4 tactics for successfully leading your team back to work

As the lockdown eases, and our economies “reopen”, what should leaders be considering?

I was speaking with a client earlier this week, getting updated on how his business was faring. He was very upbeat, as he usually is, and pointed to some of the silver linings coming from the tumult of the pandemic – staff expressing appreciation for their jobs, his leadership team collaborating better than ever, the agility of his team in proactively dealing with the drastic changes and his core business holding strong. We then moved to discussing the “reopening” of the economy, in which his employees would return to the workplace, and what this would mean for leaders like him.

The dangers that leaders must guard against is that when people return to work, they may do a big exhale: “it’s over” and return to pre-COVID behaviours. They will have been extremely stressed over the last few months and now be feeling burned out and weary – not the energy needed to execute the long, hard process of revitalising and growing the business.

My client and I discussed this, and I reminded him of one of my favourite books on leadership – “A Sense of Urgency” by John Kotter. Kotter speaks to the importance of a true sense of urgency in leading change. True urgency is not to be confused with false urgency demonstrated by the busy-ness of status quo activity. He posits that people with true urgency take action which is “alert, fast moving, focused externally on important issues, relentless and continuously purging irrelevant activities to provide time for the important and to prevent burnout”.

I believe his words are more relevant than ever, as we all navigate the unthinkable changes of the last few months, and to come. “We are moving from episodic to continuous change” he writes.

What’s a leader to do? How do you maintain the sense of urgency that was pervasive in the lockdown? How do you convert this to true urgency where “people want to come to work each day ready to cooperate energetically and responsively with intelligent initiatives from others”?

Kotter’s first tactic is to “bring the outside in by reconnecting reality with external opportunities and hazards”. The crisis is not over – indeed, it may yet be in its early days. This has to be your message to your team. In this spirit, here are 4 actions you can take, to “bring the outside in” as you move back to the workplace.

1. Encourage team members to speak to customers – find out what they are feeling, how they have been impacted and how they see their future. Make no assumptions about your customers. We really don’t know what behavioural changes are temporary for the pandemic or will be permanent. What they decide will impact your business. Make sure you hear it from them, before your competition does!
2. Whilst no-one knows what the recovery will look like, it is helpful to share what you know. What are economists, social scientists, industry leaders, your government, projecting? Point out that no-one knows with any degree of certainty what the future holds – these are just opinions – but helpful nonetheless as indicators of possibilities not certainties.
3. As you reorganise the workspace, consider not just moving partitions, but also bringing beauty in – plants (you have lots of space, plus plants clean the air); art, motivational posters. Encourage your team members to bring beauty into their personal workspaces. New workspace organization means significant change for your team members. Make it as comfortable for them as possible.
4. Bring in new and interesting perspectives – artists, storytellers, scientists to talk about topics that appear to be outside of work but are not. Diverse perspectives spark creativity and refreshing views of the world.

Now is the time to keep close to your team, in spite of physical distancing. Now is the time to communicate more, despite our faces being covered. Now is the time to lead with your heart, ensuring that your team feel supported, cared for, and energised, and operate with a true sense of urgency for our times.