Episode 50: New Normal: Leading Post-Covid

Please excuse any typos, transcripts are generated by an automated service

Dr. Melissa Smith 0:00
We are all facing a new normal, of course the world has shifted underneath our feet. Are you adjusting to the new normal? Are you learning to navigate leadership in a post COVID world? So today we’re going to be talking about how to navigate this new normal, what it means for you what it means for your leadership. So let’s jump in.

Dr. Melissa Smith 0:22
Hi, I’m Dr. Melissa Smith, welcome to the pursue what matters podcast where we focus on what it takes to thrive in love and work. So over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been focusing on how great leaders lead through crisis. And of course, we’ve been focusing on how you can lead your team while in the face of uncertainty, we’ve also been focusing on what you need, personally, to remain steady in the face of crisis. So you can lead your team well, so that’s what we’ve been focusing on the past couple of weeks. And now today, we’re going to turn our attention to the specific mindsets and actions required in this new world where we find ourselves.

Dr. Melissa Smith 1:29
So you know, we’ve had a few weeks to kind of get our bearings and right, obviously, it’s going to take more than a few weeks. But we’re starting to ease into this new world. And I think that that is actually a fair way to describe it. So the thing that we’re gonna focus on today with the podcast, is looking to history at some of the lessons from past crises. Because this is this is what’s true. History has a lot to teach us. And while we have not obviously faced this crisis before, there have been other crises that have lessons for us, right, there have been other economic crises, there have been other pandemics, and there are lessons that we can glean. There have been other leaders who have led brilliantly through crisis. And so today, we’re really gonna focus in on how you can navigate this new normal both for yourself and for your team. And so we’re really looking to the horizon and paying attention to how you can navigate this new normal. But we’re going to do that by actually looking back a little bit and seeing what we can learn from history. And this is where perspective really, really matters. Because, you know, in the face of crisis, it’s so easy to lose perspective. And we do not want to lose perspective, because when we lose perspective, we lose our bearings, we lose our mind. And we don’t, you know, we can’t afford to do that in the first place. But it’s also so unhelpful because we lose clarity. And so today, we’re going to focus on your personal needs, we’re going to also really help you kind of set your foundation and your navigation for yourself and for your teams. If your email inboxes, anything like mine, it has been flooded with emails all about COVID-19. Right. And some of its good and some of its not so great. But one of the things that I thought could be helpful for us today is to really glean some of the best leadership thinking about crisis about times of uncertainty, and give you a summary of thoughts on leading in the time of COVID.

Dr. Melissa Smith 4:08
Okay, so we’re really going to be very practical and think in terms of solutions. And we’re talking on a personal level, we’re talking on a professional level and kind of like I’ve talked about in recent podcasts, you know, the the idea of work life balance has kind of become a cruel joke, right, like we’re working at home. You know, we’re homeschooling or doing all of this, you know, all of this, a juggling, there’s absolutely no balance in there. But we we really want to be thinking about how we can create a steady foundation for ourselves. And for those we lead, whether at home or at work, recognizing that that’s all for most of us happening at the same place.

Dr. Melissa Smith 4:56
So solution one, this is a big one. So I want you to resist the urge to centralize command during a crisis. So this is such a strong urge, because when things become uncertain, the tendency is to cling to control, and to take all of those decisions to the top. And the reality is that your team needs to be able to make decisions. And, you know, you need their input to make good decisions. So you really want to actually decentralized decision making during a time of uncertainty and crisis. Now, there are some caveats to that. So let’s, let’s talk about that and dive in a little bit deeper. So you can so we can clarify that. But again, the tendency during a crisis is to seize control, so you know, what’s going on as a leader, right. And I have totally felt that for myself, I’m like, Oh, I got to know like, every single metric, I got to understand exactly what’s happening in the business. And that’s important to understand and see what’s happening. But that is not the same as seizing control.

