Servant Leadership and the Post-Pandemic Normal
I was asked by the LinkedIn editorial team to address two topics related to the post-pandemic workforce and the office of tomorrow. I'm combining those here for my subscribers who are not on LinkedIn.
Friday 25 June 2021: The Big Shift
#thebigshift#servantleader Here's something to think about, Servant Leader. For the last twelve to eighteen months, we have been forced to learn how to operate on less information and with less personal interaction than in nearly any time in living memory. For those of us who are introverts, we have been riding on Cloud 9. Extroverts, however, have suffered considerably from the lack of interaction.
Now, many of us are returning to "normal," whatever that really means, or to some semblance of how things worked before the Big Shift to operate remotely. Extroverts are back on top and introverts are dropping like flies. Why?
Well, Servant Leader, one thing you may need to consider as you lead your workforce back to "normal" is the different ways in which introverts and extroverts react to changes in stimuli. I'm not a psychologist or counselor, but I am an observant leader, and I can tell you what worked to help your outgoing staff adjust to a year of life by Zoom is miles apart from what your more reserved staff need now.
Before we dig into the how, take a look at the why. In Romans, we are reminded that God made us all uniquely for a purpose. That means no two of us are alike - and no one of us is a mistake.
"For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another." (Rom 12:4-5, NKJV)
And because we are unique, cookie-cutter approaches just won't work. So, if you have a staff full of extroverts, open the office and welcome them in. Give them a day to catch up on where they've been and who they've missed over the last 18 months, then let them get back to business. They'll thrive.
But if you have an office full of private, reserved, introverted people, be patient. We're no less competent than we were when we left last April, it just takes us longer to wrap our brains around the cacophony that is the usual office environment. The loudest distractions we've dealt with over the last year come from our pets. After a year of quiet, everything is amplified. The greatest inconvenience we've suffered is our own failure to restock the coffee bar. Now, we have to decide if all this trouble...is worth the trouble. For some of us, it isn't worth it anymore.
So, tread cautiously, Servant Leader, and remember that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. It's just that some of us are made to have a handful of friends while others count friends by the number of commas in their list.
Wednesday 30 June 2021: Create Meaning
In my last post I wrote about what we need to do as servant leaders to ensure our more reserved employees (sometimes self-professed introverts) are equally as comfortable returning to a post-pandemic "normal" as our more outgoing ones (unashamedly extroverted). The crux of the discussion centered around why some employees are choosing to find different jobs rather than return to the chaos and cacophony of the pre-pandemic workplace. However, that conversation spawned an alternate concern - that of employees who want to stay but are having difficulty finding the motivation to do so. More so, how do we, as servant leaders, #CreateMeaning when we are ourselves discontented, confused, or unmotivated?
Serving this population of employees is equally as challenging and no less important than retaining quality employees who have elected now as the time for change. So how do we do it, Servant Leader? How do we serve our employees who are suffering silently, plodding along diligently, especially if we are one among them?
The answer is as frustratingly simple as it is difficult to implement, and it comes from Matthew, one of my favorite passages, when the Disciples see Christ walking on the water.
"'Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.' So He said, 'Come.' And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, 'Lord, save me!' And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?' And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased." (Matt 14:25-32, NKJV)
You see, Servant Leader, Peter was no less powerless when Jesus reached for his hand than he was when he took his first step. The difference between Peter walking ON the water and sinking IN the water was his focus. In our Biblical passage we've been taught to understand that the minute Peter focused on the churn, the storm, and took his focus off Christ, that began his downfall - quite literally. So, for us, the simple answer is, "Don't focus on the churn."
Easier said than done, right? I mean, when you return to work and another cubicle is empty because another employee has walked, or when your workload doubles because the company chose not to backfill a recently departed employee, how do you remain focused on the task, and not the churn?
We do so deliberately and continuously. Servant Leader, we have to make a choice to ignore the churn. We cannot get wrapped up in bad corporate decisions and holes left by departing staff - that's the storm. Instead we must choose to focus on the 25m target and trust the God has the 100m target firmly in HIs grasp. For my spiritual servant leaders, have faith. For my secular servant leaders, keep it simple. How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time.
One more thing for my subscribers.
No matter your position, no matter your nature, be authentic. Be authentic to yourself, to your family, to your associates, and to your boss. The world is full of people whose public persona differs greatly from their private one. Don't join them. They are of this world, we are only in it.
"I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world." (John 17:14-18, NKJV)
When your focus is on God, you can find beauty even in the churn.
(Photo: Laura Rowe)
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