Are you ready to lead through the COVID19 crisis?

[Transcript]

00:03

Welcome to the Finding Gravitas podcast brought to you by Gravitas Detroit. Looking to become a more authentic leader. Finding Gravitas is the podcast for you. Gravitas is the ultimate leadership quality that draws people in. It's an irresistible force encompassing all the traits of authentic leadership. Join your podcast host Jan Griffiths that passionate rebellious farmer's daughter from Wales, entrepreneur, leadership coach, keynote speaker, one of the top 100 leading women in the automotive industry as she interviews some of the finest leadership minds in the quest for gravitas.

Jan Griffiths: 00:48

Today's episode is a special episode, it's devoted to the subject of leading through a crisis. We are indeed in a major crisis globally, we're in the midst of the COVID 19 crisis, a situation that's completely unprecedented. We've never been in a situation like this before. It's going to take all the leadership skills, all the authentic leadership skills that we have. And yes, it's going to take a lot of gravitas to take us through this. This is where the real leaders will shine and rise to the top and others will fail. The purpose of this episode is to share all the information that I've gathered, either through research or through my own experience of leading people through crisis situations, in the hope that it will help others lead through this situation. A leaders responsibility is to provide a sense of calm through this, establish a steady hand and provide hope and paint a picture of the future, we will all respond to the situation in our own individual way. And how we get through it. And how we succeed depends on the meaning that we associate with it and what's happening around us. It will be so easy for people to spiral downward and spend their days glued to TV reports gripped with panic and fear, wondering what's happening. And that doesn't do anybody any good. We have a choice, we can choose to live our lives that way. Or we can choose to have a different mindset, a more positive mindset. And it's up to the leader, to start to paint that picture for the future. And talk about how we will get through this as a team, we're gonna get through this together, we're all going to get through this, we know it. This too shall pass. We went through the crisis in 2008. We've been through difficult situations, but holding firm to that belief, and even thinking about life after COVID-19. And what the future will look like is a difficult thing to do right now. It takes a strong leader, a leader that will show conviction, demonstrate resilience and have the courage to stay positive and forward thinking. These are the leaders that will take their teams through this crisis successfully. It's an opportunity to get out of our comfort zones, establish new habits, new norms, new ways of doing business, tap into our creativity, and connect with people on a deeply human level. This is an opportunity to connect with your team in a deep emotional way. More so than perhaps you've ever connected before. We're all going through some level of anxiety, fear, concern, worried about our health, our family or money, feelings of isolation, of helplessness. We know that this wave is coming at us of this virus, and it's going to hit hard and there's no running away from that or denying that it's going to happen. But preparing ourselves mentally and emotionally. And helping our teams get through this will be one of the most rewarding leadership experiences that we will ever go through. It's our job as leaders to provide a safe environment for people to express their feelings, their emotions and their concerns. We need to acknowledge and validate the emotions and feelings that people are going through right now. This is not the time to be the tough guy the bully, and move into command and control and show how tough we are and that this isn't going to bother us. We're going to run the business. We're going to achieve all the metrics and we're going to get through this we're just going to muscle through it. That's not the leadership style that will get us through this. We need to listen, this is an opportunity to hone in on those listening skills. We need them now more than ever before, every individual on your team will have a different response to what's happening right now. As the leader, it's your responsibility to listen, to show compassion, to show empathy. If you've ever thought that these two traits show weakness, no, now is the time that you need to draw on those tools in your toolbox. You need to show compassion and empathy.