Dr. Melissa Smith 6:20
Okay. So there’s an important difference between awareness and control. So I want you to understand that difference. We don’t want you to seize control, we do want you to have awareness of everything that’s going on, that’s actually pretty darn important. during a crisis, you’re going to have to increase your awareness of everything that’s going on within the business during uncertainty. But that’s not the same as seizing control of everything. Okay, so a decentralized approach, meaning you’re sharing decision making, you’re, you know, spreading out that control actually works well. But the leader in order for this to work, well, the leader has got to have absolute clarity, about priorities. So if you, as a leader, do not have clarity about what matters, in times of uncertainty, then a decentralized approach will be disastrous, okay. So this is where a leader really has got to do his or her work in the first place to have clarity about what really matters most in a crisis. Okay. So a couple of weeks ago, I did the podcast on leading during a crisis. And if you have not listened to that podcast, I would highly recommend that you go back and listen to that podcast, I will link to it in the show notes. But that is the prep work that will help you to really understand and see if you have clarity about what really matters in the time of crisis, because here’s the thing, some of your priorities will shift. And some of your priorities must shift in the face of a crisis. And that is just, you know, in in response to the reality of the economic shifts happening in light of COVID. And so as part of Episode 14, or not 14, I don’t know where that came from. And as part of Episode 48, which is leading through crisis, I have a really good resource, which is, let’s see, it is entitled, let me find that. It’s entitled, what you need to know, to lead confidently now, I really would encourage you first to listen to that podcast, and then download that resource because it will actually take you step by step through this process of determining as a leader, what are the priorities? And you know, to help you have clarity about what are the priorities in this crisis situation? And so for you, as a leader, you have got to do your work first, to figure out what what is most important in a crisis.

Dr. Melissa Smith 9:27
Okay, so once you’ve done that, then a decentralized approach works really well. And it really becomes very, very functional, for your organization and for your team. Okay, so that’s the that’s the first thing. So a decentralized approach works really well. But a leader has got to have that clarity. Okay. And then so the first part of that is that the leader has got to do their work first, to have clarity about those priorities during a crisis and then set The leader has got to communicate those priorities clearly to the team. Okay, so also part of that episode on leading through crisis, one of the one of the key points that I made in that episode is that leaders have got to be communicating, and you’ve got to be really transparent in your communication, we don’t want to scare anyone, but you’ve got to be willing to actually err on the side of over communication. And so that is, the second piece of a decentralized approach is communicating about priorities clearly, okay. And then third, the third part of a decentralized approach is having mechanisms in place for ensuring priorities are kept on track. And so this can be specific frameworks or structures, where you know, there’s feedback in place, or there’s accountability in place, just to make sure that everyone’s staying on track. So whether that is, you know, a twice weekly stand up meeting, whether that is a tracking system, like a CRM, or within, you know, an internal productivity system that you have, but there needs to be some sort of mechanism in place for ensuring that those priorities are kept on track so that you as a leader, are not micromanaging. Right, but we do need to have some accountability in place. And hopefully, you know, if you, if you were a pretty functional organization, pre COVID, you’ve already got those mechanisms in place. If you haven’t had those mechanisms in place, you can implement something pretty easily. Even if it’s, hey, we’re gonna do a 15 minute stand up meeting via zoom, you know, every, every Wednesday morning, just to check in on how we’re doing, or we’re going to do an email check in by, you know, Tuesday morning at 815, where every member of the team gives a brief update on their progress on their part of whatever the priority is. And, and so those can work really well. But you’ve got to clarify the priority, you’ve got to communicate those priorities, clearly. And then you’ve got to establish whatever that mechanism is for ensuring those priorities are kept on track. And so let’s make sure we do that. And then a decentralized approach is really great. Because this and this is where we kind of move to the next component of a decentralized approach.

