Leadership Curveballs, Blind Spots and Black Holes, Episode 10

As leaders, we are in a position to have an impact on our teams and create a more accepting, tolerant, and respectful work environment.

In this Episode:

04:31 – Keeping employees engaged and productive during a pandemic

05:39 – Help your team navigate through the next few months

05:56 – Three science-based actions you can take right now to support your team

Podcast Transcript

Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here, your host of The Executive Aid Station Podcast series called “Leadership Curveballs, Blind Spots, and Black Holes.”

In this episode, we’ll feature an expanded version of one of our weekly coronavirus curveball tips on how to build a bridge over divisions in a post-election world.

The week after the election, I produced a special edition of my weekly video blog. I had been reflecting on the election and how it created more division and polarization in our country about what is right versus wrong. And I’m not just talking about political parties here. In the weeks since the election, we’ve only seen this divide magnified.

As many groups continue to criticize, demean and hold contempt for others. And this, despite the facts that our shared heritage as Americans of what we have in common and our natural human need to be whole and unified, is needed now more than ever. 

Look, there’s always been them versus us in our society. Remember growing up in school where there were the cool kids versus the nerdy kids, the ones that went to one school versus the kids that went to the other school?

We find validation, support, and community within groups of like-minded people. And that’s generally helpful and beneficial, but this time, and what we’re talking about today is very different.

We are definitely in a time when we’re more likely to classify people into the in or out-groups. We have more of an emotional and physiological reaction to people if they are in or out, based on our own perspective. And this extreme divide impacts our ability to show empathy, to see what we have in common versus our differences.

And it really pains me to see how people are attacking each other, both verbally and physically, people from the other side on the news. But unfortunately, it doesn’t seem likely that we’ll see progress in the short term on this front. It’s important to acknowledge and accept that we have a limited amount of control in this situation.

But as leaders, we are in a unique position to have an impact with our teams to create a more accepting, tolerant, and respectful work environment. If you are familiar with my work, you know, I draw on science-based practices to help leaders navigate challenging times. So I wanted to offer some tips to help you build a bridge over these divides and restore trust and tolerance in your organization.

First, a couple of points to consider since the pandemic began, we have all been living in a heightened state of anxiety and personal threat. Our people are dealing with cognitive overload. They’re taxed emotionally. They have no personal resources left to deal with another emotional factor, like the election results.

Just consider all the issues people have been dealing with, including working remotely, educating people at home, caring for family members, managing family dynamics. Establishing new routines for shopping, exercise, and living in close quarters. These are just some of the many challenges that have become part of our daily lives.

And it feels like just when we think we’re settling in getting somewhat used to this new set of circumstances, a new challenge puts us back on the defense. I’ve talked before about how our brains are wired to be anchored to the negative, to possible threats and dangers that we see. And with all these issues and negativity, we have no room to handle something else.

And then talking about keeping our teams engaged and productive, well, that’s even a bigger challenge than normal in this environment. It’s interesting to look at the potential impact on your team. The Gartner Group recently conducted a survey related to this about engaging and keeping employees productive during the pandemic and found the following.

36% of people have been avoiding their coworkers because of politics. And in times when bringing people together in cross-functional roles to solve complex problems is more important than ever. This is a major concern, and 47% of people surveyed say the election has impacted their ability to get work done.

It’s definitely a major distraction. So think about that. Have you experienced this yourself? Have you seen signs of this in your team? Well, I know that many of us have.

One of my clients, a very outgoing high energy approachable leader, recently shared how he is just plain exhausted after all of this. And can’t wait for the weekend to withdraw.

I’m guessing many of you can identify with this response. So, what does this mean to you? What can you as a leader do about this? Where do you start? Well, I would suggest that your role as a leader is to be the binding energy that helps people navigate through the next few weeks and months. To be the emotional stability for your team through continuing uncertainty and challenge.

So here’s my guidance for you:

These are three science-based actions you can take to support your team during this time.

First: Label the emotion. You can’t make people’s anxiety, fear, anger go away. But just by asking them to share what they’re feeling, what we call, name it to tame it, you are activating the brain’s braking system and allowing them to use the limited cognitive resources they have on other things.

Then you can consider a few ways to work with your team to deal with what they are facing, but this is the first critical step to label the emotion.

Second: We state very clearly the values of your organization. This very important action gives people purpose and meaning that they need in this time. And don’t assume that people already know their world has changed, and they need to know from you that the direction of your organization has not.

Third: Focus on the shared goals of your team. Be specific, help them see how they can build on their prior successes to achieve more together. Our neural pathways are developed over time through shared experience. As we build relationships with others, this can be challenging during the pandemic and sheltering in place and working in a virtual environment, but there are ways to build empathy and teamwork in this time.

Sharing these goals create certainty in an environment of unrelenting uncertainty and activates the part of the brain responsible for inspiration, creativity, and problem-solving. These superordinate goals of your team can be a powerful unifying mechanism.

That’s it for this special edition of The Executive Aide Station Podcast series Leadership, Curveballs, Blind Spots, and Black Holes. I hope you’ll check out future episodes of the series, designed to help you navigate through uncertainty.