Blog

The last few years have not been easy on anyone. With the COVID-19 pandemic still running rampant worldwide, your team may be feeling more stressed and anxious than usual. While anxiety is common and even expected in some cases, stress levels are directly rising due to the challenging circumstances we have in our lives right now. Leadership is about helping your employees achieve at the highest levels. Here are some tips to help you lead your team through a crisis.

Show Support

As management, the most important thing you can do is demonstrate that you support your employees during this crisis. This means reaching out directly to check on them. You don't have to know exactly what to say, but they need to know that you're there for them. Let them know they can come to you if they have questions or concerns. And provide them with outside resources they can turn to when they need other kinds of support.

Reinforce Shared Values

When we're dealing with collective trauma, one of the best things people can feel is a sense of belonging. You can reinforce that by emphasizing your company's shared values. This is also an opportunity to call out toxic behaviors that won't be tolerated, so everyone knows they're safe and supported.

Personalize Communications

For many people, remote work removed the human element to communications, and we're increasingly relying on text or chats. But it can sometimes be hard to detect tone or understand subtext. Make sure that you're still making an effort to talk one-on-one with your team to understand their communication style.

Practice Self-Care 

The phrase "lead by example" is essential, especially in times of crisis. Right now, that means paying particular attention to your own needs to safety and wellness. When you practice self-care and demonstrate to your team that balance is essential, you'll give them the extra push to make an effort to focus on their wellbeing.

Appraise the Situation

As with any crisis, you'll want to assess the situation continually. When are things critical in need of immediate triage versus when they need to be shifted to maintenance mode? The problem with the current crisis is that we move back and forth regularly, and it's hard to maintain a sense of normalcy. Take time to reassess to know how to respond.

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