Dr. Melissa Smith 12:55
So the leader steers the ship, and must always have clarity about purpose at the top of his or her mind. And so the thing that I want you to understand about this is that purpose does not shift with a crisis. So your priorities might shift. But your purpose does not shift. And so I want you to think about the metaphor of the ship. And you as a leader are the ship’s captain, okay. And so if we think about purpose, and vision, that’s, so I’m just going to use those terms, they’re not the same thing. But for our purposes, right now, I’m just going to use those terms interchangeably. But if we think about purpose and vision, they are your destination. They are where you are going. And those purpose and vision do not shift with a crisis. And so as the leader as the ship’s captain, you must have clarity about purpose and vision, you’ve got to know where you’re going. And so you’ve got to keep your eye on the horizon. You’ve got to keep an eye on where you’re going. Now, you’re also aware of what’s happening on the ship, you are aware of what’s happening in front of you, and you need to, but you cannot be making every single decision about what’s happening on the ship’s deck. Because if you do, you’re gonna run up into the Shoals, right, you’re gonna run into the rocks, and you’re going to sink your ship. And so, in the face of a crisis in the face of a storm, right, your priorities might shift, but your purpose or your vision or your destination should not shift. So with a priority shifting, what that means is, you might have to change your route. You might have to go around another way to get to destination because of the storm you are facing. And so when you have clarity, about purpose and vision and destination, you do not lose sight of your ultimate destination.

Dr. Melissa Smith 15:16
So you’re always thinking about that, as you’re considering these priorities and how they might have to shift in response to the storm, but you’re still focused on that ultimate destination. And so it’s the leaders or the ship captains job to retain clarity about that overall direction, and purpose. And no one can do this as a substitute for the leader. And if the leader is too stuck in the details of what’s happening on deck, you know, that captain is going to run up into the shoals. And it’s going to lose sight of overall direction, and purpose, and no one on that ship is going to make it to that ultimate destination. And so we really, as a leader, you’ve got to have clarity about purpose, you’ve got to keep your eye on the horizon. And you’ve got to communicate to your team, about that. Horizon and about that, and about that vision and about the shift in priorities, right, you’ve got to tell them, Hey, this is why we’re turning to the west right now. I, this is why I need you to trim these to trim those cells, right, and you’re communicating that. And so as part of that, you’ve got to delegate delegate, a lot of decisions can be better made by your team, then by you.

Dr. Melissa Smith 16:50
So especially in the face of uncertainty and crisis, do not let fear undermine trust, you have a team that hopefully you’ve built a lot of trust with over time. So don’t let fear undermine your trust. And a statement that I have used for years, both in my clinical work, and also in my leadership coaching, is to trust the strength of the relationship. And what this means is that you build trust, in the strength of the relationship over years. And over, you know, over over time, when you have, you know, you build an accountability and you build in these, these relationships, where you are able to count on one another, whether that’s with empathy, or whether that’s with, hey, I asked you to do something, and you follow through on it. And there’s integrity there, there’s trust there there is mutual respect. And so in the face of the storm, in the face of the crisis, do not let fear, undermine trust, because what happens in the face of fear is we default to control as a substitute for trust. And we do not want that to happen. And so you’ve got to lean in to delegation. So that’s the first thing you’ve got to delegate.

Dr. Melissa Smith 18:24
And then second, autonomy does not mean isolation. And I think that’s a really, really important point. So don’t leave your team alone. You know, because especially in the face of crisis, they need additional support, they need additional guidance, they need additional reassurance, because just like you, they’ve got a lot of uncertainty, they’ve got a lot of fear. This is probably a completely new horizon to them, as well, right? I mean, this is new to everyone. And so let your team make decisions, but support them in what they need. And ask them, ask them what they need. So don’t make assumptions, but determine with them, what is their call, and what support looks like in each situation. And I think a really great question for team members and for team leads is to ask, What does support look like in this situation? Right, what do you need for me? What does support look like? Do you want me to be Do you want me to be part of your smaller team meeting as you talk about the decision making process in this situation? So, for example, to be able to say, this is your call, but you know, we maybe as like the higher leadership team, like we want to meet to ensure that you’re considering the situation from every angle, so the leader is involved, but that smaller team is also making the decision. And so not necessarily in a paternalistic way, we don’t want it to be like that. But more in terms of support and encouragement, and hey, we are here, we’ve got your back. And we you know, we also want to make sure you’re considering everything, because we recognize that this is new territory to you as well.

