I’ve been serving as the Integrator at EOS Worldwide since 2016, finding talented people and guiding them to reach their maximum potential.
There are times when darkness seems close at hand. With all that’s going on in the world today, uncertainty lingers, making it easy for anxiety and stress to disrupt your ability to “act normal” or put on a brave face at work. Even leaders who are supposed to “get going when the going gets tough” are finding it difficult to stay motivated in their current environments.
How is this impacting teams? Meetings may have a heavy tone—talk of company targets being off track, team growing pains, inflation, the cost of living and the growing expense of feeding a family—surround discussions about work goals. Often these worries create a fog that makes it difficult to see the future.
This is where leadership needs to step in and show their valued team a way toward the light. If leaders can begin to name common and unilateral fears and create a safe, risk-free space for their team members to share in return, teams can establish an awareness of the funk they’re in, and the fog can begin to lift.
This is the newest challenge for today’s leaders—to take the lead in sharing uncomfortable truths. They may even find themselves in the throes of these truths in their own lives.
What are some strategies leaders can use to turn on a light for their teams?
As a leader, you’re subject to crises just like your team members are, but you have a greater responsibility to turn toward the positive and make a case for hope and trust. How can you do this?
1. Adopt a ‘name-the-fear’ mentality.
When my company realized we were collectively and individually “in a funk,” I began talking to people from across the entire organization. We held a State of the Company meeting where every single team member was welcomed to address the mood in the room and the underlying issues that created it.
“Let’s name the fears we’re feeling,” I suggested. I asked team members to help put words to the emotions that were bringing us down, and I also invited anyone who had more to say to join me in an hour-long, one-on-one phone conversation. I had more than 20 people take me up on that offer, a gift given to me by people who cared enough to share their deepest concerns.
These conversations covered everything that was consuming their thoughts and gave them the space to be heard. Having these open and honest conversations felt refreshing, not only for team members brave enough to speak up but also for me. I want to know what is on the hearts, minds and souls of the team that so carefully serves EOS Worldwide and our clients. Ultimately, when I know better as a leader and manager, I can do better.
2. Share your fears first.
As a leader, you must model vulnerability when reaching out to your team and opening up space to share. Others can look to your example and realize that they won’t be judged for sharing a fear or insecurity, even if it relates to the workplace.
That doesn’t mean you label their fear for them; you need to come from the perspective of acknowledging why things could feel challenging, primarily through change, and then listening and learning. You’ll also want to make sure the conversation is free-flowing rather than prescriptive in what you want to understand. A starter like this might work well:
“It’s important to acknowledge that sometimes things feel ‘funky,’ uncomfortable and even awkward through change and evolution. There can be a lot of reasons for that. For example:
1. Change is difficult. It requires adaptation, creativity, grit and discipline to work through the tough stuff.
2. We’re innovating in ways we’ve not done before, and it’s not a proven part of our core business yet.
3. We live in a tumultuous world. Life isn’t easy at the moment, due to recession fears, inflation and other economic factors.”
Even if you anticipate your team’s emotions, have restraint and give teammates the opportunity to fill in their own feelings or emotions without naming those for them. What you hear can be enlightening, even if sometimes concerning. In naming fears, you’re one step closer to understanding and ultimately helping solve them.
3. Back up your offering with action.
The strategy of naming the fear and inviting teammates to share theirs only works if you’re willing to actually back up your invitation with action. If you ask for volunteers to sit down with you for a one-on-one conversation, you better make sure you’re ready to listen openly and without judgment.
Practicing non-defensive and non-critical listening will be key to showing up for team members’ vulnerable selves and demonstrating that they can trust you.
Even though things can get dark, you can model navigating difficult times successfully. It’s about doing things better together as a team. Your job as a leader today is to guide your people toward the light and help them see that darkness doesn’t need to last forever as long as we’re brave enough to tackle the real issues and put genuine care and concern into everything we do.
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