I'm ok and I'm not ok

I’m ok and I’m not ok

As part of the prep work we do before running a leadership or team workshop, we always run a diagnostic phase. This means, we get to have private and confidential, 1 on 1, conversations with employees of all levels, all across the world. In lockdown I’ve personally run at least 40 of these interviews, as a company, we’ve run around 80 and have another 20 coming up. This gives us a unique perspective on how people are coping during these times. If I were to sum it up in 6 words they would be:

‘They’re ok and they’re not ok’

On one hand, people are thankful they’ve got employers whom they trust, they feel safe in their homes and there’s been some unexpected positives – more time with kids, less travel, less demands to be ‘somewhere’. But on the other hand, as we all know, there is a frenzy of work happening, the lines between work and life no longer exist, our natural social interactions have diminished - the list goes on. Even as people slowly return to the office, the challenges of the last few months don’t disappear, nor does the uncertainty, nor the workloads as we move into ‘recession proofing’ our business models

But you know all of this. 

The problem is, we have accepted the current reality and so we’ve grown quiet.

But here’s what people are telling us in our private conversations:

1)    I don’t feel like I can say that I’m struggling, because everyone is, I shouldn’t complain, I just need to get on with it

2)    I’m lucky to have a job, so I have to be careful about pushing back, that’s why I make sure I’m ‘always on’

3)    Between the job and the kids, I really have nothing left to give

4)    I dread the question ‘How are you?’ I’m worried I’ll just cry

5)    They know (the business/leaders), and they say all the right things about supporting us and caring for our well-being, but the work just keeps piling up.

‘Crises mode’, adrenaline and patience has got us through the first few months, but as more and more businesses ‘phased return to work’ plans show that it’s likely to be 2021 before the majority of people return to the office – so it’s time to reassess. 

We’ve sprinted ourselves half-way through a marathon that we didn’t know we were running. If we run the 2ndhalf the way we ran the first, well, it’s a fast-track to burn out

The good news is, it’s not too late to adjust our approach and support our teams to do the same. We need to help our teams set boundaries, and have an effective way of saying ‘no’, we need to push back on stakeholders – on their behalf instead of letting the work pile up until they crumble. As a leader, it's our duty to protect them. That means making difficult decisions, because let's remember STRATEGY is not about doing ALL the things, it's as much about what we say NO to as what we focus on. I get to see some of the worlds biggest brands' strategies, I can tell you, there's not much focus going on.

'We have 3 big bets, but underneath each of those are 3-4 'focus areas' - then we added 4 more urgent projects because of COVID, we didn't take anyway because we just can't predict the market' - ok, we get it, but what's the cost to your PEOPLE - for stretching them so far? Right now, the fundamental challenge of leadership is balancing the business needs to recover and protect revenue, with the need to protect and support our people.

The future remains uncertain, which isn’t a bad thing, but some of us are better equipped to handle change and uncertainty than others. Right now, one of the best investments we can make is in developing the mental agility of our teams to better steer both ourselves and our business through the unchartered future to come. The capability and insight all exists we just need to put it into the hands of our people

We call this focusing on our ‘mental fitness’ not mental illness (that’s too late), not mental health (that’s not enough)– we want better than that – we want people to be mentally FIT and ready for what’s ahead

https://jodierogers.com/mental-fitness/