What sort of leader are you in a second lockdown?

In a true tragedy, greater Melbourne and much of Victoria in Australia has entered a severe stage 4 lockdown. Only a few months after the country had weathered the first attempt by Covid 19 to penetrate Australia, and the country did a fine job repelling the initial Covid onslaught, a disaster has be fallen the state of Victoria and threatens the rest of Australia both health wise and economically.

I am not going to discuss why this has happened, I can certainly express my thoughts but that will not help the impact on the millions of Victorians and the help to ensure the leadership they need is provided.

I think it is obvious the pain and anguish that is being felt across Victoria, and then, secondly, nationally. Now is the greatest leadership challenge many will ever face. The question: is what sort of leader are you and can you meet the leadership needs in this very harrowing time?

Here are five thoughts to help:

1.  Energy: I had already felt fatigue weeks ago. In teams and in leaders. I felt tension that may not have been as evident for some, I also saw stress and I saw worry in leaders. This second and very severe lockdown will only deplete the hope and energy of many. As a leader you need to draw on your energy and find pockets of it in yourself. I know many of you are already tired, fatigued, stressed and worried. Your family, friends and your community have the same feeling. It is ok to have these feelings as they are a basis for your authenticity. However, in acknowledging these feelings you need to stand up and lift your own spirits and beliefs. This is no easy task, as an artificial construct of this energy will be seen through by your team and colleagues. They need your energy to give them energy and it will build upon each other’s energy. It needs to true; it must be authentic.

2.  Empathy as support, but not sympathy: Each team member will need different levels of empathy and different levels of support, just as you are an individual and will need to find your own support needs. Regretfully, some team members will have family and friends deeply impacted but this severe lockdown, they will feel their pain as well. As a collective team, they will need support and empathy – interactions amongst team members will be tested, small irritation and idiosyncrasies will upset some. You need to have empathy, but sympathy will not help, understanding and supporting each team member and the team to continue to achieve their objectives and deliver their tasks. This will help provide a base so that they can use to lift their energy. Be sensitive to each team member and their needs, support them constructively and help them find their energy and purpose to build resilience.

3.  Have a clear short term purpose: I am not talking about the company purpose, but as a team have a purpose over the next weeks ( not over many months, make it shorter rather than longer) - a focus – on what you can achieve together – and a purpose which you can measure your progress where all your team can contribute and have mutual ownership. A collective accountability. This purpose will help align you to build in a politics of success – where all are working towards a common short-term goal together and helping one another achieve it. Build in time as a team to reflect on the achievements and learning as you progress towards achieving this goal.

4.  Create some time: Work has been hard. Whether it is giving people more time to handle the challenges at home, time to sit back and have time off, whatever it is, ease off on the 9-5 routine, allow the batteries time to find recharge so the energy you build individually and collectively goes into a battery that can respond. Dead batteries do not charge well, refresh yours and the team’s to take the energy charge.

5.  Find social time: In one of my early articles I wrote about the need to build a sense of community (https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/youre-now-running-virtual-teamare-you-establishing-bruce-rosengarten-/). Now, more than ever, the sense of community is needed and use it to create some social experiences and feeling. Do things together over the internet – bake, cook, build, draw, write, play games, tell stories. Work is more than a series of business interactions it is an interaction of life. Take the time to build social interactions and allow the PERSON in each of your team members to come out and be engaged.

In times of crisis leaders stand out, as do those who fail to lead. Your people need you, and in fact, you need to lead yourself as well. As a person and leader now is the time to take the challenge. Build energy, have a clear short-term focus, deliver support and empathy, refresh the battery to take the energy and very importantly, build the sense of community around your team.

The next weeks will no doubt be hard, be authentic about the challenge, but do not let it overcome you.

Bruce Rosengarten

www.brucerosengarten.com