What should leaders and managers do to clear the path to preserve and protect their workforces while promoting and enhancing employee engagement, morale, and productivity? A pragmatic, fast-track course of action to install mindfulness in organization’s leadership as written from a COO perspective.
Becoming mindful may not happen instantaneously, but in 10 minutes a pragmatic leader (who doesn’t usually go for soft-skills training) can get a good sense of what is required, can see its business value, and can have a path to making “mindfulness” a practical component of modern “situational awareness.”
Mindfulness in modern business, and in today’s crisis setting, is probably best thought of as the next evolution of “situational awareness.” This three-part series explains “mindfulness” in a way that a pragmatic business leader can better understand it, and then apply it, to achieve excellence in leading and managing today.
People are different. They think differently and approach problems in different ways. We used to think external environmental factors played the biggest role, but now the new science of “biological anthropology” is revealing how individuals may be hard-wired to think and approach problems a certain way. We call this hard-wiring “work styles.”
There are four primary “work styles” and each individual represents a unique combination of these four styles. Most of us though, display a tendency to use one or two work styles. “All the styles bring useful perspectives and distinctive approaches to generating ideas, making decisions, and solving problems.” All the styles matter.
The United States and Corporate America has tended to favor individuals with two particular workstyles - the Pioneers (think: innovators) and Drivers (think: results producers), but in times of crisis, the two other workstyles - Guardians (think: protectors) and Integrators (preservers of human capital) may be so much more valuable. Unfortunately, in normal times, Guardians and Integrators are marginalized and our business practices favor Pioneers and Guardians.
More now than ever, managers need to be able to pivot. If your organization has been severely impacted and navigating one’s way through the COVID-19 crisis is important to your organization, then understanding employee workstyles and adopting new team engagement and collaboration methods is vital. This article provides some practical details for achieving this vital shift towards “guardian” and “integrator” workstyle thinking.
Monday, April 6, 2020, around 3:30 pm... The over-the-phone collaboration session is not going well (sound familiar?). Work on a vital service contract - the kind no one can afford to lose at this point in time - is being fought over. On the one side, the CEO/Founder: a visionary, an ideas person, a lover-of-brainstorming, and a passionate “includer.” On the other side, the COO: a pragmatist, a process person, a hater-of-unfocused effort, and a person who measures success by what they produce on any given day. The challenge is that in 25 hours, the planning document is due for delivery and the work is only about 45% complete. The CEO wants to brainstorm and ideate before focusing. The COO wants laser focus on completing line by line, the document. He fears the time is too short and knows an “all-nighter” is out of the question. Each is frustrated, in part because beyond the work, they each have personal issues.
The CEO is isolated in New York, has experienced the postponement of a major annual event that was supposed to deliver sustaining revenues, plus her elderly parents are both not well. The CEO is stressed. The COO also isolated at home, is a high-risk person very susceptible to COVID-19. He’s already been hospitalized this year with heart and respiratory issues. His other income sources have all but disappeared and investments he made in attractive start-ups in 2019 look to be falling off the rails. The COO is stressed.
They argue back and forth. Both want to work the problem of producing the planning document in a different way. Neither is ready or willing to change their minds and try the other’s approach. Both want the same thing - to complete the work, to deliver on time, to get paid - yet neither can remotely see that the other person’s approach has any possible chance of success. They fight over the phone with other team members on the line. It is not pretty. This is not the in-sync team that everyone is used to. If they were in grade school, the teacher would both give them a “time out.”
What they have had is a clash of “work styles” at a time when any clash is unhealthy and is extremely unsettling for staff.
Understanding workstyles is the first step to being able to avoid such destructive and stress-adding confrontations that make surviving the COVID-19 crisis that much harder.
In the April 10th article, we talked about understanding the need to understand the different work styles, and how it is probably necessary to know each team member's workstyle in times of stress so we may adapt management practices to improve team cohesion and productivity in the current circumstances.
