Introduction
There are a number of distracting events going on around the world. You should not ignore the fact that the environment is always changing. As a leader of your team or company, people will look up to you in these uncertain times to provide a sense of calm and vision.
What Experts Are Saying: Rebecca Knight, Liz Fosslien, and Mollie West Duffy
Simply put “Leaders need to know how to move hearts and minds,” says Sanchez-Burks. The best leaders of today are not those who have the best answers in the world. But in fact they are the ones who ask the best questions ( Harvard Business Review)
There are many outdated practices, which ones are stopping your team from achieving top performance? What is the most important motivator for your team? You should consider being flexible in your leadership style as the environment is always changing in the current landscape.
There are growing political tensions, wars, and social-economic concerns we are facing in the last stretch of 2024 and 2025. Taking mental note of your team’s body language and certain unspoken cues about their current state will increase your emotional aperture.
Going a step further is to open the feedback loop and ask for anonymous survey answers to gauge what is motivating your team and frustrating them.
The golden rule — treat people as you would like to be treated — is outdated,” This doesn’t work in forward thinking culture, the golden rule now is “treat people as they want to be treated.” This is why understanding your team on a deeper level is useful.
The expert on “ How to manage a Distracted Team” says that paying attention to the news is the best way to anticipate emotions. You can use this opportunity to audit the news and also relay that information back to your team.
“Significant changes in vote counts, policy shifts, global wars, and economic conditions can have profound impacts not only on your industry but on your team members’ mental health.”
This is important especially to change the workload to accommodate the goals of the day.
The common reaction for managers is to give themselves and others more work so they are only focusing on the task at hand. But psychologists are saying that this has a negative effect which is called “Anxious Fixating”. Instead, avoid sending a barrage of work or emails to your team. It will cause burn out and lead to more stress.
You should acknowledge these uncertain times, sit with it, give off a sense of stability to your team as it doesn’t phase you. Then getting back to whatever is at hand. Being calm as a leader around these times is crucial to getting everybody back into being themselves again ( Harvard Business Review)
Action Items: My Recommendations For You Today
1- Know your peers as well as you know yourself- One way you can do this is through surveys, the DISC system works well as an initial insight or Lifo Surveys works too. Use type form to also do an anonymous feedback survey. What are 3 things your employees love about work that motivates them and 3 things that are frustrating for them.
2- Provide a clear path forward- Use mind mapping and visual elements in meetings to clearly state the road ahead. Make sure when distractions arise you acknowledge it and re-focus on what’s ahead
3- Humor in the face of adversity– one way to deal with fear is using humor. When there are so many stressors in life, we have to make sure to lessen the load for others. Especially in the work place. Teams with positive emotions tend to do better, and exchange more ideas vs teams who fall under an umbrella of negativity.
4- Constantly Interact With Your Environment- For competitive advantage, the person who is connected with the environment will perform better than the person who is isolated and doesn’t have any clue what is going on. Be more connected with your environment and see how it may impact your business.