Dr. Melissa Smith 20:25
So again, some of the specific questions that you can ask, include What does support look like in this situation? What do you need from me? How can I help you in your role? So I think those can be really specific, or very specific questions. And I think you do need to ask specific questions, because a lot of times people don’t know what they need. So you’re going to need to kind of help them along. And be specific, get specific, because that that will actually really help them. Because a lot of times people like people don’t know what they don’t know, right? And they don’t necessarily know, don’t know what they actually need in those situations. And so this could be a situation where, you know, maybe it’s, Hey, could it be helpful for me to sit in on that meeting, and I will write like, I’ll just be a silent observer. And maybe that could be helpful. Maybe that could be reassuring, maybe that would be intimidating. So you check that out with your team member, and see if that could be helpful. Or if that’s not going to be as helpful, maybe what would be more helpful is to say, Okay, well, hey, I’m going to be available. When you’re done with that meeting, why don’t you come meet with me, and we’ll do a debrief, so that as soon as you’re done with that meeting, we can talk it through, and figure out what you and your team came up with. So be prepared to give the people you lead options, right, because like I said, they don’t necessarily know what could be helpful for them. And so give them options and be specific, so that you can, so that you can support them effectively. So we want to avoid vague support, we want to try and be specific. That was solution. One, I’ve just got a few solutions. But there was a lot in that

Dr. Melissa Smith 22:28
Solution two during a crisis, you know, the decision making process must be more clear, more concise, and include more accountability. So of course, a crisis equals uncertainty, chaos and anxiety. So those things just go hand in hand. Therefore, decision making must be clear, concise, and accountable. And so I really want you to think in terms of that decision making that’s clear, concise, and accountable. So there really cannot be any questions about the process about who’s in charge. Because all of that really feeds more anxiety. And there’s already a ton of anxiety. So for you, as a leader, whatever you can do, to clarify, processes to clarify communication, to clarify priorities, right, have already talked about that. This is going to be so essential. So even simple. flowcharts are really, really helpful. Now, that might seem so simplistic, but it’s really not. Because you’ve got to imagine what a traumatized brain looks like. And what a traumatized brain looks like, is scrambled eggs. Right? And the fact is, we’ve all been traumatized. And I don’t, I do not think that it’s too big of a stretch to call it that. We’re all going through a huge ambiguous loss right now. And so we’re not thinking clearly, chaos is reigned supreme. And so anything you can do to simplify, clarify, and make things more concise, will be super, super powerful. And really, really helpful.

Dr. Melissa Smith 24:28
So this might mean that there’s, you know, one representative that speaks for the team, rather than a lot of reps that are speaking on one subject, and then the rest of the team is going to need to be pretty disciplined in terms of communication so that they do not undermine clarity. So you’ve got one one rep who’s kind of speaking about, you know, whatever the issue might be, and you can kind of see this in Different Crisis Response whether that’s on a global level and national level, when you have, when you have a lot of different authorities, quote unquote, authorities trying to speak to the same issue, it just gets confusing and you don’t know who you should be listening to. So you want to consolidate that. And it, that does not mean that there’s only one person making decisions. So right, don’t confuse that with what I was talking about earlier. But we want to have clarity in terms of like, Where’s the communication coming from? Right, that there’s a clear channel of communication. And so again, teams need reassurance guidance and unity, during a crisis. And so if there are a ton of voices and many messages, it’s really difficult to know if anyone is leading or if anyone knows what’s going on. And so also, like, people start to question if there’s a unified plan of action.