Jan Griffiths: 05:46

The first step for a leader in this crisis is to talk about the situation. Don't shy away from it, and provide meaning and explain the meaning of what's happening around us. And paint that picture to show that people have the right perspective, give them hope. You all know those people in a crisis situation? Let's use an example. Perhaps they've lost their job. And it's all doom and gloom. And it's all Oh, my gosh, the world is coming to an end, I don't know how I'm going to survive, I'm going to get through this, my identities gone. How am I going to keep my family going? Yet in the exact same situation, you all know those people that will view it differently. And they'll say, You know what, I didn't really like that job. Anyway, this is an opportunity for me to do something different. It's the nudge that I needed. I'm looking at this as a whole new horizon is opening up for me. That's a growth mindset. It's the exact same situation happening to two people, but how they respond is the difference, the mindset that they have, and the meaning that they associate to the events around them. Help them create that mindset. It's a growth mindset. And it's up to the leader, to help everyone on the team associate meaning that has a more positive outlook and a more positive impact. Let's talk about some specifics of how we would do that. Many teams will be forced to work from home, maybe going virtual for the first time, this is a great opportunity to figure out how to handle the technology, maybe you've been avoiding it for a while, how to be really efficient, and demonstrate performance when you're working from home. Perhaps as a leader, you've had some trust issues. Maybe you didn't want to embrace the work from home methodology. Because you didn't quite trust the people were going to work. You had this feeling that people were just gonna sit on the couch and watch TV all day. This is an opportunity to embrace that fear and push through it, to show the team that you trust them completely, that you can nurture trust. Okay, so the truth is that we probably don't have a choice. If you're told to work from home 100% of the time, then that's what you have to do. So it's not by choice. But this is a way albeit somewhat forced. But it's a way to let go of that fear and develop that trust and nurture that deep and meaningful connection and closeness with the team that perhaps wasn't there before. And then imagine, if this is an opportunity to make all of that happen, what is life going to be like when we get back to normal and the team is back together again, face to face. It could be a great learning experience for everyone involved. We all have a choice as to how we're going to respond to this crisis. It's up to the leader to influence and to connect with the team members to help them make the right choice. And to keep this team together. Not only will it impact the team and the business, but it will impact their families. It's an awesome responsibility that we have as leaders to touch the lives of others. This is the time to step up and lead with all the qualities and traits of authentic leadership that we have and to lead with gravitas like never before. Let's talk about the reality now of leading a team in a virtual environment. We already talked about painting the picture and getting people into the right mindset and talking about meaning.

Jan Griffiths: 09:57

Really understanding and talking about after that crisis has subsided and everything is back to normal, what's life going to look like? And what's it going to feel like? When we're all we all realize that we've we've actually succeeded? We've gotten through this together? What does that day look like? It's important for the leader to talk about that because that day will come. But here we are, perhaps managing a virtual team for the first time. And many of you may be feeling uncomfortable with that thought. And it will be a challenge. But here's some tips and tricks that I've learned along the way, after 30 years in a corporate environment in a corporate role. I moved to working from home and working in a co working space about 18 months ago. So let me share with you what I've learned. When you first work from home, you can experience some confusion. The environment is different, because remember home and work, you have a different mindset. So when you're at home, and you're trying to accomplish tasks and do actual work, you're in a different frame of mind, particularly if you sit in the chair that you normally sit in at home where you relax, and maybe watch TV or interact with the family. And all of this can really mess up your mindset. And your ability to get that sense of accomplishment and feeling that you're really doing something, you may feel some level of guilt, because you're at home, unsure of what's expected in this new reality. It's up to the leader to set those expectations upfront. Maybe as a leader, you do that as a team. And you say, Hey, we're all working from home for the first time. Let's talk about how this is going to work. What are your concerns? How often are we going to have meetings? What does the agenda look like? All these things, the leader needs to talk about upfront with the team and really bring out any anxieties or concerns. Getting the mindset, right is critical. Whether you're in a virtual environment or not. For me, here's some things that have worked to get my day off to the right start. Set your alarm when you get up. Make sure that you don't hit the snooze, set the alarm that you want to get up the time that you want to get up at, and you don't hit the snooze, you're making a commitment, you're telling yourself, I am going to do this thing, I'm going to get up at this time in the morning. And then you have to follow up and do it. Because if you don't, you're giving yourself an excuse. When you start your day like that, where you're giving yourself an excuse, you're not setting yourself up for success. And for the right mindset. So don't hit the snooze button, even though you can. And when you work from home, you can hit it five times 10 times, don't do that. Do something, the moment you get up in military circles they talk about you get up and make your bed. And that's because you need to have that sense of accomplishment. So you make a commitment to yourself, you get up when the alarm goes off. And then you do something like make the bed or do a very, very simple task. You're getting yourself into the right mind frame mindset of accomplishment and you're setting the day up for performance for real performance, then do some form of physical exercise. We need to get the blood flowing in the morning. There's so many health advantages both in terms of your physical health and mental health. exercise improves blood flow and memory. It stimulates chemical changes in the brain that enhance learning, mood and thinking. mood and thinking are going to be incredibly important as we move through this crisis. In this exercise routine, it doesn't have to be a one hour intense workout. Just start with something even if it's 10 Jumping Jacks going for a run or a brisk walk just get the blood flowing.

