15 months of a global pandemic sure can wear you out. No matter what type of business you are in, my belief is that your work has changed in some way shape or form as a result of what we have just experienced, and in many cases are still experiencing. People are simply worn out and exhausted. Individuals and groups I’m working with are echoing this sentiment in just about every aspect of their jobs.
Whether your business was as busy as it’s ever been, or you’ve been forced to make some big adjustments, now is as good a time as any to take a pause and hit the reset button. Even if you are feeling great, there’s a strong probability that your teams are still reeling from the impact of the past year and a half.
As we approach the mid-point of 2021, I thought now would be a good time to share a way to create that strategic pause, so you can focus on the second half of the year with clarity and focus. Let’s hit the Reset Button!
First things first- if you haven’t already done so, then please before you do anything else, take some time to RECHARGE. The past 15 months have taken it’s toll both mentally and physically so now is a great time to step down off the never-ending treadmill and recharge your battery.
If you have the ability to take some days off- do it. If you are able to take a vacation- take it. But this could be as simple as connecting with some friends or family – IN PERSON, getting a message, going on a date with your significant other, taking a walk outside or getting some exercise. Recharging doesn’t always have to involve traveling to a new location, it just needs to provide you with some fuel to create the momentum needed in the coming months.
When you are worn down, it’s easy to allow the stressors of the day to impact your entire day, week, or month. If you are not where you need to be and your energy level is depleted, how good do you think you are going to be at handling the new challenges presented in a post covid economy. This is not the time to suck it up and power through as the rest of 2021 will provide many opportunities for you to do just that. Right now it’s time to refuel your tank and get ready for the long haul of the next 6 months and beyond.
Once you’ve recharged, then you can start thinking about how you are planning to RECOMMIT. This is your opportunity to reconnect to what you are passionate about in your business. Why do you get up and fight the good fight every day? As you reconnect to what excites you in the business all that newly restored energy you’ve created with will help to propel you and your business to the next levels.
The past 15 months we haven’t really run our business, our business has run us. With so many new challenges being thrown our way every day, it’s easy to have our “WHY” get lost in daily grind of keeping the business afloat and moving forward. Priorities shifted from day to day, and in some cases hour by hour. Since we are designed for patterns, it’s easy to rationalize chaos and this was necessary in order to make sense of some decisions we were forced to make. Many of those force-fed ways of doing things unfortunately have become habits or routine and can be exhausting and stressful.
Make sure you take some time to recommit to what you do, how your do it, and most importantly why you do it. If you aren’t willing to do it for yourself, do it for your team or your organization.
Finally, after we have recharged our battery and recommitted to what we do, take some time to do a full RESET. Organizational norms were thrown out the window these past 15 months. People and processes have all gotten somewhat out of whack. Right now teams and individuals aren’t sure about the expectations, and how they are going to impact them in both the short and long term. Lack of clarity is a big reason why people tend to leave organizations or look elsewhere. People crave certainty, but in will accept clarity in it’s place so it’s your job to help create it.
These are the times where leaders lead. And by the way, you’ve heard me say many times that you do not need a title or a team to be a leader. You lead by the way you show up every day and you lead from the chair you currently reside. Right now there is an amazing opportunity to have meaningful discussions with your teams about resetting the guidelines and revisiting the expectations. Get your teams to provide input around what coming back to the jobsite looks like and what they will be doing once they get there.
Are you planning to have everyone back like before? Are we creating flex in the schedules when it’s possible as this seems to be what the modern worker is craving? How are we managing our business, our clients, those we serve? These are the $64,000 questions, and they can’t be answered with company mandates or more rules and restrictions. Start the conversation and see where it leads.
Work is no longer just a place, but a set of values and standards that we all know and get to adhere to. There are some in your business that may not like the idea of creating expectations and standards, and sadly they may choose to move on elsewhere. Fear of losing people can’t be your reason to not engage in an intelligent discussion of what the new expectations are going to look like for working in your organization.
Most people that work in a company want to come in and do a great job, they want to feel valued in their roles and feel as though what they do matters, and in order to do that you get to start the process of resetting those expectations and standards so people know what they are supposed to do every day. And by the way, what is the alternative? No standards, no values, no expectations?
Do yourself a huge service and get your teams involved in a real discussion about expectations in the post covid economy because all indicators are telling us that the next 6 months and beyond are going to see a tsunami of new business and demand for what you do. Preparing for this is up to you- or you can subscribe to “hope” management and if you do, I wish you the best of luck.
There you have it-
Recharge your battery.
Recommit to your passion for the business.
Reset the expectations for your organization.
Then when we are ready, let’s finally kiss the pandemic farewell.
Cheers to you hitting your own reset button and to the back half of 2021
One Quarter Turn at a time.
Thoughts for the week:
Great things never came from comfort zones- Unknown
Sometimes you have to push the reset button and start over. Don’t let your history stop your destiny. – Unknown
Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change. -Jim Rohn
The way I see it if you want a rainbow you gotta put up with the rain. -Dolly Parton
All great things are preceded by chaos. -Unknown
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