Dr. Melissa Smith 26:02
So like I said, you want to be transparent in your communication, and you want to be over communicating, but you want to have clarity in your communication. So don’t, so don’t be sending communication, that is all over the place. Because that will actually undermine, that will undermine you, it will undermine clarity, and it will actually just feed anxiety. So we don’t want that to happen. So we do want that communication to be happening. And, and so like, I’m not saying that you just paint a rosy picture, but maybe, you know, so one, one example, or one way that this might look is, especially in the early stages, right? Like when maybe you didn’t know what you were going to do as an organization, it would be totally appropriate to have sent a communication that said, as an organization, we are still assessing whether, whether we will be moving to telework, we want you to know that we are actively assessing the situation and determining what the path forward will be. As soon as we have that decision made, we will keep you informed. And we’ll give you like we’ll let you know by this date. So right, like you’re not giving them information that you don’t have, you’re not pretending to have all the answers. But you’re actually you’re communicating transparently, you’re also communicating reassurance and letting them know, hey, we’re working on this, we don’t have it all figured out. But we’ll figure out what we can. And that you’re also giving them some reassurance that, hey, we’re going to, we’re going to give you some information, so you have a little more certainty, right, we can’t give you total certainty, but we’re doing our best. And so that can be really helpful. So So that’s, you know, that’s a pretty similar example to something that I did with my organization, when we were making the decision to move to telehealth appointments. You know, I said, Okay, this is the lay of the land. These are the decisions that we are looking at. This is the information that I’m taking in. And I will let you know, by this by this time, right. And then I also said, If you because we have a pretty small team, please feel free to give me your feedback on this. And so that that was some transparent communication that also hopefully, communicated, you know, hey, I’m being proactive about this. I want to reassure you, I want to give you some certainty in an uncertain time. And it’s not it’s not a Pollyanna stance. It’s not, hey, we’ve got this all totally figured out. But we are, we have clarity, and we’re actively seeking clarity in a chaotic time.

Dr. Melissa Smith 29:36
Solution three, okay, we really want you to be intentional with your communication, right? And so this is absolutely related to what I was just talking about. But during crisis situations, people really do have heightened vulnerabilities. So if there are any dysfunctional dynamics at work, these will be laid bare by a crisis. So Anything that was dysfunctional before the crisis before COVID it that the dial is just going to be turned up in the midst of a crisis. So I’m just warning you that that that absolutely will happen if it hasn’t already. So team members will probably also be more likely to have hair triggers due to the higher stress. And so for you, as a leader, you’re just going to have to, you’re just going to have to move into even more call, you really do need to be the calm in the storm, because the reality is, your team members, and not all of them, certainly we hope not. But your team members are going to be more reactive. Emotionally, they’re just on a roller coaster. And so this is why it’s so so important that you have some firm grounding in coping skills.

Dr. Melissa Smith 31:02
So you know, I do I have that leadership survival skills workshop, which is all about helping you to be the calm in the storm. And so if you can use some help with that, because, right, like, we’re asking a lot of you as a leader right now, right? While you’re also dealing with everything that your team is dealing with, right, you’ve got enormous, you’ve got an enormous load on your shoulders, and we’re asking you to be the call. So you know that this workshop could be super helpful for you for really strengthening that foundation for yourself. So anyway, I will link to that in the show notes. If that could be helpful, it does not take a lot of time. But it can really be very, very helpful for you. But as a leader, you really need to get more quiet, get more calm in the face of the reactivity, and in the face of the emotional rollercoaster. So be incredibly intentional with your communication. Be very considerate about how you communicate with your team, about your choice of words, slow yourself down, you know, draft your emails, put them on pause before you send them, right. So this is not the time to just be shooting off emails, because here’s the thing, you’re going to get flooded with emails, you’re going to get flooded with questions. And in your desire to be responsive in your desire to be over communicating, right, which is what I said err on the side of over communicating.

