How to Prepare Your People for the New Normal

As a coach working with CEOs and other leaders, I help my clients learn to be ready for what the future is likely to bring—and for the possibilities that they can’t see coming. Lately I’ve been focusing on helping them prepare themselves and their people for what’s being called the new normal—life after this initial phase of the crisis is over, when we return to a workplace that in many ways won’t be the same as the one we left.

Here are some of the most important things you need to consider as you prepare your team for the weeks and months to come:

If the team was struggling before, now they will be challenged even more. If your team found working together to be a struggle before the pandemic, they’ll be more challenged than ever. Even for those who come back in to work, office life will be different. Anything new takes extra effort and adds extra stress, so provide plenty of clarity and patience.

If the team was used to a set process before, now they will need to make adjustments. A wide reassessment is happening everywhere: Is what we did six months ago still relevant today? Many teams will be required to pivot or revise their projects and projections. Not only processes but also organizational priorities and needs are changing.

If the team was only semi-engaged before, now they will have to tune in more than ever. Even in the best teams, there are disagreements and conflicts. Where before people could work things out face to face, reconciling differences is going to remain difficult. Leaders must prepare their people to tune in to one another even more and find room to agree before disengagement can even begin.

If the team had a hard time with accountability before, now they will have to be more responsible than ever. Change and uncertainty lead to anxiety and stress—which means no one on your team is likely to be at their best and problems become magnified. People who struggled with accountability before will be more likely to blame others. Coach your team to take ownership and model accountability for them.

If decisions always came from the top before, now teams will have to learn to make them together. If there’s a silver lining to crisis, it’s that it shakes up structure. In the past weeks many teams have seen people across functions step up and speak up with effective results—and now that they’ve found their voices, taking them away would be both difficult and wrong. Leaders and teams alike need to learn a new style of collaborative decision making.

The best leaders are preparing their people for the new normal, because they know that if their people are prepared, the rest of the organization will be aligned.

Lead from within: Preparation is everything. Leaders know that when you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

#1 N A T I O N A L  B E S T S E L L E R

The Leadership Gap
What Gets Between You and Your Greatness

After decades of coaching powerful executives around the world, Lolly Daskal has observed that leaders rise to their positions relying on a specific set of values and traits. But in time, every executive reaches a point when their performance suffers and failure persists. Very few understand why or how to prevent it.

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Additional Reading you might enjoy:

• • How Great Leadership is Generated in Significant Crisis
  • How to Lead Your Team When The Future Is Uncertain
  • The One Aspect Of Crisis Management That No One Talks About
  • How The Best Leaders Are Already Planning Past The Crisis
  • How to Engage Employees During Uncertain Times
  • The One Quality Every Leader Needs To Succeed

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