giving each team member their own refillable water canister.
- Dress codes – for some crazy reason, the dress code in many Caribbean offices is full suit and tie for men, stockings and long sleeves for women. Yes, in the tropics. I have never understood it. Time to review the dress code – and look to Africa for how they dress for the heat. They look beautiful and very professional.
- Inform and educate all team members about the impact of heat, how to mitigate and what to do in case of emergency.
- Be compassionate and caring – observe and enquire about your team members’ wellbeing, address their concerns and encourage them to do the same for each other.
We cannot change the weather conditions, but we can implement measures that help us all to cope. Remember that your customers are also feeling the impact of the heat, so please consider the above as well from their perspective. It’s your job as a leader to help everyone keep their cool, even when temperatures are skyrocketing.
Here’s my audio “cooling” meditation:
