Leading self during Covid-19 – Introduction

I’ve written many times before about leading yourself and leading others.  That was then, this is now.  We’re in a whole new context now where our needs are different – or perhaps simply amplified.

The trouble is, when we have our head down trying to fix the business problems, our needs and the needs of our people often take a back seat.  This has been a pattern that I have seen across organisations.  Self-care falls right to the bottom of our list, only just preceded by care for others.

This is driven by quarterly reporting.  Shareholders require the business to be operating at top speed every single quarter, to attain the best profits possible.

The problem with this is that it drives short-term behaviour.  I know I need to pay attention to my people, but right now, we just need to get through this…and now we need to finish that project…and now something else has come along.

And so it goes on, leading to people feeling undervalued and often under-utilised.  They may be busy, but are they doing work that is commensurate with their brain-capacity?  The same applies to us as leaders – we may be busy, but are we doing work that is commensurate with our brain-capacity and salary?  With our head down and no chance to look after our own wellbeing, we are heading for burn-out.

I’ve seen it so many times.  People taking on more and more, sometimes so that they can be the highest performer in the team so that their pay-rise or bonus is good; sometimes because they fear that if they don’t, they might find themselves out of a job; sometimes due to presenteeism; sometimes it’s just the norm.  I didn’t realise when I left the corporate world that I was headed for chronic fatigue if I didn’t change something.  I actually thought I had a better work-life integration than others.  But when I look back, I realise that their work-life integration was shocking, so it’s all relative.

I say all of this because I see a nation and a world of workers who seem to be headed for burn-out during this pandemic.  People have added to their already heavy burdens.  They are juggling more plates now than ever.  They are pushing themselves harder.  Maybe it’s an escape mechanism for some, an addiction that blocks out everything else.  Maybe it’s a sense of guilt that their friends and colleagues have lost their jobs and they don’t want to be seen to be taking their job for granted.  It could be any or all of the above that leads us to neglect our own wellbeing.

But please stop.  If you are working more hours than before or if you are overwhelmed by the magnitude of what you are facing (at work or at home), stop!  BEFORE you get to burn-out.  Let’s work out how you can pace yourself for the long-haul.

This series is about your wellbeing, putting your own oxygen mask on first, as they tell us on aeroplanes, so that you can then help your team members with their oxygen masks.  I don’t often talk about leaders’ wellbeing, because I care about how you treat the people who work for you.  But we do need to start with ourselves so that we can support others – don’t assume though that just because something works for you, it will work for people in your team.  Ask, don’t tell.

So as you read this, what are you noticing in your body?  Are you rebelling against this or heaving a sigh of relief that someone is saying something sensible?  Between now and the next time, start thinking about what you are putting up with and what you can stop doing to give you a little breathing space.

This might inspire you, purported to have originated from the Canadian federal agency Parks Canada:

Working Remote – Covid-19 principles

• You are not “working from home” – you are “at your home, during a crisis, trying to work”
• Your personal, physical, mental and emotional health is far more important than anything else right now
• You should not try to compensate for lost productivity by working longer hours
• You will be kind to yourself and not judge how you are coping based on how you see others coping
• You will be kind to others and not judge how they are coping based on how you are coping
• Your team’s success will not be measured the same way it was when things were normal

In the rest of this mini series, I’m going to discuss each of the bullet points above in more detail. You can find further posts here.

I’d love to hear your views, so please feel free to comment below.