Plan the Way Together

One of the best feelings we can experience as people is to feel connection and belonging. One of the worst feelings is that we are alone.

This is true for every one of us, including for leaders. In fact, leaders can be very lonely, especially during times of crisis when the weight of searching for answers and making decisions falls heavy on our shoulders.

But here’s the good news for you if you are a leader: You are not alone. Especially in this process of going Forward to Work and many other aspects of your leadership, you don’t have to be.

The old-fashioned idea that as a leader you have to be solitary and standing by yourself separate from your team, single-handedly making decisions and heroically leading is outdated.

You have a team. You are part of that team, and you can turn to them and rely on them as you hopefully have for the last year. And if you haven’t, you can begin now.

The entire Path Forward to Work, from Reconnecting with Care to Discover What’s New to Design Your Culture, Apollo 13 Style, is participatory and co-creative because we know that we are all better off solving complex problems with others. We need people with diverse perspectives and divergent thinking with more capacity for empathy and creativity than we would have alone involved in understanding problems, imagining solutions, bringing those solutions into practice, and refining them over time.

So as you take the next step Forward to Work and plan how to bring your new culture design and business practices to life, it’s important to keep trusting and relying on your team to contribute and Plan the Way Together.

“But…”

Do you find yourself hesitating at this and thinking, “But don’t I need to get back to ‘really’ leading this team? Surely my team expects me to take the helm and confidently tell them what we are going to do now.” That more directive approach might feel familiar or more comfortable to you. Or you might sense some social or media pressure to lead in a more top-down, authoritative style.

Hang on a minute.

I invite you to pause for a moment, if this idea is nagging you.

I invite you to read these next statements, maybe taking a breath between each one, think about each statement and how each one makes you feel. Do these resonate?   

• You hired great people and you have a terrific team. They are capable, smart, caring, and trustworthy.

• Your team has had your back all this time. And you have had theirs! You have not been alone. You’ve all demonstrated mutual commitments to each other, to customers, and to the organization since March 2020 to this day. Sure, there’ve been struggles but you’ve relied on each other and made it through.

• Their performance has been as good as, if not better than, before the pandemic, even under extremely distress.

• Your team adapted to those unprecedented conditions. They maintained a focus on the mission, innovated new ways to get work done, and excelled during the worst of times.   

• You have led your team with care and vision through this incredibly difficult time. You’ve done the very best you could, leading each day in really difficult circumstances.

• You have strategic and operational insights that your team may not have, AND your team sees and knows things about your organization, operation, customers, suppliers, and environment that you do not.

• Together you are a great team! No, you are not a perfect team. No team is. But you are a strong team, and you are proud and confident of that.

Just take a moment to let yourself recognize, sense, and feel whatever is true for you.

And here’s what I want you to remember: You have a team, and you are part of that team, not separate from it. You can count on that team. They want to be counted upon. You are not alone.

I know this to be true for my own leadership of A Human Workplace too. During the early days of the pandemic, and throughout the year, I have been surrounded by kind, generous, insightful skill, advice, help and support. I was never alone. Ever working for months on end in my house never having met most of my team in person. This fact was both comforting and strengthening. My ever-growing team members were there with encouragement, practical help, hard questions, elbow grease, creative ideas, and loads of love.

And at times, I also wavered, unsure sometimes of if and how to rely on this new, global, virtual team of staff and affiliates. During these times my burden was heavier. The work wasn’t nearly as well-done. I was less joyful and less impactful too. When I gave into my overdeveloped sense of responsibility to do too much myself, my decisions and our direction and execution were just not as fast, as strong, as wise nor as creative as when team members were collaborating. I’m so glad I’m not alone.

So now it’s time to plan the way forward with your team.

Do you have an overdeveloped sense of responsibility? Or do you fear not being a directive or controlling leader? If so, this may take some courage and clear determination to resist.

But don’t give into that fear. It is counterproductive and creates a downward spiral. By turning back the clock to fear-based, controlling leadership practices, we communicate to team members a lack of trust, respect, and appreciation for what they’ve done all this time. A dominant leadership approach is a sure-fire way to grow fear, frustration, and disengagement, perhaps even leading to people leaving the team.

Instead keep relying on your team, lean toward them leading with love in the form of trust, respect, appreciation, and collaboration.

Here are some tips to “Plan the Way Together.”

What to Say:

1.       Express your appreciation to your team for all they’ve done. Don’t just express this one time. Keep on thanking them. They’ve saved your organization during this time and ongoing thanks are deserved. It may take awhile to really be heard too.

2.       Express your trust. Let them know that you trusted them during the early days of the pandemic, and they did an amazing job adapting. You trusted them throughout all these months, and they’ve taken care of customers and met objectives. On the Path Forward to Work, you trusted them to discover what’s new for customers, for team members, and for your shared values, and to co-design new ways of operating and new culture practices. And now you trust them to help plan the way together too.

3.       Affirm your respect for what they know that you don’t. Tell them how much you still need them and invite their insights and help planning. While that doesn’t mean that you’ll follow every piece of advice, contributions are welcome, and the organization will be better off for the input.

4.       Admit your struggles. It’s OK to let people know that your strong sense of responsibility means you have to fight against the urge to take it all on sometimes, but that you know you wouldn’t be as effective on your own.

What to Do:

1.       Hold on to and hold up the shared vision, values, and culture your team co-created in Step 3-Design Your Culture. Celebrate it and center it in your work.

2.       Form a diverse, representative Guiding Team with members from across your organization to create the plan to bring your vision to life.

3.       Create multiple channels for ideas and continuous feedback from all team members. Make it easy to share ideas and input.

4.       Learn and improve as you go. Some things will work and others won’t. So update the plan for change and improve the culture and operations practices too.

5.       Celebrate and have fun. Mark milestones, recognize contributions, play, and laugh. If something doesn’t work, retire it with fanfare. If something is a rousing success, honor it and those who contributed to the success.

6.       Keep seeing, feeling, and expressing appreciation, trust, and respect for your teammates. You really can never have too much of this.

7.       Keep Connecting with Care. Think of this process as a spiral staircase that circles back around. Remember that the stress of the pandemic and racial reckoning continue. Personal challenges, stress, and losses continue. Keep checking in with each other as people to process what’s happening, to be seen, heard, and understood in this moment. This will help to build emotional well-being which is so challenged for many right now.

And don’t forget: Keep taking care of yourself, mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Find others who will support you to do those things that relieve your stress, whether that’s movement, nature, creativity, mindfulness, laughter, breathing, or connecting to others so that you know and feel that you are not alone.

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