Dr. Melissa Smith 32:49
You might, you might be responding reactively, right, you might not, you might not be totally intentional about your communication, and it might not be totally helpful. So your team will be looking to make meaning from your words. And most of their storytelling will be anxiety Laden. And so what happens is in the face of anxiety, we look to make meaning. I’ve talked about this on some my igtv on Instagram, if you follow me there, but you know, we are meaning making, we are meaning making species. And so in the face of uncertainty, especially, we are looking to make meaning. And so we take data points in reality, and we try really hard to connect the dots. And so you know, people, your team members who see your emails, or they see your communications, and they start to connect the dots as a way of trying to make meaning and trying to find some certainty in the face of uncertainty. But what happens is their storytelling is going to be full of anxiety, it’s going to be full of fear mongering, it’s going to be laden with their greatest fears around oh my goodness, I’m not going to have a job in two months. We’re all going to be laid off, you know, and so that’s not you. Right, like, that’s their fear. But we don’t want to give them you know, ammunition as it were for their storytelling, which is why I want you to be so darn intentional about your communication. They’re still going to do storytelling. But we don’t want to contribute to that. Storytelling is also one of the issues that I address in the leadership leadership survivals skills because i think that’s that’s a way that we get so off course with leadership, but we really want to be able to stick to the things facts and be the call. So deliberate call is one way of approaching your role as a leader.

Dr. Melissa Smith 35:07
So raise your level of consciousness, and be acutely aware of how you’re being perceived because people are watching you like a hawk. And they are going to be attaching meaning to everything you do everything you don’t do, right, they are looking to you for reassurance and for guidance. If you look stressed, and as though you are not coping Well, it will stress your team out. So again, this does not mean that you should pretend I am not advocating that for one minute. And like, like you can write, like, we’re not good at pretending anyway. And I don’t want you to do that. Anyway, right? Like that moves you out of integrity. But I am making the case for taking good care of yourself, so that you can be fully present and aware with your people. So be really careful not to make promises that you cannot keep. You always, always always need to be honest with your people. So if you do not know something, say you don’t know, your people do not need you to be perfect, they need you to lead. So don’t make promises you can’t keep. don’t promise, perfection, don’t try and be perfect. And this is the other thing, you might feel a really strong pole to provide relief and reassurance that you actually cannot realistically get. So for instance, you might really feel very tempted to tell your team that no one will get laid off, when in reality, you may not be able to realistically make that promise. So don’t make that promise. Don’t make that promise, you really have to resist that urge. And ultimately, it’s dishonest. And it makes it harder for your team. Because it right, like it just sets them up. So instead, say something like, I’d like to tell you everything will be okay. But I don’t know.

Dr. Melissa Smith 37:28
So instead, right, like what can you give them, you can give them your word that you will be honest with them, you can give them your word that you will communicate with them about what you do know, you can give them your word that you will do your best to represent their needs, and to lead the organization or the team as it may be through the crisis. So you can provide consistent presence, you can provide stability, and you could you can provide structure. So you’re not a superwoman or Superman do not make promises you cannot keep. Right. And so this is where we just we’ve got to lean in to the realities of being human and right, like, they don’t need you to be perfect, but they do need you to be honest with them. And, you know, part of being part of being a good enough leader and actually a great leader is is being able to be honest with your people about about the really difficult things, whether that is about layoffs or whether that is about the very difficult realities that you face.

Dr. Melissa Smith 38:55
Okay, solution four: prioritize leadership development and team building. So a really, really big mistake that a lot of leaders make in the face of crisis, is they actually discontinue activities that they consider to be kind of peripheral, or like, like these are kind of bonus things, at the very point that their teams need the most support and development. So they abandon leadership development and team building trainings. At the time, that teams are in most crisis, and actually need these programs and these trainings more than ever. I mean, it’s so absolutely backwards. But what happens is like we go into survival mode, and so we just get rid of everything. Except, like the bare minimum. And so I really want you to also resist this urge because it’s just it’s really backwards thinking And it’s, it’s also really short sighted and undermines coping, and long term resilience. And so this is where for you as a leader, you’ve got to have clarity about purpose. And you, you know, like you want to you like you want your team to be in this for the long haul, right. And so part of that is you want to be prioritizing their development and their team building, like what’s going to help them get through this. And it is the resilience skills, it is the team building skills, right? Like, it’s all of these core leadership trainings, and resilience building skills that will help them and help you as an organization to weather this storm.