The idea of “work styles” has been in the spotlight since the idea was broadly publicized in the Harvard Business Review’s focus on “The New Science of Teamwork” in its March-April 2017 Issue. The rationale for a focus on individual workstyles is that many executives feel their organizations are not getting the best performance from their teams and collaborative efforts. In fact, quantitative tests Grahampton & Co. performed to test this hypothesis revealed that on any given day, an organization should only expect to achieve a measure of about 55% productivity in casually-structured, collaboration meetings. (Reference: Connect Enterprises, Leadership Development Program, Lisbon Portugal, 2018)
“Weak teamwork and weak team management” is a message we hear from many of our clients. The problem is teamwork is essential when wrestling with complex challenges ranging from workforce planning to culture transformation. It is even more essential when we work to address the challenges the Coronavirus Pandemic has created.
What research suggests is that the fault doesn’t lie with the team members. Rather, it rests with leaders who fail to effectively recognize and foster diverse work styles and perspectives—even at the senior-most leadership levels. Most managers just do not recognize how meaningful the differences between their people are. Just as many managers don’t know how to manage the tensions that arise between workstyles or understand the costs of not managing workstyles. The authors of the article so aptly summarized: “As a result, some of the best ideas go unheard or unrealized, and performance suffers.”
The HBR article explains a system called “Business Chemistry”. The system identifies four primary work styles. While each of us is a composite of all four styles, “most people’s behavior and thinking are closely aligned with one or two. All the styles bring useful perspectives and distinctive approaches to generating ideas, making decisions, and solving problems.”
Pioneers value possibilities, and they spark energy and imagination in their teams. They believe risks are worth taking and that it’s fine to go with your gut. Their focus is big-picture. They’re drawn to bold new ideas and creative approaches.
Guardians value stability, and they bring order and rigor. They’re pragmatic, and they hesitate to embrace risk but they can analyze it well. Data and facts are baseline requirements for them, and details matter. Guardians think it makes sense to learn from the past.
Drivers value challenges and generate momentum. Getting results and winning count most. Drivers tend to view issues as black-and-white and tackle problems head-on, armed with logic and data.
Integrators value connection and draw teams together. Relationships and responsibility to the group are paramount. Integrators tend to believe that most things are relative. They’re diplomatic and focused on gaining consensus.
The idea is that to be proactive and to get more from our team, team leaders need to understand their own work style and those of their team members. Equipped with this knowledge, team leaders can learn and employ collaboration strategies for accomplishing shared goals. In theory, teams that bring these styles together should enjoy the many benefits of cognitive diversity, ranging from increased creativity and innovation to improved decision making.
As a sidebar, Grahampton measured increases in feelings of engagement and productivity once we implemented new collaboration strategies at a 420-person European IT services firm. After 30 days, both the team leaders and team members reported a significant improvement. Anecdotal estimates suggest a 35% improvement in productivity in the now more formally-structured, “work style-aware” collaboration meetings.
A key learning we experienced, was just as the HBR authors remarked: “Once you’ve identified the work styles of your team members and have begun to consider how the differences are beneficial or problematic, you must actively manage [these workstyles] so that you’re not left with all frustration and no upside.”
Ha-ha. One should not laugh, but let’s acknowledge that’s exactly what a person with a “Driver” workstyle would say at times like this. Tangible results (i.e. sales) are what they would fixate on because they are a Driver. They want to win, they want results. Let us appreciate that a driver is stressed and when they are stressed they revert to their instinctive “hard-wired” behaviors - they drive for the most tangible, most frequently valued results - which in Corporate America, is too often monthly sales results. This is a very reasonable objective in normal and customary times. What about now? Are sales for cruise ship operators, movie theater owners, or fine dining restaurateurs a realistic objective? Not all the challenges that COVID-19 lays in front of us, are going to be solved by a focus on revenues.
So instead of just sales, a more thoughtful aim would be to make a plan to survive the current crisis and what is the strategy for thriving in the future? What actions and resources do you need to take to execute your survival plan? What people, plans, and support structures should be put in place now to thrive in the future when consumer and business markets restart?
The article explains that there are three things team leaders can leverage the asset that is each person’s work style to increase creativity, innovation and problem-solving. In simple terms, the three things, that are entirely appropriate in normal times are:
Pull your opposites closer. (e.g. Pioneers working with Guardians in a structured matter)
Elevate the “tokens” on your team (e.g. Giving Integrators and Guardians some air time)
Pay close attention to your sensitive introverts. (e.g. Not letting the extroverts suck all of the oxygen out of every collaboration conversation).
