How Do I Lead My Team Through This?

For the past few months, we have watched our world turn completely upside down. We have had to make adjustments that we never thought we would have to make. We have been emotionally, mentally, socially and even physically impacted by watching injustice happening and many railing against it through protest, petitions, GoFundMe Campaigns and so much more.

The past few months, I have observed and had several conversations with various leaders in various industries about how they are leading during the this new world we are now living in and how they are keeping their teams motivated and supporting their team. After these conversations, here are some key ways I’ve learned to lead effectively through a crisis.

1. Pause, Take A Breath and Reflect

This may sound simple, but too often as leaders, we don’t know when to pause and simple take a breath and step back. The world as we know it has rapidly changed and with this change comes anxiety and fear . As a leader you need to pause for yourself to evaluate how you are feeling and acknowledge that the world around you looks different. Dealing with your emotions is key to you effectively leading your team during a crisis and to help support them as they process their emotions. Remember, in order to process your emotions, you have to be honest about what you are truly thinking and feeling.

Secondly, it is critical that you allow your team to pause. Living in the midst of a crisis is terrifying, so we can’t conduct business as usual. There is no business as usual. Always remember, your team is more than your employees, they are human beings with lives, emotions, fears, concerns and more. It is so critical that as leaders we offer breathing room for how our people feel. They made need a break or a mental day or simply may need time to process everything that is happening around them.

2. Be Flexible

We are in an unusual time, so as leaders it is critical that we are flexible with our teams to ensure they can be their best self. This may look like offering alternative work schedules, minimizing the work day or allowing your team to take longer breaks. Again, remember, your team is more than employees they are people with families, feelings, emotions and other responsibilities. We have to make the…