Jan Griffiths: 14:05

Then spend some time with yourself. With no distractions. Do not check email or text messages. When you get up in the morning. It's the worst thing that you can do. It will send you down a path before you had a chance to really get your head in the right place. So please don't do that. When he exercises done, spend some time with yourself. This is your life. This is your blueprint for performance. You decide how much time you want to spend doing this might be five minutes 10 minutes might be up to 45 minutes and start thinking about a few things that you're grateful for. Look around you. Is it your family, your home, your friends, your career, your health, to spend a few minutes thinking about that, but then switch to setting your intention for the day. Our intention creates our reality. What does your day look like? What is it that you want to achieve? During that day, and then put yourself in that place of achievement and accomplishment. think through how you're going to feel when that task is accomplished, maybe it's a team goal with the team, and you'll do a Virtual High Five could be a number of different things, then it's time to focus. And focus is hard. Particularly when you work from home, it's so easy to get distracted with emails, social media, it's easy to drift. In this, I know more than most, it's very easy for me to check in on social media more than a showed. So controlling that narrative in your brain that the one that's talking to you that's telling you, it's okay to do that. It's not not all the time. And somehow, you get this narrative that says, You've earned this reward that it's okay to take your eye off the task, and start to drift into social media, and it's not. So retraining your mind to stay focused, will be important during this time, there's a tendency to want to do things around the house, when you work from home, oh, I'll just multitask. Maybe I'll do some laundry, fix something when I'm on a conference call, you cannot do that. You have to say, Okay, I am working between the hours of eight to five, or whatever your workday is. And during that time you're working, yes, there will be breaks, but you cannot try to multitask with things around the house. I've tried it and failed miserably. You can try it too. But it will take you off your focus in staying focused and staying on task is much harder in a virtual environment than it is when you're in an office. And you have an agenda and meetings and people that help guide your thought process and guide you through your day. Let's talk about the workspace. Where are you going to work in your home, I work in a dedicated office environment. It's a bedroom, it's a spare bedroom, and it's dedicated to be my workspace. And it has all the equipment that I need. You may not have the ability to do that and set aside a whole room, it might be a dining room could be an area of the basement, but it needs to be your designated workspace. Don't sit in the chair that you normally sit in and watch TV, and then put the laptop on your lap and say, Hey, I'm working from home that's not working from home, you can't do it that way doesn't work. It's not effective, because you don't know what mindset you're supposed to be in and the family will be confused. I might do that if I'm working on something that doesn't require my full attention. But when I'm working and I'm focused, I'm in that designated work area, then take a look at the equipment that you have. If you're on video calls, or conference calls more often than you have been in the past, get a decent headset, the headset will help you keep your hands free. And so you won't have any sort of shoulder injury by trying to hold a phone up to your ear. But also it can get rid of outside noise outside distractions or airports, I use air pods because I like the freedom of moving around, I don't want a cord attached to me. And I write on the right the whiteboard in my office when I'm on a call. So I like it for the freedom. But find a decent headset, something that works for you. Then make sure you have a comfy chair. If you're not comfortable, and you're going to be sitting there for several hours during the day, you'll end up cursing that workspace.

