In mid-March, we shared a Leader’s Guide to Managing Parents in Unique Circumstances. As we adjust to a new way of working that may persist for many months, we’ve talked with leaders about their most important priorities right now and synthesized lessons learned that build on the guide. They include:

Shifting expectations

Borrowing a great quote we heard last week, “What is your new best?” We are all grappling with how to manage this extreme circumstance. The first step to setting ourselves and our teams up for success is to adjust goals to be more realistic and hone in on one or two priorities. Consider:

• How are you supporting other leaders (or getting support from senior leaders) to be radically realistic in such an extreme and challenging circumstance?
• We certainly understand this is a challenging, uncertain, and volatile time for business leaders and that changing goals can feel risky. At the same time, overcommitting employees to work they cannot possibly manage will compromise work quality, short- and long-term productivity, employee wellness, and retention. For us leading companies, the question then becomes which work is most impactful to reach goals and how can companies pivot offerings in this context? Additionally, see notes below about working most efficiently.

In practice, this may look like:

• Revisiting your top priorities and asking if they can be realistically met with limited time and resources. If not, which one or two priorities are the most likely to move you toward your most important and timely goals?
• Managing up and communicating to your leadership the importance of clear and attainable goals. Speak in their language- what is most important to them and how can you frame this exercise in those terms?
• Planning for 80% capacity, knowing surprises will come up or work may take longer than we assume it does.

Paying close attention to how working parents are doing

Another theme we’ve heard loud and clear is that parents are feeling immense pressure– from implementing online learning during the school day to doing excellent work at full time jobs to managing how their kids (and they) are emotionally and mentally handling this disruption, all without help from outside the home. This situation is in no way normal or manageable for a long period of time. And understandably, for many, it’s not getting easier as weeks pass and it becomes increasingly likely that schools will be closed for months to come. One Executive Director said, “We are focused on well-being, positivity, and productivity in that order. Because, honestly, that’s the only order that matters, and that works.”

• Since we know they are looking to us, how can we leaders create the opportunity for employees to allow for some space, to release the pressure a bit?
• One of our clients noted that how they handle supporting employees during this crisis will reinforce their company’s legacy and brand for years to come- what do you want to be true about your company when we get to the other side of this?

In practice, this may look like:

• Communicating that 100% productivity isn’t expected right now.
• Adjusting policies and offering more/unlimited PTO or paid family leave for all caregivers.
• Actively over-communicating and over-permitting employees to prioritize their well-being and family so they can show up best at work.
• Discussing as a leadership team the values you want to uphold during this time and communicating those to managers to uphold and individual contributors.

Working smarter, not harder

Never before have we had such an opportunity- and the urgency- to figure out how to work smarter, not harder, particularly for employees who have multiple pulls on their attention- kids, sick loved ones, their own health considerations, and more. A few companies we’ve spoken with have moved to a six hour workday, team-based staffing, or a four day work week (while still paying 100% salaries), heeding research that this could actually increase productivity as it did for companies like Microsoft.

• Are you taking advantage of the opportunity to pilot new, more efficient ways of working?
• What kind of training and coaching resources could you pull on to support maximizing efficiency?

In practice, this may look like:

• Piloting one of the practices above (six hour workday or four day work week).
• Engaging a coach/trainer who specialized in workplace efficiency to support the roll out and implementation of efficient practices and processes.
• Engaging team members in examining how they can be more efficient, coaching them on where they are spending time and how they can reorient it by delegation, performing a task at a higher level that would require less time, or offloading the task completely (temporarily or permanently).

Ultimately, crisis moments like these expose weaknesses in how we’ve designed work. And, excitingly, they present the opportunity to make short-term improvements that limit the very high potential for devastating team burnout while still meeting goals, while also building new ways of operating that will best serve you in the long-term.

 

What’s sparking for you?