5 Principles for Leaders to Live By During Uncertain Times
I’ve been meaning to finish and publish this post for a few weeks, but what should have been a straightforward writing task became a casualty of the shutdown.
The shutdown happened suddenly. One week, I co-hosted a workshop here in Toronto with 20+ attendees from Canada and the US, held my monthly meetup downtown, spent time with clients at their offices, and 7 days later, my family and I, and everyone else, were under provincial emergency orders to stay at home, isolate from others etc.
I quickly saw the stress and impact it was taking on people I interacted with. I noticed it in myself as well and in my family.
It was a sense of displacement, of confusion, of anxiety and yes, loss. This article in HBR — That discomfort you’re feeling is grief — really hit home.
“The loss of normalcy; the fear of economic toll; the loss of connection. This is hitting us and we’re grieving. Collectively. We are not used to this kind of collective grief in the air.”
Everything changed very quickly. As much as I felt that grief, I also tried to deny I was feeling it (which is literally the first stage of grief), and continue to work as if things were normal.
On one level, I am fortunate. I’ve been working from home for years — I have a home office with a door(!) — and I don’t have young kids, but my kids all do still live at home. So, the sudden change to shelter-in-place didn’t impact me the way it did many others who commute to work, have young children in school, perhaps utilize day care or family to watch their kids etc.
But still, I couldn’t shake that grief, that displacement, that anxiety. My sleeping patterns changed, my motivation dropped, my ability to focus lessened, my mental energy dissipated. It was grief. I felt the same way when my own father passed away several years ago. THAT grief, took a LONG time to get through.
I started doing what I always do…analyzing (and likely over-analyzing) the situation to understand it better. Without getting into boring details, I read a lot on the Web about the virus, pandemics, viral transmission, COVID statistics in China etc. I also talked to a lot of people, trying to maintain connection, but also trying to learn about their experiences and if they were feeling what I was feeling. They were.
After the analysis, I shifted from problem space to solution space. What can I (we) do, at this time to address the situation; and started writing this post.
I came up with a set of principles to apply. I shared the first couple with my family, but the rest I wrote on my whiteboard intending to quickly convert them into a blog post. I started it. That was late March…and here we are today in early May, when I’ve finally finished it. And with that preamble, I’d like to share them with you.
- Purpose over Productivity
- Empathy over Execution
- Direction over Deadlines
- Creativity over Convention
- Personal Growth over Personal Achievement
1. Purpose over productivity
In the very early days after people started working from home (some companies did this before mandatory shelter-in-place orders), the initial discussion was about productivity. i.e. how productive will people be or to ensure people are productive etc.
But very quickly that became moot. I realized we can’t be talking about productivity when people are facing employment insecurity, financial risk, health uncertainty, family issues, home-schooling stress etc.
Just the task of going grocery shopping had become an exercise in anxiety. People didn’t have proper workspaces at home. It was not “normal”.
And in a strange reversal of “normal”, suddenly having your kids or dog crash your video call was not an embarrassing moment, but something everyone else understood and accepted.
Source: https://www.liveabout.com/bbc-dad-parodies-4134714
So if productivity wasn’t where the focus should be, then what was? I realized, after my anxiety-ridden shopping trip, that the answer was purpose.
All the front-line workers, from cashiers and staff at grocery stores, to medical workers, to people who maintain our supply chains etc. had clear purpose for what they were doing. Zoom, previously an upstart video-conferencing tool was suddenly helping connect families and friends separated by the lock down. They all had purpose.
Having purpose answers the questions:
- Why are we sheltering in place?
- Why are we doing the work that we do?
- Why are we making sacrifices or taking risks? etc.
Purpose gives us meaning and helps us focus. Perhaps purpose begets productivity? I’m not sure, but that’s not even the point. Purpose helps us get up and do what needs to be done. Once I realized that, it helped me with my own lethargy, though it didn’t solve the problem completely.
2. Empathy over Execution
I talked about the need for empathy and patience with my family. I told my children that we would be in the house for a while. I didn’t know how long, but when I said possibly 2–3 months, their eyes popped out and their heads went back a bit. I was basing my assessment on what I had read about the experience in China.
Empathy is the ability to understand the feelings/situation of another person — the proverbial walk a distance in their shoes. And of course, patience is the ability to tolerate negative situations without anger/frustration etc.
From a work perspective, we need empathy for EVERYONE else. Very few of us bought/rented our homes/condos etc. thinking we would need to live, work and home-school our kids there at the same time, without external help from family, friends, or other supports. As one person said:
“People with kids are struggling right now to work from home and be parents and teachers. There isn’t time for anything else.”
