Anthony J. Algmin is the Founder and CEO of Algmin Data Leadership, a company helping business and technology leaders transform their future with data, and author of a new book on data leadership. We asked for his insights on how strong leaders can see their teams, their companies, and their people through this global pandemic (and other crises in the future). The following are his own words:
Managers sometimes forget that the people we lead have lives outside of the office. This is true always but is amplified when a crisis occurs. We need to remember that our job is to serve their teams, to help them be as aligned and productive as possible in the short and long terms.
Crises are exactly when we need to think about what they might be going through, and realize that the partnership we have with our employees is more than a transaction. If we’ve ever asked our people to make sacrifices, like working over a weekend without extra pay, we should be thinking first about how we can support them through the tough times. When we do right by people when they really need it, they will run through walls again for our organizations when things return to normal.
Let them know it’s okay to breathe and talk about it. In a situation like COVID-19 where everything was disrupted and people are adjusting to things like working from home, it is naturally going to be difficult and frustrating.
The best advice is to encourage people to turn off the TV and stop frequently checking the news websites. As fast as news is happening, it will not make a difference in what we can control ourselves. Right now most of us know what our day will look like, and nothing that comes out in the news is going to materially change it. If we avoid the noisy inputs, we’ll be much better able to focus and get our brains to stop spinning on things we can’t control.
And this may be the only time I would advocate for more meetings. If you don’t have at least a daily standup with your team, you should. And encourage everyone to have a video-enabled setup if at all possible. We may not be able to be in the same room, but the sense of engagement with video is much greater than audio-only calls.
We also risk spiraling if we think too much about how our companies are struggling, or if our teams cannot achieve what our organizations need to be successful. It’s like the difference in sports between practice and the big game. Normal times are when leaders game plan, strategize, and work on our fundamentals. Crises are the time to focus and leave it all on the field.
That said, do not fail to observe and note what works well and where you struggle. If you had problems with data quality or inefficient processes before the crisis, you are not fixing them now. Pull out the duct tape and find a way through it. But later, when the crisis subsides, learn from the experience and get better for next time.
Find a hobby. Anything you can do to clear your head and separate work from the other considerations in your life. We may feel like the weight of the world is on our shoulders, and without a pressure release we will not be able to sustain this level of stress and remain as productive as our teams, businesses, and families need us.
Matt Stigliano
March 24, 2009 at 9:12 am
Heather – Crowd psychology is an interesting study. Jim Morrison of The Doors was fascinated by it and wrote about it several times. Having been a musician, I was always interested in it, after learning a bit about it from some of his writing. Having stood on festival stages, I’ve seen it in action. You can make a crowd do just about anything if you push them in the right direction.
Mark Eckenrode
March 24, 2009 at 7:06 pm
likin’ this post… psychology es muy bueno.
what you’re writing about is in line with “social proof” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_proof) where folks who lack enough information to decide on a course of action will follow the lead of others. very much herd behavior.
the way to reach those that are basing their decision off of noise instead of data is to highlight those that have the data and the moves they are making. Position them as “cool folks in the know” while also positioning those that aren’t making moves “uncool folks not in the know.”
for example, a community wanted to increase it’s recycling efforts and had failed with past promotions until… they ran a low-budget commercial that showed people in the neighborhood all taking their recyclables down to the curb. one boy asked his father, “where are the petersons?” to whcih dad replied, “son, the petersons, well, they don’t recycle.”
community recycling jumped (nobody wanted to be like the petersons!). same psychology can be applied here…
Ken Brand
March 25, 2009 at 6:47 am
As marketers, communicators, connectors, persuaders and entrepreneurs, a bit of study, observation and cogitating on this subject is a wise idea.
Seth Godin had a recent post that is sorta semi-related. Common desires quenched can influence and attract a crowd – https://budurl.com/SethGodin5PillarsSM
Thanks for sharing.
Bill Lublin
March 25, 2009 at 9:02 am
Heather;
Great post and great points- I just wanted to know if the photo was taken at Lori Bee’s farm?
😉