This is sound advice. Certainly worth considering if only we weren’t in the middle of a major national economic shutdown in the midst of a global pandemic.
Do not think that old habits and casual practices of managing diverse teams are adequate for surviving this crisis and getting into position for thriving in the future marketplaces.
In times of stress (and yes, we are all stressed), the hard-wired workstyles will be expressed more frequently and more intensely. The tension and conflict between workstyles will in all likelihood become unwieldy and will add to the chaos. Team leaders need to learn these workstyles and make adjustments to their daily team management practices in order to achieve vital team-based problem-solving throughput in this time of crisis.
Watch carefully for what de-energizes each of the different workstyles.
See the appendix for what de-energizes each workstyle. Chances are whatever tactic you chose on a given day is going to elevate and invigorate some, while depressing and de-energizing others. Aim to strike a balance in any given week. Let your teams know that you know the anxiety certain tasks create. Empathize with those who are de-energized. Explain the specific reason for choosing your approach and what benefit you expect to realize. .
Don’t just elevate your tokens, give them real responsibility.
The tokens in normal times might now be your very best assets. Guardians can be excellent at protecting and reducing risk. Integrators can be best at preserving morale and energy levels. They may not be well-trained or experienced in providing leadership, so strong reinforcement, visible support, and coaching will in all likelihood be needed. Recognize that Pioneers and Drivers are instinctively awful at protecting, preserving, and making employees feel included and cared for. Be very careful in letting them run the show.
Let your opposites work together on future plans, not today’s problem.
Now is probably not the time to go all Pioneer-style “innovative” when working with team leaders and teams that are new to “workstyles.” That said, by giving “opposites” enough orientation and a challenge that lies in the future, one stands a better chance of improving collaboration and generating helpful perspectives and ideas. Dreaming of the future is certainly “healthy” for any team at this point in time.
During a crisis, we revert to instinctive “hard-wired” behaviors. Knowing each team member’s “workstyle” and creating new team management practices now to acknowledge, respect and leverage these “workstyles” will increase productivity. During times of crisis, when we are working in uncommon and uncomfortable ways, increasing productivity is an excellent goal.
If team leaders use this time to learn how to leverage “work styles” they will not only stand a better chance of survival, they will build essential competencies that cannot help but enhance the performance of their teams and their collaborative efforts down the road during reconstruction and recovery.
About the Author: Peter R. Classen is a multinational Chief Transformation Officer and a “Leadership in times of Crisis and Challenge” expert. He is one of the Managing Partners at Grahampton & Company, a management services and advisory firm with three decades of experience helping organizations survive and thrive in some of the most complicated and thorny situations imaginable. Peter has been a hands-on c-suite leader and “chief crisis officer” in two +1,000 employee organizations during extended national crisis and disaster settings. During the COVID-19 pandemic, his strategic revenue growth and business transformation focus has shifted to working with leadership teams on revenue continuity, on survive & thrive strategies, and on proactive management in times of crisis and challenge. Find Peter and his teams at www.grahampton.com.
Great managers create the right environment for surviving stressful times, but normal & customary tactics do not work.
At present about 70% of employees are emotionally compromised and need special attention that differs from the attention they have typically received from their managers.
Leadership needs to act to address these unexpected employee issues. If a company fails to act, they should not be surprised if employee morale and engagement only gets worse in the coming weeks.
Good news: there are four steps a manager can take now on a daily basis to drastically reduce stress and anxiety levels, and thus improve focus and productivity. It starts with a 5-minute phone call.
In times of plenty and safety, great managers consistently engage their teams to inspire, to excel, and to achieve excellence. Great managers are one of the most important keys to great team performance. They create environments where employees take ownership for their own work and the support the work of others around them. They are engaged and see their workplaces as engines of solutions, progress and results.
Not every team is so lucky to be led by a great manager. In 2015, Gallup produced an outstanding analysis of this important dynamic in the State of the American Manager: Analytics and Advice for Leaders. In this analysis of 2.5 million manager-led teams and 27 million employees in 195 countries, Gallup found that managers account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores across business units. In plain language: Gallup found that when a manager is positive, collected, and cool, chances are pretty good (70%) that the teams they lead and the individuals in these teams are positive, collected and cool as well.
