In the past few conversations with clients who range from financial service firms to hospital information professionals, it seems that we’ll be entering a hybrid work world where some fashion of remote work remains. Resilience will always be a skill to cultivate—particularly in the not-so-abnormal world.
Here are three tips for managers who find themselves in this hybrid:
If everything is important, nothing is important. To keep focus and to resist overwhelm, make sure each team member knows the short-term goals and the top 3 most important things.
Continue to make mental health a top priority. Even as the pandemic and COVID restrictions appear to be lessening, 16 months of living with anxiety, fear, loss, and a world that seems to explode in hate, lies and violence take a toll on the human psyche. Check in with everyone. Listen with empathy. Create mini “what’s good” chats with a team. And, if you can, have a mental health professional or trauma specialist on call.
Involve your team in designing a better future. Time to open wide creative ideas and the gates to appreciative inquiry. The latter seeks to answer the question: if this would be true, what would need to be in place? What would be our demonstrated behaviors and values?
Remember: Post Traumatic Growth can be the outcome of these past 16 months.