Jan Griffiths: 18:37

So make sure you get a nice comfy chair, maybe you need to add some pillows, but really make a conscious effort to get that right get that chair rightthen the lighting, the lighting has got to be good, particularly if you're on calls, you know, people need to see you through the video. And you need to be able to see the keyboard and the things that you're writing on, or whatever your your work may entail. So you might need to put some new light bulbs in but take a look at that. And then take a look at the technology that you're using. Start with the internet service do you have the bandwidth, because remember, if schools are closed and kids are home, they're going to be on all of their devices. So you might need to upgrade your internet service. I will take a look at that right now. Then the technology that you use for video conferencing, I'm sure it will be dictated by the company that you work for. But if it isn't, from my personal experience, I like to use Zoom. It's really easy. You can share documents, you can have multiple people on the call. You can have outside people so that they don't have to have a special account, they can connect very easily to zoom. So there's many advantages to zoom but there's many other options out there. I also use project management software that I find that helps me enormously it's called Asana a s a n a it's Free, it gives you the ability to assign tasks and manage projects. It's many other options out there. I know that slack is growing in popularity, a lot of people really like to use that. But understand the tools that you're going to use as a team and how you're going to use those tools. How often are you going to have meetings? That's key. And this idea that, you know, somehow, if you're working on something else, you don't have to attend or somehow you talk yourself into this idea that you don't have to attend certain meetings. That can't happen. If you agree as a team that you're going to meet at a certain time and a certain day, everybody needs to be present. One of the hallmarks of authentic leadership is consistency, great leaders are consistent. So establishing the schedule right up front, and the reasons for why it's a certain day in a certain time, very important. And staying with that schedule. During a time of crisis, people need to feel safe, they need a sense of stability, and that comes from consistency, and it's the leader that will provide that and cameras need to be on. So no more putting the tape over the camera or feeling shy or uncomfortable with being on camera, we lose so much of communication, if you can't read body language, making sure that everybody is present, that they're not distracted. We've all been all on those calls where people don't have their camera on. And then you can hear them clicking in the background, because they're doing their email, they're not paying attention, that can no longer happen. People have to be on camera, and fully present and focused. So you're working from home, you might not be looking your best, it's okay. Just get through that get over that it took me a while to get over that. To be perfectly honest with you. I always thought that I had to be looking a certain way when I was on a video conference. Now I really don't even think about it. And I will put a camera in front of my face, if there's something I feel that I need to talk about. So getting comfortable with that, you'll get used to it, it'll just take a little bit of time. Because remember, people are hiring you for your mind and your contribution and the value that you bring to the organization, not from the way that you look. The next part is family. When you're working from home, there are other people that are in the home, quite possibly kids being home from school. And they'll have trouble understanding why all of a sudden mommy or daddy are in this area of the house. And they can't play and they don't want to play. And the way that they've interacted with their parents isn't the same now because the parent is working. And it can be very uncomfortable. In the beginning. If you're on a conference call and you know, a child is screaming in the background or a dog is barking. It's part of the reality of working from home. And I really think that employers and teams and leaders nowadays are a little bit more understanding of that. So don't get all stressed out with some background noise. The important thing to do is to talk to your family upfront about the routine, that is a change for you in the family, and that you will be working from home between these hours and be very clear on what those hours are. But schedule family time throughout the day. So maybe between eight and 11. You're not to be disturbed, perhaps between an 11 and 1130, you're going to step out of your workspace for some family time and engage with the kids and that's okay. Then there'll be a lunch period, and you'll understand how you're going to spend that lunchtime, that's also an opportunity for some family time, you have to do what works for you. And then you get back at it again. And the family understands that between these hours, you're not to be disturbed. This is when you're working, scheduled break in the afternoon, family time, go for a walk, do something that's not work related. Make sure that the end of the day is scheduled that you know that at five or six or whatever time it is that you want to end your day. That that's it. You have to shut the computer down and walk away from that work area. Because now you're mentally making that switch between work and family time. And that can be very difficult to manage in. I know that I struggle with this constantly because I like to have the computer open all around the house and I'm checking email or doing different things. That is not the way to work from home. It will cause stress and frustration for you and your family. When you're done. You're done. Now if you choose that you want to check emails at a certain point later in the evening. let your family know that that's something you're going to do. You might have a call scheduled later in the evening and that's okay too. But let everybody know but don't keep this computer open and you're Home trying to do both at the same time. It doesn't work, it causes problems. One of the most important things that a leader can do during this time and managing a virtual team is to schedule informal sessions. Okay, so maybe you've got the work part of this down to a science. And everybody's calling in and everybody's focused and contributing, and you're marching down your agenda, and it's all great. But people who are not used to working from home will miss the interaction of being in an office that banter, the informal chat. And often, it's the conversations that happen before and after meetings, that can be the most valuable and you don't want to lose that. Schedule a virtual coffee chat. And I know there's people out there right now going, What on earth are you talking about?

Jan Griffiths: 26:00

People are going to feel isolated, we need to get people to feel connected on an informal level, schedule a coffee chat, have people call in and just talk about whatever they want to talk about. It could be the shortage of Lysol wipes, it seems to be a topic of discussion these days, all the fact that there's no toilet paper in Costco, I don't know, it doesn't matter. But it's important to keep the team connected on an informal level, thenthe leader needs to connect one on one with every team member. Maybe this is something these one on one meetings that you've been meaning to schedule, it's on your agenda to schedule, maybe you push them aside, in the current work environment. Now is the time to embrace the need for these one on one meetings and make them happen. Now they're going to happen as a conference call a video conference, and that's okay. But it's more important than ever before, to connect with people to understand the emotional toll that this is having on your team members. Your role as a leader is to keep people galvanized together around the team have the vision and really drive forward and get through this and see the business through this critical time. And we are going to get through this. But keeping that connection with people making sure that you don't lose people. You don't want to let people spiral out of control and sit in the chair and watch the news channels all day long. So it's up to you as a leader to keep people connected. This is a great opportunity to connect at a much deeper level than you've ever done before. It's up to the leader to schedule these meetings and make sure that it's going to happen. This is a difficult time. We all know it. But it is a great opportunity to work outside of our comfort zones to step up and lead like we've never led a team before. And to get through this. We can all do this together. We've done it we've been through crisis situations before albeit not exactly the same as this one. But we know that this will pass we all know it will. So be that leader with gravitas. Your time is now I will be here to support you in any way that I can email me call me get a hold of me whatever I can do to help. I'm in it to support you, we've got this.

28:50

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