Fast forward to April 8th, 2020 and it is hard to find anyone who is positive, collected and cool. Highlights from three wide-ranging surveys conducted by Economist/YouGov, the Pew Research Center, and the Washington Post confirm this:
Eighty-one percent (81%) of the people say that the Covid-19 pandemic has created a “national emergency” (Economist/YouGov).
Sixty-six percent (66%) believe that it is a “major threat” to the health of the U.S. population (Pew).
Eighty-eight percent (88%) say that it is a major threat to the economy (Pew).
Fifty-seven percent (57%) say that the country is “at war” with the coronavirus (Economist/YouGov).
Nearly 75% of Americans are concerned about an outbreak in their communities (Economist/YouGov).
About 7 in 10 (70%) express the fear that they or a member of their family will catch the disease.
About two-thirds (~66%) say that the disease will push the U.S. into a recession or that we are already in one.
One-third (~33%) of all households have already experienced layoffs or pay cuts.
One out of every two U.S. Adults (49%) see COVID-19 as a major threat to their personal finances.
If these statistics aren’t sobering enough, know this: from the excellent survey work of Ipsos, Public Opinion on the Covid-19 Outbreak, leadership teams should expect that these statistics are going to get worse before they get better. There is no reason to believe the American public (and their U.S. employees) will not reach the same points where public opinion has reached in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and the U.K. Bottom line: More, if not most employees are emotionally compromised and hurting inside. Most are despondent, fearful, scatter-brained, and definitely not cool.
With this level of stress and anxiety about personal finances, health, the needs of children, and the vulnerability of loved ones, it is simply naïve for managers to attempt to run “business as usual” over video conference calls and emails. It is even worse if managers use the oh-so-tiring, Monday-as-usual tactic of starting calls with the question: “How’s everyone doing?” The monotone answers of “Ok”, “Good as can be expected”, and the worst of all, “Fine” are an indication that the team is anything but ok, good, and fine.
Leaving aside for a moment the fact that most managers are just as emotionally compromised as their employees, there are four steps a manager can take now on a daily basis to drastically reduce stress and anxiety levels, and thus improve focus and productivity. It starts with a 5-minute phone call.
Call each team member privately over the phone (not video), and talk to them, listen to them. It only takes 5 minutes. What is their level of stress? What worries them most? What is the source of their anxiety? Are they effected in ways you did not know?
Don’t expect complete openness and transparency on the first call, if having such conversations is not something you as their manger do already. Chances are very high that they want to open up and talk about their fears and frustrations. Just ask some questions and listen.
Don’t judge. Instead take the time to learn and understand. To some, the fear of being alone during this time is overwhelming. It is causing them to literally lose their marbles. Others are so stressed, they cannot verbalize. Instead they are working like over-revving engines, running at 120%, and destined for a collapse at some point. You need to know where each employee on your team is, because maybe, just maybe, you or the company can be a source of solution.
Don’t vent on them. Yes, we know you are stressed too. (Don’t worry, there will be another article shortly to help reduce your stress levels). Only don’t use this call to then vent, unload, unburden, release, confess, etc. Your first job is to be a kind, compassionate listener.
By demonstrating through a 5-minute phone call, that their company cares and is compassionate and concerned, managers will reduce team member stress and anxiety levels, and in their employee’s eyes, might just become their hero for the day.
Next article: Leading in the COVID-19 Crisis: Five ways managers can reduce their stresses and be the leaders they hope to be.
About the Author: Peter Classen is a Managing Partner at Grahampton & Company, a management services company with three decades of experience helping organizations survive and thrive in some of the most complicated and thorny situations imaginable. He has been a hands-on c-suite leader and “chief crisis officer” in two +1,000 employee organizations during extended national crisis and disaster settings. During the COVID-19 pandemic, his strategic growth and business transformation focus has shifted to working with leadership teams and business owners, on responsive policies and practices to manage better during this period, to confidential leadership advice, business pivots, and core business protection/preservation efforts. Find Peter and his teams at www.grahampton.com.
