Leading Through Uncertainty

How to keep your team positive in an uncertain world

As more of your team return to work, they will probably be returning with a mix of emotions. Some will welcome getting back to some routine, others may have missed the social aspects of work, whilst others are just relieved they still have a job to come back to.

But despite that, many will have concerns about their long-term future. They may be uncomfortable about changes to their role, or be anxious about their safety, either within work or on their journey to work.

If left to fester, these concerns can have a big impact on each other, on productivity, and on your customers. When people are feeling concerned, lacking confidence, or just having an off day, it can all impact the customers’ experience and their confidence in your business. And that confidence is more critical than ever in helping to bring back business and future bookings.

According to Tony Robbins there are 6 human needs. The first of these is certainty; one thing that none of us have right now!

So how can you help your team to be positive when everything is so uncertain?

It starts with you

Much of how your team feels, their enthusiasm for the job, the way they support their colleagues, how they talk to your customers, stems from the example you set.

This starts with a belief in yourself. How you communicate your own belief in your ability to succeed will have a knock-on effect on building the confidence of your team.

Behaviour breeds behaviour, and everything you do gets picked up by your team. How you talk about your guests, how you support management decisions, your enthusiasm towards challenges, how receptive you are to your team’s ideas and suggestions.

As an example:

You must announce a change in an internal procedure, which may not be well received because it involves extra work for everyone, including you.

The tone of your message, what you say and how you say it, focusses on the negatives and uses words and phrases that emphasise the extra work involved, making no mention of the benefits or reasons why you’re introducing the change. You also stress that you are also affected. This could easily infer you have a negative attitude to the changes. Net result? They will too.

Conversely, if you focus on the benefits of these changes, and your confidence in the team that they can deliver, your attitude will be perceived as being positive.

Always ask yourself “What attitude am I conveying to my team?”

If you’re struggling to convey positivity here are a couple of ideas you can adopt:

Identify a memory or scenario that when you think about it always brings a smile to your face. Then anchor this thought, so you can go to this positive place in your mind when you need to be positive.

Change your physiology. If you walk around head down, slumped shoulders and hands in pockets it’s bound to have an impact on how you feel. Instead, walk tall, take a breath of fresh air if you need to, and smile!

Change your language. If you’re using words (either out loud, or your inner voice) such as problem, difficult, failure, impossible, can’t, try switching your language to opportunity, what can be good about this? options, learning, etc,  which are more solution focussed. It's a subtle change, but can have a big difference on how you feel and how you come across to others.

Shared Purpose

If your business has been closed for a while, you’ll need to reunite your team.

One way to do this is by having a shared purpose; one that everyone is aligned to and working towards. When you and your team have a clearly defined sense of purpose it connects you, provides structure and shared goals.

There’s a good chance this has changed since the start of the lockdown, so take some time to redefine this, and involve your team if you can. Ensure it’s something that inspires you too, as being able to inspire your team, starts with being inspired yourself.

Back to work interviews

One way to help engage employees returning, is to conduct return to work 1:1 meetings with everyone.

Unlike a regular one to one (which are always important to engage employees at any other time) these won’t focus so much on reviewing performance, but will be geared towards looking forward.

Ask how they’ve spent their time during lockdown, any new skills, hobbies, or interests; what they’ve missed most; what they’ve rediscovered or will miss once back at work. This is a good way to identify if anything has changed for this person in terms of what’s important to them, what inspires them, and what they enjoy.

It’s important to discover how they feel about being back at work. What concerns do they have, what questions about the business, their role, new ways of working? Some people are particularly good at putting on a brave face; listen to their tone and watch their body language. Listen out for the things they don’t say or any questions they avoid answering.

One sure way for people to feel uncertain, is not knowing what’s expected of them. It’s inevitable that some ways of working and duties will have changed; be sure to set out what’s expected now. If there are duties that used to be part of their role that are now less of a priority, explain why this is. If these were tasks they did well or took pride in doing, be sensitive to this, so they don’t get the impression their previous efforts weren’t appreciated.

Let them know you’re there to support them, and to come to you with later questions, concerns, or suggestions. Reassure them of your commitment to their safety and ongoing support.

Keep listening

Listen to your team’s feedback, ideas, and suggestions. Show them you value their opinion: ask for their advice or suggestions on matters that affect them or where they may be able to present a different perspective.

Be approachable, but bear in mind some people will never approach you directly. Listen and observe so you can pick up and act on any staff concerns before they become a problem. Provide support and be receptive to when this might be needed.

Feel good factor

Help your team to feel valued. Even if you’re not yet in a position to confirm a date for them to return to work, to secure their role long term, or even when there’s a strong likelihood that person will be made redundant, you still want them to feel good about themselves, which will give them confidence in their ability, whether that’s in a role working for you, or in applying for other roles.

Respect

Treat your team with the same care, courtesy, and respect as you’d like them to show your customers. Keep up your communication. Be open with your team; the more open you are with them the more open they will be with you. If you don’t tell people what’s going on, they’ll make up their own version!

Act with integrity, and demonstrate you are true to your values. Keep your commitments; letting people down suggests a lack of respect, but if you can’t do what you say you’ll do at the very least say “I’m sorry”.

A sunny smile and a cheerful “good morning”, and a “good night and have a good evening” at the end of their day or shift can make all the difference.

Failing to give a simple “please” when asking for something or a “thank you” when it’s delivered soon gets noted, leaving people feeling unappreciated.

Show you care about them, and always have their best interests at heart, not just business interests.

Recognition

The more your team members feel proud of the job they do, the more this rubs off and gets picked up by customers too.

Recognise those who go beyond the call of duty, when they’ve made an extra effort or used their initiative, or gone out of their way to help a colleague or a customer. Not everyone is motivated by the same things, so consider what’s important to the individual. The most obvious and easiest thing you can do is to make a point of saying a sincere “thank you”.

Trust

Trust is two-way. To earn the trust of your team, start by demonstrating your trust in them.

It’s easy to underestimate people’s capabilities. Empower people to make decisions on things which come under their responsibility; and to do what’s best in each situation.

Establish a climate where it's recognised that mistakes do happen: you’re more likely to foster an environment where people will take responsibility (and risks) when necessary rather than having to lean too heavily on you.

Have some Fun

Add energy and enthusiasm, and have some fun. You might be dealing with serious subjects, but people are more productive when they’re happy and relaxed. Laughter is the best medicine and a good hearty laugh releases tension, and it’s contagious!

So, create an environment where it’s ok to enjoy themselves. Set up mini challenges, competitions, or league tables. Reinforce messages with quizzes, or fun activities. Copy some of the gamification ideas you see on apps as awarding badges, progress charts, treasure hunts.

Get rid of rotten apples in the team; it only takes one or two negative people to spread their negativity onto everyone else and drag them down to their level.

The bottom line

It's important you remain self-motivated even when things are not going well; are you prone to displaying your frustration, doubts, or hesitation; and resort to using negative language, expressing doubt in your own or others' ability?

In short, do you act as a role model for your team to follow?