COVID-19 is certainly a national emergency for which much of the country was not prepared. Many of us have experience though upon which to draw. We have had regional emergencies with serious impacts. Think about:
2005 Hurricane Katrina
9/11 World Trade Center attacks
2012 Hurricane Sandy
2017 Northern California fires
Death, destruction and large infrastructure disruption. How do we as technology leaders guide our teams through these challenging times which can sometimes last 12 months, even longer? How do we inspire people to see beyond the immediate pain and define the new normal; develop new goals to support the organization?
There are two types of leaders in a crisis, reactionary and visionary. The reactionary leader is rocked back on his heels by the barrage of demands coming from the business, clinic, hospital, school, or group of customers they are honored to serve. He is overwhelmed and barely staying ahead of the demands. There is not enough time for ensuring his team is okay and systems are delivering the value needed much less time for self care.
By contrast, the visionary leader anticipates what will come next because he knows the business and customers so well and he is in tune with how the organization is adapting to continue bringing in revenue and keeping people safe. He anticipates needed solutions, works with his team to develop options and ensure the team stays healthy and able to meet the organization’s needs.
Both leaders are often exhausted and busy. Only one adds value and helps the team actually through the crisis. Which are you?
Self care
You have probably read a great deal about self-care during the COVID-19 crisis. Similar information comes out each time during local disasters. I am not sure many of us take it seriously. The advice psychologists give include:
Stick to a routine - even if you need to develop a new routine, stick to a routine
Exercise - even a 15 min walk on the treadmill is very helpful, outside is even better
Stay connected with loved ones - When isolated, working 72 hours straight, etc, ensure there are ways to stay connected with loved ones
Limit news consumption - I limit myself to 15 min in the morning and 15 min in the evening. There is just too much depressing, stress-inducing information. Not that much changes during a crisis in a day.
Learn something new - I know this one sounds a little odd but spending even 15 min teaching yourself how to do things like knit, play guitar, or cooking forces your mind to shift. Do not let this be video games. Make this something a bit different but not something in front of a screen.
Team care
As much as we need to focus on ourselves, we also need to check in with one another, provide space to share feelings about what is going on and make it safe to handle personal situations. Ways to express team care include:
Check-in - Intentional, genuine time during meetings to share how things are going and express feelings.
Laugh - Make time to laugh with one another, send text messages, emails, tell jokes during meetings, share a funny video. Laughter truly is great medicine.
Time - Make sure people who need time away from work feel safe and comfortable taking it. Have private conversations with people encouraging them to take needed time; if possible make it so they do not need to use vacation time during a crisis.
Support - During a crisis, people deal with unbelievable things on the homefront. There are financial hardships, childcare issues, eldercare, health and more. Make sure everyone has information about all the benefits available through your organization and you are encouraging people to use them. Again, make it safe to take needed time.
Team story
Often during a crisis, the reactionary leader is heads down, completing work as it appears. When the crisis is over, no one on the team is even quite sure what happened during the past 12 months or so. This leaves the team drained and unsure of their contribution to the organization during its time of need.
The visionary leader takes time to develop the crisis contribution story with the team leaders. Discussing this throughout the event allows leaders and team members to understand throughout the crisis how they are contributing to the organization’s response. The team sees their critical role and are motivated to continue through challenging times.
Examples of items which might be part of the story are:
Application system restoration time
Call speed to answer, volume and abandon rate
New and replacement device deployment
Many things happen in a crisis. What amazing things are your team doing to support the organization?
Update 18 month goals
Any large disaster, national or regional, means defining a new normal for an organization. The organization, city and market are changed permanently by the event. Many times we had a nice three year plan and the crisis does not so much shred it as trim and reorganize it. As a visionary leader, we need to work with executives to understand what organization initiatives are permanently being paused, pushed back and moved forward.
Information technology strategies do not change dramatically with a crisis. Priorities are adjusted but out of say 50 items in the three year plan, 40 are still there. They are just in a different order. Quickly adjust the plan and get it back out to your team. This will provide a new normal and let them adjust rapidly to the flow of work.
COVID-19 has been and continues to be a rough journey. Many of us, unfortunately, have had regional disasters which have given us some experience upon which we are basing our work now. As visionary technology leaders let's remember to take care of people first, update our really good strategic plans and the rest will come. Best wishes and stay safe!
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