Leading People through COVID-19 (Part 1) – Dealing with our people and teams in an emotionally intelligent way

In times of crisis, in large companies we rely on our key personnel and C-suite executives to work with banks, governments and external agencies to try and secure the business. This is the heavyweight crisis and financial management of the business which is pivotal to survival and ongoing employment. For the rest of us we need as best we can to manage our people’s personal safety and anxieties whilst trying to continue to fuel performance. In short, we need to lead our people through the change. All the business research and literature recognise that effective change has a strong emotional component; we talk about the importance of Emotional Intelligence (EI), and with COVID19 now is certainly the time to deploy it with full force. By deploying it effectively we will not only support our people emotionally and mentally, it will create a sense of togetherness and will strengthen our people’s resilience. The are many pieces of advice available but the aim is to provide those with responsibility for leading people with methods for personal engagement and tool kit of practical activities which can be use during your daily/weekly catch-ups to help individuals and teams work through the emotions and cope effectively. In this first article we will look at:

• Thinking straight
• Values
• Personality and needs during times of change

After each section there is an activity which is designed to work both face-to-face or on a video call.

 

1. Thinking straight

The majority of us are being stretched to our emotional and cognitive limits by threat of COVID-19. Our well-being and effectiveness are then further reduced if we fall into the trap of adopting unhelpful thinking patterns. The table below explains 4 underlying thinking patterns which will negatively impact our ability to think straight and the better thinking alternatives.

	Unhelpful thinking patterns	Helpful thinking patterns
Demandingness	Being hard on yourself and others. e.g. Believing you should continue to perform and hit targets at the same levels as before COVID-19 Believing you should be doing a better job of coping with chaos created by COVID-19 Believing you should be doing a better job of adjusting to events Believing people in power, the general public need to up their game	Focus on the changes you have made and how you have adjusted to what 99.9% of us never considered. Stop and acknowledge how you have adapted.
Low-frustration tolerance	“This whole COVID-19 thing is intolerable” This has come at the worst possible time I am sick of it now Things were going so well. Why’s this happening to me?	Doing things for others takes the focus from ourselves and our frustrations. Set yourself a target of doing 3 things for others. e.g. a message, a funny video.
Awfulizing	Believing and worrying the absolute worse will happen. Over worrying about your health and health of your loved ones Over worrying about job and financial security Believing your worrying is helping you be prepared	Events of the last few weeks are clearly tragic. Thinking the worst impacts our well-being and will not stop things bad things happening. Following WHO and government advice is important to managing the risks and making sensible decisions will help minimise the risks.
People-labelling	Finding it unbearable that people are behaving poorly and investing energy in believing they should be punished. How selfish are people who panic buy? How inconsiderate are people who not self-isolating It’s unfair some people aren’t pulling their weight	It is disappointing that some individuals are more focussed on themselves. Getting yourself upset about it will not stop them and will drain your emotional energy supplies and you need all that energy to keep a positive outlook.

 

Introduce your team to these unhelpful thinking patterns. Get your team to identify examples of how they have seen these thinking patterns come to the fore. e.g. people panic buying, ignoring self-isolation etc. Once team members can understand the different unhelpful ways of thinking ask them to identify the thinking patterns which they are most likely to display. Then get the team to generate practical actions for overcoming the unhelpful patterns. e.g. “We will focus on the people who are making a positive difference – not on those who are not”, “We will acknowledge the small wins and celebrate good behaviours”. These practical actions could become your team charter to keep each other positive.

 

2. Talking about personal values

Whilst our personalities will remain fairly stable during these events – e.g. extraverts will have a preference to talk about what is going on, and sensing personalities will more literally interpret the government guidelines – our personal values, or what is most important to us at this point in our lives, will more likely be self-scrutinized and potentially altered. The values of health, freedom and hope which may have been taken for granted will most likely come to the fore. For some of us our values will be deepened and for others they will be temporarily or permanently modified.  

Ask the team to individually review a list of personal values and select the top 10 values to you at this point in time. Then by elimination reduce them to their top 3 and ask each member to share what these mean to them and how they have been influenced by recent events.

 

3. Bring the company values to life

The majority of large businesses have a suite of words/phrases which articulate their company values. Bringing these values to life can sometimes be quite challenging as individuals view them as ‘corporate’ slogans. COVID-19 events bring them to life and demonstrate how deeply they matter.  

Take each of the company values, one-by-one and lead a discussion on how that specific value is being lived within your team and throughout the broader business. Seek out examples where individuals or departments have been able to demonstrate the value. Identify any gaps you see between the proposed values and what is taking place. Contract with the team to feed highlights from the discussion up the chain so senior management are aware of the successes and gaps. This would be a great top down activity for senior leaders who are addressing their employees.

 

4. Managing different personalities through change

Comparing the style of communication and personality of Boris (allegedly an Extraverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Perceiver) to the behaviours and action of the people, in relation to COVID-19, highlights both the similarities and differences of people. Most of us initially were in some sort of denial and have been shocked by what has unfolded. However, how differently people act and respond has been magnified. Many individuals are clearly following what they perceive as rules, others are seeing them as suggestions. Whilst in part this maybe a result of poor messaging from the authorities, it also will be heavily influenced by the personality of who is receiving it. Many of you may have sat in teambuilding events using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, but now is the time to dust it down and put it to good use. Below is a list of different personalities and what they specifically need during times of change.

During your one-to-ones ask your team if they remember/know their personality preference. If not run through the different personalities, use some people you both know either from the news or from the office to bring the personality preferences to life. Share the personality preferences you can relate to including your natural way of dealing with the uncertainty. Ask the team member to select what preferences they relate to and discuss how you can practically support them over the next few months.

  Personality preferences and their needs during change:

	Personality Preferences	What they need during times of change?
Extraverts	Get their energy from people, situations and problems Like to do/think/do	To talk about what is going on for them inside and outside of work Involvement – give me something to do Social contact – people to bounce thoughts off
Introverts	Get their energy from quiet time and reflection Like to think/do/think	Craving quiet-time when the house is full! To be asked their views on things (preferably in advance of a meeting) Written communication and 1:1 discussions
Sensing	Gather data using their 5 senses Compare to past experiences Focussed on practical realities	Value the data underpinning decisions and changes in direction. They want the evidence Exact detail of any proposed changes – “So what does that mean to me and my routines” Reflect on how this crisis relates to previous world events and will bring up how the company has dealt with challenges previously
Intuitive	Consider future possibilities Interested in patterns and trends Like to be creative and generate novel ideas	To explore creative ways to overcome challenges To embrace the new ways of working and technology The opportunity to focus on the future and what will happen post COVID-19 “Give me the headlines and executive summary for how we as a company are responding to COVID-19”
Thinkers	Can view things objectively in an impersonal way Use their head Stay logical	Sound logic behind any proposed changes Are leaders being smart Are people being dealt with equitably and fairly
Feelers	Put themselves in the shoes of other people Follow their heart	Feel that leaders are being caring A sense that people get what they are having to deal with Feeling supported by the organisation
Judgers	Order and planning Structure Avoid surprises	A plan of how the business, department and team are going to deal with the challenges A time-frame, a phased approach Clarity of priorities
Perceivers	Welcome spontaneity Keep their options open Structure can be constraining	Information and opportunity to gather more Freedom to adapt as things change A plan with plenty of wriggle room

  If you need any resources or want to chat things through don’t hesitate to drop me an email. I hope those of you leading people find this helpful at a time when we are all managing our own personal chaos! mike@pilkingtonleadership.co.uk