How To Lead Through Hard Times
Any leader worth their salt is asking how to support their team members. After all, these are hard times and leaders must consider how they sustain both people and performance moving forward.
Your success as a leader will depend on your resilience, empathy, transparency, connectedness and balance. Here’s what will be most important for each.
Resilience
One of the most significant responsibilities as a leader is to model the way. People pay attention to you as a manager—perhaps more than you realize—including what you say, how you react and the decisions you make.
Take care of yourself. Remember pre-COVID when you may have been on an airplane more regularly? Pre take-off, they always instruct you to, “put on your own oxygen mask before helping others.” This is apt advice. Be self-aware about where you may be struggling, obtain the help you need so you can in turn sustain your team. Reassure yourself that the stretch you’re enduring now will enhance your coping skills and extend your perspective. Stay hopeful so you can be authentically optimistic and forward-focused with your team.
Stay in the loop. Also ensure you’re staying connected to key information. As leaders rise in the hierarchy, they run the risk of being increasingly insulated from key information because people are taught to bring them solutions, not problems. To be resilient, you must be informed, so do all you can to ask for difficult details as much as you seek solutions.
Empathy
Leaders who demonstrate empathy tend to foster greater commitment and effort from team members. Empathy can be either cognitive (imagining what others must be thinking) or emotional (imagining what others must be feeling). Either way, empathy is critical to supporting people through tough times.
Stay in touch. Be sure you remain connected with team members, especially if you’re working at distances. Schedule one-on-one meetings, be on video together (if you can’t be in person) and stay present and attuned to your team members. Focus on your team members and what they may need for the task they’re accomplishing or the relationships they’re navigating.
Ask questions. Sometimes leaders may avoid asking too many questions because they fear being invasive. But in one study of mental health, employees felt better when leaders checked in and demonstrated they cared. Take cues from people about whether they want to talk through issues, and back off if they don’t. But be clear about the fact that you are paying attention.
Empower people. Craig Smith, leadership expert and owner of The Big Picture People in the UK, says it’s important to encourage people and engage them in proactive action. “Ensure people know they are part of the solution, and not in a victim mindset.” Get people involved in projects and give them responsibilities that keep them productive and contributing.
Avoid taking on people’s burdens. Some leaders make the mistake of taking on employee problems. The old adage recommends keeping the monkey off your back—meaning don’t take on responsibilities others should own. If an employee has a problem, it is better to listen and ask them how they’ve tried to solve it. If an employee is at an impasse, you can suggest resources they might tap to deal with the issue. “If we have monkeys on our backs, they require care and feeding. Leaders must re-patriate monkeys back to their rightful owners,” says Smith.
Provide psychological safety. Great leaders also provide psychological safety—a feeling that employees are secure, can take appropriate risks and bring their best to their work. Be sure people know you appreciate their contribution and will back them up.
Transparency
In addition to being empathetic, leaders must also demonstrate transparency. Sometimes, leaders avoid sharing too much because they don’t have all the answers, but it’s better to be as open as possible.
Embrace uncertainly. Smith suggests certainty can be counter-productive. “There is a danger that leaders will create a sense of certainty that doesn’t exist,” he says. It’s better to be open about how much you don’t know—rather than intentionally or unintentionally communicating guarantees for the future.
Make it emergent. Smith also says solutions will emerge. “These are complex and chaotic times. And there are no best practices because no one has been through this before. Our solutions will need to emerge over time,” he says. Remind people that while you may not have all the answers, you have a firm vision for the future and you are responding and reacting as conditions shift.
Remind people things will be imperfect. Despite the uncertainty, ask people to join you on the path, and let them know you may trip now and then. “Let people know you’ll be trying things, and you may need to attempt actions that don’t work. Ask people to come with you on the journey for the long-term survival of the business,” says Smith.
Connectedness
One of the primary ways we feel safe and supported is through our connections with others. As a leader, do all you can to keep team members unified and reinforce the common goals of the groups who work for you.
Balance
As a leader, you also need to ensure you’re sharing a balanced message. Smith points out you must foster both safety and reality. He says, “You need to create a sense of safety as much as possible, but also acknowledge the situation is both volatile and chaotic. Acknowledge the inherent uncertainty but help people feel safe.” Support people most effectively by allowing them to feel both secure and informed. It’s a mixed message to be sure, but authenticity is important so that people trust you and feel empowered.
Providing empowering and supportive leadership is no small thing in troubled times. Focus on resilience, empathy, transparency, connectedness and balance to help people get through challenges and ensure successful performance.