When will this be over?

This question—and the current waiting period—are top of mind for leaders everywhere as the combination of COVID-19, economic uncertainty, and social unrest continues to fuel a pervasive sense of fatigue and disillusionment in organizations around the world. At the same time, many leaders recognize this as a unique moment to be bold, reinvent, and transform—a chance to infuse new hope and energy into the organization, outperform competitors, and “win on the recovery.”

Many leaders we talk with at SUPERHUMAIN say that their people—especially their top talent—are working more hours; they’re taking fewer breaks; their teams are outright exhausted. Their people have been going from one sprint to the next, thinking, OK, we’ll get to steady state soon. It may not be normal, but it will be a steady state. So you may ask yourself - what can you tell to your managers or top talents who seem to be sprinting in the context of a marathon?

From that perspective and some occasions, you may have to start with an admission to yourselves and to your teams: we got started on a bad set of assumptions. We may have thought that this was going to be a relatively temporary departure and that we would just kind of toughen up, survive this thing, and then go back to normal. And what we’re finding is that it wasn’t as temporary as we thought; it’s more of a departure than we anticipated.

You may have to move to a mindset that’s focused not only on landing at a new normal, but also toward a mindset that recognizes that this is where we are for the foreseeable future. It’s hard to predict when conditions will change, and so success depends on managing the energy we have and conserving it for the long haul.

The stakes are really high, and when the stakes are high, many leaders naturally tend to feel they have to be there all the time, to make all the decisions. But if you can’t conserve your energy, you’re in trouble. That’s when you start making big mistakes.

The stakes are really high, and when the stakes are high, many leaders naturally tend to feel they have to be there all the time, to make all the decisions. But if you can’t conserve your energy, you’re in trouble.

So, how do you avoid that as a SUPERHUMAIN leader?

The ship captain’s got to recognize that they can’t be the single-point safety 24/7; you have to build a team in which you have confidence and that you trust—highly trained people that you can delegate to. You can’t do everything alone.

Ultimately, leaders must not only manage and conserve their own energy, but also focus on managing their teams’ overall energy. They must balance the load, structuring teams so that the right expertise and capacity are distributed. Whether it’s a ship or a business, each level of the organization should have a good sense of the capabilities, strengths, and limitations of their team. This allows the leader to structure for long-term performance and resilience. You’re going to need people who can step in while others get some recovery time. Who are those trusted people? Sooner or later, everyone needs a break, time to refresh.

It’s the exceptional team that self-identifies their problems. Fostering an authentic curiosity to find and fix problems helps a lot. But it also helps to build in some oversight processes.

In our research, we have seen that some of the leaders are clearly exhausted but resist taking a break...

The importance of taking a real break has been supported by brain science which is clear about it! A policy that everybody would take 10–14 continuous days of vacation each year—off the grid is really important for you to recharge your batteries. And you need to monitor that closely. So, come August, if a leader hadn’t taken their days, we had a pretty serious discussion about why not, and when would a break be scheduled before December? And of course, to enable this, it’s not just about the one person—it requires that you prepare and empower your team so you can step away for 14 days and the wheels won’t come off. Lead by example here, taking your time off as well!

Recovery is essential to mission effectiveness. That must include both taking time off to reenergize and to have the team and structure in place so that this time off can be protected and the mission will continue. And what works for the boss works for the team—they also need to be responsible for ensuring that their teams take time off. Without these breaks, fatigue sets in, decisions deteriorate, inefficiency increases, and performance drops. We need to build a more sustainable approach.

I recognize this can be hard, and these types of ideas don’t come naturally to a business that has run at a certain kind of rhythm for years and now is confronted with a crisis like [the pandemic]. It’s hard to step back and recognize the situation you’re in—let alone restructure your team and the way you work—while staying in stride as you keep focusing on the mission.

As a leader, make a point of being present, being attuned to your team, and really talking to them and learning about what they’re going through. In the navy, we call this ‘walking the deck plates.’

You reach new heights, you need a new mindset for you as a leader—and teams—to get there. Stoic acceptance of the situation is crucial. It’s important to accept that this situation is going to be long term. We don’t know what the end will look like or when it will come. But not everything is unknown. It’s possible to set personal and team goals, and work to achieve those goals. Two-way communication across the team is super important and may not be as “natural” as it was before. I acknowledge that you must work harder to keep the team connected and together. Those habits, and others that are within our span of control, can help retain or even strengthen the agility that will allow the team to respond to conditions as they change—and have the energy to adapt accordingly.

Also, I would like to add as a leader, make a point of being present, being attuned to your team, and really talking to them and learning about what they’re going through: Get away from your desk and talk to your people—physically, if possible, or virtually. Empathy matters a lot too: an approachable, empathetic leader has a special kind of magic.

That said, it’s not just you—it’s a 360-degree approach: your superiors, your peers, and your subordinates can all contribute to your understanding of how things are going.

I would like to share with you some practices we have seen to be effective in helping people cope with highly uncertain times.

There’s a lot of value in setting goals and establishing a plan to achieve those goals. The routine and discipline necessary to achieve them builds resilience—and goals lend a structure and sanity to an environment that could be highly unstructured, even chaotic. Setting goals works equally well for individuals and for teams.

Perhaps this would be a health or fitness goal—getting in better shape—and measuring daily progress toward achieving it.

We also stressed your professional goals. Perhaps it’s reaching a certain level of qualification or getting an additional certification. That’s on-the-job stuff, so you can spend time doing that. And your direct superiors and your team can assist you in helping you qualify.

One thing that goals allow is a sense of control—at the team level, you can say: “OK, this part we know. We want to achieve these particular goals. They’re consistent with our values, they’re measurable, and they won’t distract us or detract energy from where we want to go. So let’s set up some structure to achieve them.” And then when the team achieves a goal—celebrate it. Hey, that’s a positive! It’s energizing! Then, it’s time to think about the next goal!

This type of activity also fosters collaboration—and focusing on short-term, achievable goals helps colleagues and teams regenerate their energy and regain a sense of control.

There’s tremendous strength in team values when setting and achieving goals under stress. Our shared values are particularly important in times of uncertainty—they can unite and strengthen us, and provide something that we can be certain about.