The post-lockdown movement back to the office has accelerated, with most organizations planning a return in the fall.
What should leaders be considering?
One of my favourite books on leadership is “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 year, and more to come. “We are moving from episodic to continuous change” he wrote, well before the pandemic.
Your team members will have been extremely stressed over the last 18 months and are still feeling burned out and weary. This is not the energy needed to execute the long, hard process of revitalising and growing the business. With this reality, how do you create 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 – we already see what are now called “COVID waves” that portends that there might be more lockdowns and work from home in our future. This has to be your message to your team – the new normal is uncertainty.
In this spirit, here are 5 actions you can take, to make the move back to the workplace less stressful and more welcoming:
- Have frank, human one-on-one conversations with your team leaders. By human, I mean connecting with them person to person to find out how they are doing, how they are feeling, what’s changed for them and how they have changed. You have probably been doing this virtually to some extent, but the face to face experience allows you to see the person, feel their energy and connect at a deeper level. Be aware that the person who was last in the office in March 2020, is not the same person today. And neither are you. So really connect with some open-ended enquiries and deep listening – and your own honest sharing about your experience and how you have changed. Encourage your team leaders to do the same with their team members.
- Encourage the team 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 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!
- 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. There is a lot of information swirling around – help your team by curating and sharing information from credible sources. And look to share information from outside of your country and your industry – this is a global pandemic, so information on other jurisdictions is helpful.
- As you ready the workspace for safe physical distancing and sanitation, consider 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.
- Bring in new and interesting perspectives – artists, storytellers, scientists to talk about topics that appear to be outside of work. Diverse perspectives spark creativity and refreshing views of the world. Many of us have not seen live performances in months – real live speakers would be so welcome.
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 members feel supported, cared for, and energised, and operate with a true sense of urgency for our times, which are, and will continue to be uncertain.