Just like everyone else, most executive leaders and managers are susceptible to the personal stresses associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. They deserve to be educated and trained so they can be effective leaders during these times of crisis and challenge.
The first, and arguably the most valuable, education & training they should receive is in the area of personal stress management. Recall that 70% of the behavior of employees is attributable to the behavior of their managers. Stressed out, dishevelled or near-catatonic managers will result in stressed out, leader-less, employees running wild.
Leadership should recognize the profound difference between managing teams in normal times and managing teams in times of crisis. The leadership challenge is how to quickly and intelligently adapt one’s daily operations and management practices to face the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To get us started, there are six actions a manager can take now, and do on a daily basis to reduce their own stress and anxiety levels, and thus improve the well-being, focus and productivity of most employees. Many of the steps are as simple as putting on a pair of pants.
At 10:00 a.m. (Moscow Time), Tuesday, August 25, 1998, the Russian Financial Crisis (ironically, also known by bankers as the “Russia Flu”) has hit hard. The Russian government and the Russian Central Bank have devalued the ruble and defaulted on its international debt payments. After two days of shock, any company doing business in Russia was acting swiftly to protect their financial positions. So did we. At this Tuesday morning meeting, as the COO I would report that 96% of our service contracts valued in rubles had been suspended. Before that week, my biggest worry was not being ready for an end-of-August vacation. On August 25th, 1998, my challenge was what do I need to do to recover 80% of our lost revenues and find a way to keep about 1,600 people in 72 cities gainfully employed.
What I learned in that month, and in the months that followed are lessons I have been able to draw these past two decades when facing similar revenue-crushing crises and seemingly insurmountable operations challenges. They are lessons that are applicable to many of the trials and tribulations that executive leadership and managers across the U.S. are today experiencing because of COVID-19. What I know to be true is that in every crisis there is opportunity; crisis, favor the confident, the focused, the bold and the decisive.
If being able to focus, to think clearly, to act boldly and decisively will help you become the leader you hope to be during this crisis, then here are six recommendations for managers to reduce their personal stresses, and thus be in a better position to lead their teams.
This pandemic will have physical health, mental health, personal financial, and inter-personal social implications for nearly the entire adult, working population of the United States. It is not credible to suggest that managers are in some way immune to fear, anxiety, stress in addition to all of the other risk areas mentioned (health, financial inter-personal).
How negatively impacted you are as an individual is a matter of personal circumstance. Start by insisting your company is making an accurate forecast of the COVID-19 crisis and how long it will take to resolve. Second, take an inventory of your personal and family’s vulnerabilities. (An excellent online tool to help you do this can be found at XKaliber Health & Wellness, Personal and Family Threat Assessment).
Hope for the best, and plan for the worst is not a cliche. If you yourself or your loved ones are very vulnerable, know that you need contingency plans so that your teams and their important work continues if you become unavailable or incapacitated. Answering the following questions will help you get started on such a plan and make real time adjustments: Who is my deputy? Who is their deputy? Are they fully up to speed on all the current issues? What more can I do to prepare them? How will they know if I am in trouble and need help? Have I set up a procedure to have them take over? Will the team accept this? What do I need to do to communicate my contingency plans? Who should I share these back-up plans with? Have I improved communications during this time? Are we communicating frequently enough? Am I the only one showing leadership? Who else seems to be dealing well and remaining positive? What assignments can they take on to help others in a weaker state?
It goes without saying, the time to ask and answer these questions, and to make adjustments is before you have a fever, massive sinus headache, a bad cough and difficulty breathing.
Trust your team to do what they already know how to do. You may need to monitor and direct their activities more closely, but aim to avoid what is known as the “activity trap.” The activity trap is the trap managers and leaders fall into when they become singularity focus on daily crisis management and daily operations. You are in an activity trap when you are doing 30 things at once, and think you are doing them all well. You are in a bad place if you are doing the job of your team members, and not managing well and preparing for what happens next.
Consider this, if everyone on the team - including yourself - is focused on today, who is preparing the team for what comes next. On the day of this article’s writing - April 9-10 - the chances are that the national health, economic and social situation are all going to get worse - even much worse - before they get better.
Thinking about what is the most likely future state, and what new challenges that might arise, is the key to being prepared if and when they do arrive. Think of the confidence you will be able to project if four weeks from now, a new challenge emerges and you already have some solid thinking in place. Think of how calming and reassuring you will sound if when the team conversation rolls around to “what might happen” and you already have well-researched, thoughtful perspectives and insights about the future to share.
Yes, this will be a lot of extra work on your part, but consider the alternative: what kind of leader are you if you are as blindsided by the next big challenge as your team is? What are you if you have no informed perspectives, no insights, and are just as bewildered as the next team member?
In times of stress, our limbic brains express themselves to a much greater degree than in normal times. The limbic brain is a collective term for the brain structures that are involved in processing emotions. The limbic brain is also responsible for all human behaviour, all decision-making, and has no capacity for language. It is not the center of logic, organization and linear processing. It also processes information 200 times faster than our cognitive brains, and today, when everyone has a tsunami of emotions in their heads, this part of the brain is really driving behavior.
Why do we care? Because complex business problem solving and complex business processes are very difficult for emotional, upset, or nervous people. Your very best logical and process oriented person might turn out to be your most flighty and unfocused team member you have got during this crisis because they have become especially emotional, upset, or nervous. Look for the persons on your team who are less emotional and more focused then try to steer daily task management work their way.
To make it easier on everyone, break down the complex problems in advance (like the day before) into extremely simple choices: We can do “A” or “B”; which is better? Discuss the merits so all can feel the process at work. Encourage alternative views by being inclusive and asking those who might not normally speak up, to offer their ideas. Then agree in writing, what are the steps to be taken to build the solution.
If this sounds very mechanical, yeah! You’ve got it! Mechanical steps get processed by the cognitive brain and puts the limbic brain in the background for a little while. This will be a relief to you and your team.
One day in the future, we can discuss the nuances of motivational theory, but for now, here is the bottom line on one useful theory. Employees seek pleasure as much as they aim to avoid pain. It is pleasurable to get visibly recognized for doing something right. It is painful to get visibly called out for doing something wrong. No one has ever enjoyed being made to feel small, stupid, or unworthy of respect. Catching someone behaving badly should not be the standard practice as it almost always is during normal times. Calling out good behavior, especially during times like these, produces far greater returns on a manager’s investment of time and effort.
In times of crisis and challenge, employee motivation and engagement is best maintained by constant and elevated positive reinforcement. To be practical about it: complement the daylights out of each team member’s contribution, and even their effort, if they tried their best. Do this on a daily basis. You can give out compliments during working sessions when they happen, during morning stand-ups or afternoon-wrap ups. They can be over the phone or while on a video conference. They can be sent via text, messenger, or email. The only critical requirement is that the compliment or praise be genuine and that it is given out fairly without bias.
At the same time, calling out bad behavior is an absolute must. Depending on the situation it might be that a visible call out is best for the team, or it might be that a separate conversation with the offending individual is more appropriate. Either way, just as good behaviors need to be called out, bad behaviors must not be tolerated, and especially in times of crisis and challenge.
As a society we have tried to push the mantra – it matters how you perform, not how you look. And yes, in a perfect world that would be true; but we don't live in a perfect world. How you are perceived by others before you open your mouth - even on a video conference call - depends mostly on the physical signals you send with your appearance. There are close to a dozen reasons why dressing matters. Here are a couple of the strongest ones.
Clothing is the primary instrument in creating a positive first impression. People are superficial, not just as a cultural phenomenon but as a hardwired instinct: Is that a tiger and is it going to eat me? Do not think for a moment that the unwashed, uncombed, pyjama look is helping anyone feel like you are someone in control. Don’t let your inner slob make your fashion choices during times of work-from-home isolation. Know this, we tend to be done formulating our initial opinion of someone before we've actually spoken to them.
Dressing up helps with your confidence. One of the first bits of advice in self-help books is almost always something along the lines of “Get Your Personal Appearance Under Control!” I think this is great advice. People tend to perform better in life, work, (and perhaps pandemics) when they feel that they deserve to perform better. The automatic assumption that a well-dressed person should be treated with respect works just as well when it is your well-dressed reflection in the mirror. Just a few seconds spent getting yourself ready in the mirror before you jump on today’s video conference call reinforces the idea that you are a driver of success, you have got yourself together, and you are ready to lead and solve problems. And yes, especially for the young male professionals reading this article, you really need to put on your pants even though others cannot see you in your boxers when you are on the video call.
To understand this idea, we will have to dedicate a whole new article to explaining what a “temperament” is. For now, here is an extremely abbreviated crash course in the new science of biological anthropology. (For the more inquisitive, I recommend reading the works of Dr. Helene Fischer). Here we go. Human brains grow up in a cocktail of hormones. Depending on the cocktail, one of four typical temperaments or “workstyles” emerge. A workstyle is simply the way we see the world, how we respond to our environment, and how we work to solve problems. The four types are workstyles are Pioneer, Driver, Integrator, and Guardian. A Pioneer is hardwired to innovate, to experiment to try new things. If they are hungry and they see something that sort of looks like food, they eat it. Guardians are almost the opposite. They are hard-wired to follow rules, to protect, to emphasize safety. If they are hungry and see something that sort of looks like food, they don’t eat it because they can’t be sure it is food. Drivers would act: hey, let’s tryg feeding it to the dog! Integrators would seek out collective knowledge: Wait, has anyone in our group seen this before? These workstyles are always present, but they are not the sole factor in defining people's behavior. Culture, policies, job requirements and other organizational factors may heavily influence behavior.
What managers need to know is that in times of stress, anxiety and emotional turmoil, people tend to revert to their hard-wired workstyles. Pioneers scream for innovation while guardians scream for safety and protection. In normal times, pioneers tend to lead in Corporate America (about 60% to 65% of U.S. Corporate leadership consists of Pioneers and Drivers). In times of stress, Guardians are usually the best equipped to think through what will keep a company safest and most protected.
What a manager must do is figure out the workstyle of each employee and be sure that those best equipped to handle the challenges of the day, get to do so. Unlike times of normalcy, where pioneers and drivers have the stage most of the time, now is the time to be sure Integrators get air time (they are instinctively best at keeping teams together) and Guardians have the chance to be in the spot-light (they are instinctively the best at preserving and protecting). Managers need to understand the different workstyles, recognize how different people are approaching the crisis and come up with ways of ensuring every workstyle is respected and being leveraged to deal with the challenges that COVID-19 puts before us.
By ensuring the calm and level-headed daily activities of managers, an organization stands the greatest chance of preserving their most valuable asset: their employees. Most managers are not trained, let alone experienced, in managing teams through times of crisis and challenge. It is grossly unfair to expect them to do so without education, training and mentoring support. Luckily, there are individuals whose experience includes navigating through times very similar to these. Small changes in daily practices and small increases in management competency (giving managers new skills for managing in a crisis) can go a long way towards empowering managers to be extraordinary rather than just ordinary in times like these.
During a crisis, leaders lead. In every crisis, there is opportunity for leaders to build something real and meaningful, even when it seems impossible. They can do this if they adjust the way they manage their teams, and if they focus on reducing their own stress levels first so they can be the best possible leader.
Like firefighters rushing into a burning building, we have to be confident, be prepared in advance, make smart management decisions, focus on the right things, and take good care of all employees because our lives - and our future business - depends on it.
Next Article: Grahampton & Co’s Leading in the COVID-19 Crisis: Understanding individual temperaments as a key to coping and productivity in times of national crisis.
About the Author: Peter R. Classen is a multinational Chief Transformation Officer and a “Leadership in times of Crisis and Challenge” expert. He is one of the Managing Partners at Grahampton & Company, a management services and advisory firm with three decades of experience helping organizations survive and thrive in some of the most complicated and thorny situations imaginable. Peter has been a hands-on c-suite leader and “chief crisis officer” in two +1,000 employee organizations during extended national crisis and disaster settings. During the COVID-19 pandemic, his strategic revenue growth and business transformation focus has shifted to working with leadership teams on revenue continuity, on survive & thrive strategies, and on proactive management in times of crisis and challenge. Find Peter and his teams at www.grahampton.com.