We’re all struggling but I totally empathize with those who have younger kids. As I said to a friend:
“I’ve seen too many basement corners, bedrooms, kitchen tables, dining tables and other places being hacked as work spaces for people.”
And even things like having a comfortable chair to sit on for hours of daily video calls is a luxury for some.
We need to be empathetic to everyone, not just our families, but to coworkers, managers, teams, customers etc.
Companies need to understand the situation with their customers and suppliers; what impacts and challenges they are facing, how their goals and objectives have changed, what is now important to them etc. And then with that knowledge, change how you work with them so you are aligning with their needs.
I can almost guarantee that not enough companies have formally done this and properly adjust their efforts. It’s not easy, but gaining and maintaining that empathy will be a muscle you’ll have to flex many times in the months and years to come.
3. Direction over Deadlines
To me, this one has been a long time truism, but I think it’s even more important now. Like purpose, direction gives focus but doesn’t constrain. And deadlines, well, first I’ve NEVER liked the word itself — here’s it’s origin — but secondly, deadlines don’t inspire; they add pressure and anxiety to already stressful situations.
There are no unrealistic goals, only unrealistic deadlines
— Brian Tracy.
I will admit that I tend to work well when I know something is due by a certain date, but that’s more of a forcing function than an inspiration.
i.e. the objective is to do good work and not simply to meet a deadline.
Having direction, or giving direction to others and then letting them figure out the details supports purpose. And not using deadlines as the measure of success indicates a sense of empathy for the situation of others. These principles work together.
4. Creativity over Convention
How many times have you heard the words “unprecedented” and “uncertainty” in recent weeks? I’ve tried to stop using them unless absolutely necessary but it’s hard, because we don’t have specific language for the situation we’re in. We’re all adjusting to the change. And it’s that change that we have to internalize.
Other terms like “New Normal” attempt to help us understand the changed situation is not fleeting and in fact it may continue to change and develop over the next year.
Given all this flux, what we did, even 2 months ago, cannot be assumed to hold true anymore. As a consultant, my work, which was a mix of remote and on-premise, is fully remote right now. Some businesses continue with small modification, while others have come to a grinding halt.
I was listening to a report yesterday about dentists and the impact the pandemic has had on them. I went to a dentist 2 weeks before the shutdown. Nothing about that visit would be the same today or in the foreseeable future.
So, we HAVE to get creative. And not just with the obvious things like going online with everything. Look internally and see how things can be changed, improved, adjusted, adapted to fit the situation.
This is a time for imagination and experimentation, for collective creativity. Lower your built-in filters and the conventional thinking baggage you might be carrying with you.
I have to admit, this is hard for me. I’ve been called dogmatic and stubborn by coworkers. I used to say:
“I’m not dogmatic, I’m just confident in my views.” :-)
but it takes conscious effort to lower our guards and be truly open to new concepts and way of working or solving problems.
It ties back into the empathy principle. The more we can understand the situation of someone else, the more open we can be to adjusting our point of view to help them.
5. Personal Growth over Personal Achievement
Times of change are times of opportunity, times for learning and growth. The creativity from the previous principle feeds into the potential for growth. I made this one specifically about individuals, because I honestly believe that’s the most important type of growth there is.
Yes, companies grow, team grows, products grow, revenues grow etc. but they depend on the growth of individuals. If individuals aren’t growing and improving, then the rest can’t happen.
And now, more than ever, in a time that requires imagination, empathy, creativity and purpose, there are opportunities for growth. Look around you, it’s happening everywhere. From the baking, sewing and 3d printing going on in homes, to the critical jobs of front line workers to the way restaurants have shifted their operations (which wholly depends on their staff changing how they see themselves), to every person who is working at home in sub-optimal conditions, homeschooling kids, helping others etc.
We’re all growing in intentional and likely unintentional ways. And for those of us facing hardships — economic, health, personal, job, family or otherwise — people around you will step up to help you; I’ve seen it multiple times in a few short weeks. Just reach out and ask.
I don’t want to sound idealistic here, because I know it’s not all rosy and wonderful for everyone. Many are facing the real grief of lost loved ones, friends, family, coworkers etc.
The time for accolades for good work done will come later. But now, the growth will come for helping others and changing ourselves in positive and beneficial ways.
Saeed
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About the Author
Saeed Khan is a founder of Transformation Labs and has worked for over 25 years in high-technology companies building and managing market leading products. He speaks regularly at industry events on the topic of product management and product leadership. You can contact him via Linkedin.