Dr. Melissa Smith 40:50
So this is not the time to be short sighted. So leadership and team development, they really need to be seen as a core function, and not a peripheral activity. So that really, really important. And you know, these activities can do more to strengthen and see your people through a crisis, and set them up for post traumatic growth, which is such an incredible phenomenon, so that you as a team, you as an organization actually come out on the other side, stronger. And we see that happen, we do see that happen for organizations, we see that happen for individuals, but you have to be intentional, you have to have clarity, about purpose, you have to have clarity about vision, and you’ve got to be steady on the will. Right? Like you’ve got to, you’ve got to steer that ship. And you can’t abandon, you know, these leadership and team building activities that keep your team stable in the face of crisis.

Dr. Melissa Smith 42:04
So when you continue to support your team’s development during a crisis, stress actually becomes a vehicle for growth, rather than a risk factor. And the research around this is profound. I mean, it is just mind blowing. And I am actually going to be reviewing a book in an upcoming podcast where I talk about some of that research. And it’s amazing. It’s just, it’s so incredible. So, but the key is, you’ve got to continue that support. So even if you need to simplify these activities, make sure you and your team are getting the support needed to thrive in the face of uncertainty. Because this is this is the thing, it’s not a given that crisis is a destructive force. And I think that’s a really important mind shift that we want to challenge. It’s not a given that crisis is a destructive force. It can, it can actually be a factor for growth, it can be a factor for resilience. But we’ve got to be intentional, we’ve got to have clarity, we’ve got to have vision, we cannot abandon, we cannot abandon the activities that keep us on a trajectory for growth. And so you as a leader plays such a vital role in ensuring that we don’t abandon those components that help us to grow, and dare I say, thrive in the face of uncertainty. And it is so possible, it’s so possible, so we definitely want to shift that mindset.

Dr. Melissa Smith 43:49
So, okay, there you go four solutions with lots of details on all of them on you know, adjusting to the new normal and navigating leadership in a post COVID world. So just remember, you are the captain I feel like I want to quote from from that Tom Hanks movie. I’m the captain now but I’m not going to I’m going to resist that urge. But right as the leader, you are the captain, you must steer the ship. You cannot. You can’t turn that role over to anyone else. But it’s not a given that crisis is a destructive force. And something actually can be such a powerful, it can actually be such a powerful factor for growth. And so I hope you can shift your mindset so you can actually guide your team and guide guide, whoever you lead, whether it’s at work or home, because stress can be a protective factor. Crisis can be a factor for growth and The way we approach it, our intentionality about it makes all the difference.

Dr. Melissa Smith 45:06
So make sure you head on over to my website to check out the show notes. With all the great resources for this episode at www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-50 one more time, that’s www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-50. So I will link to Episode 48, which is leading through crisis. As part of that I have a really good resource that I talked about earlier in the podcast, which is what you need to know to lead confidently now, that’s really going to help you to focus in on your priorities. So you can have clarity about vision. So then you know how to navigate your team through this post COVID world. And then also I will have a link to the leadership survival skills workshop, which can is all about really helping you to strengthen your foundation, so that you can be the calm in the storm, right, because you are meant to lead and you’re meant to thrive. And we really need you to have that steady Foundation, so that you can be intentional about your leadership, because your people need you to be the calm in the storm. And then I also will link to my confidence to lead waitlist, which is a really comprehensive course I’m going to open the doors, it’s an online ecourse but I’m going to open the doors for that in September. I’m really excited about that. And it is going to be a deep dive in everything required to lead with confidence. So I hope you will consider joining me for that. So again, head on over to www.drmelissasmith.com/episode-50 and you know, we’re all doing the best we can. I know you’re probably doing way better than you think you are.

Dr. Melissa Smith 47:04
So hang in there. I’m Dr. Melissa Smith. Remember love and work, work in love. That’s all there is. Until next time, take good care.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai