How We Lead in this Time of Trial

How we lead in this time of trial will be an indicator of how we transform our businesses.  If we have been blessed to be called leaders, we have a responsibility to rise up today to focus on the true meaning of our vocation…a call to focus on people.  It really does not matter what business each of us is in, our primary business is the business of taking care of our people.  It does not matter today whether or not you make cars and trucks, dish detergent, blenders, furniture or children’s toys; you manufacture these things through the work of human beings.  These human beings, through their work, service other human beings through the goods and services they provide.

After this crisis is over, we will be measured as leaders, on how we treated our employees.  Does it really matter today that our employees worked from home because their job is able to be performed from home?  Were your employees safer and providing safety to all of society because they were working from home?  Were you afraid that these work-from-home employees were taking advantage of you by not working a forty-hour week?   My default leadership philosophy has always been that I trust my employees unless they give me a reason not to trust them.  Perhaps your employee did not work a full forty hours this week.  Maybe they did not work the time because they were taking care of their child who is home from school due to this crisis.  Maybe that employee took groceries to their elderly parents who cannot get out to get their own groceries.  Your accommodation, as a leader, to your employees’ current personal demands, I assure you will be paid back ten-fold to you when life returns to normal.  This repayment to you will be due to your employees’ gratitude for how you treated them when they needed you the most.

During my thirteen years of leadership, I have had employees share their personal stories of dealing with difficult health issues including cancer and autoimmune disorders.  I have also had employees who have experienced anxiety and stress, and shared their personal stories with me.  At this moment in time, you may or may not know the physical and mental health issues that your employees are dealing with in their personal lives.  Lead with kindness and compassion.  You will never make a wrong decision by doing what’s right for each person on your team. Trust your employees.  How each of us is dealing with this current crisis, is personal.  We cannot assume how people are managing their daily lives in this time of unchartered life. Maybe your employee’s spouse is a doctor or nurse.  Maybe their adult child is now unemployed. Your employees may or may not share this with you. Default with kindness always.

Someday, we will get back to normal life.  I hope it’s not totally the normal life that we knew before this crisis.  I hope we’re each a little kinder.  I hope we’re more accommodating to our employees’ needs.  I truly believe our employees will appreciate their jobs a little more, and will give back to their employers because their employers gave to them when they needed it the most.  You see, it really is about taking care of each other.  It really is about being one human family.  Take care of each other.  None of us know where this situation is leading us, but I know we are traveling on this journey together.  May God bless all of you.