Our emotions are being significantly affected by the economy. It is currently facing significant challenges, including instability in international trade and market and manufacturing disruptions. As well, the confidence of Americans is declining.
These macro disruptions affect all of us, executives and employees, every time we read or watch the news. They cause us to question the core assumptions of our lives: our livelihoods, our work, and sometimes even our relationships.
Millions of Americans are wondering when they start their workday, “Will I get news of a layoff today?” According to CNBC, one in three adults is struggling with layoff anxiety. These adults will check repeatedly with co-workers every day on the latest news they have heard. These worries distract employees from fulfilling the organization’s mission to their customers.
These times require finding the common threads that bind us together at work and among our families and communities. Finding what binds us together requires information, time, and space to be resilient.
During the early years of COVID-19, New York Times best-selling author Marcus Buckingham — who is the co-founder of StrengthFinders — provided many insights that can enable the resiliency of employees and organizational cultures.
Resiliency is reactionary, he said. It is a measure of the ability to hear bad news, sometimes repeatedly, and be able to bounce back, redirect, and move forward. Not everyone has the same level of resilience. In fact, it is similar to happiness. Not everyone has the same level.
The question for each of us and our organizational cultures is how can we lift everyone’s resiliency during uncertain times.
Buckingham and his team at the ADP Research Institute surveyed more than 26,000 employees in 25 companies to develop a statistically reliable, global measure of resiliency, equally represented by men and women. He thought going into the survey (during COVID-19) that countries with highest COVID19 cases and death would be the most resilient.
He was wrong.
Instead, Buckingham discovered it is experiences and an ecosystem that enables resilience. At work, the ecosystem comprises the following: individuals, team leaders, and senior leaders.
Buckingham explained in a Harvard Business Review article his two key findings about experiences and ecosystems:
- Resilience is a reactive state of mind created by exposure to suffering.
- The more tangible leaders make the threat, the more resilient people become.
Buckingham’s advice to leaders is don’t sugar-coat harsh reality. Tell people the truth about threats and they will respond with resilience.
Let’s break this advice in more detail.
First for individuals. Individuals need to know what they can control and cannot control at work and focus on what they can. They should also try to find strength in work. If they can, they will be more resilient.
Second for team leaders. Team leaders need to check in frequently with each employee every week to see how they are doing. Buckingham recommends they ask two questions:
- What are you working on this week?
- How can I help you?
Team leaders also have the ability to tell employees what they need to know for any crisis in the near team. The more they do this, the more resilient their workers will be. And the more focused they will be on meeting their goals.
Third, for senior leaders. The need to stay one step ahead of events. When he says this, Buckingham is referring to events in the near future, such as around the corner, not next year. Such concerns may include work employees need to do, information relating to customers the company will continue to serve, and details about the small steps they can take to continue the business. He emphasizes that senior leaders should not sugar coat bad news. Speak to reality, what they know. Senior leaders need to follow through on what they say they will do and build trust with employees. Learn more.
Our job as leaders during turbulent times is to provide trusted communications and direction to our employees. Executives and team leaders have a role in this. Are you boosting the resilience of your employees?
About Victor
Victor Assad is the CEO of Victor Assad Strategic Human Resources Consulting and Managing Partner of InnovationOne, LLC. He works with organizations to transform HR and recruiting, implement remote work, and develop extraordinary leaders, teams, and innovation cultures. He is the author of the highly acclaimed book, Hack Recruiting: The Best of Empirical Research, Method and Process, and Digitization. He is quoted in business journals such as The Wall Street Journal, Workforce Management, and CEO Magazine. Victor has partnered with The Conference Board the Us Department of Energy on innovation research. Subscribe to his weekly blogs at http://www.VictorHRConsultant.com