There is no rule book for leading through this COVID crisis. But it has become clear that, in the same way the crisis is amplifying inequality in our society, it is also amplifying our best and worst qualities as leaders. Our sector is extremely good at creating burn-out - a sector that attracts people prone to self-sacrifice and guilt; super keeners and A-types. If we’re not careful, this crisis could become a beacon of how we drive our people right into the ground.
Since we all moved to work from home, I have been shocked at how many NFP leaders have made proclamations to their teams about “giving 110%”, “this is our opportunity to shine” “this will be our greatest hour”. Are you kidding me? I don’t get dressed before 10am. I’m juggling child care, teaching grade 3 math and grade 8 English, while also worrying about elderly family members. Not to mention cooking 3 squares/day and a new adventure, cleaning my own house. I have a wonderful partner who, of course, is doing all of this too, but this is not a “work from home” scenario. This is a “working in my home” scenario.
Plus, I’m anxious. There are days when I wake up and it is all I can do to get up and make tea, let alone tackle a day of problem solving with my team. I have plenty of power and privilege. How must my team feel?
Anyone who knows me, knows I’m a ‘driver’. If there’s one common performance review message I’ve received through my career it’s “slow down – you’re driving your team too fast”. As a fundraiser, an emergency would typically motivate me to work even harder. But as a leader, for this profoundly different, protracted kind of emergency, I find myself trying to gear down.
My theory is this: to lead effectively though COVID, you need to put your staff needs before the organization’s success. Particularly because you can’t be face to face with them, the most critical work we can do right now is supportively manage people. As a typically “light touch” manager, this has been an adjustment for me. As an activator, it has been hard to focus my time listening, inquiring and hearing what they need to get through this. Giving them the first few weeks to just complain about how hard it is, waiting until they had found a pace or a way to integrate their work into this new reality.
One of the wonderful outcomes is how much better I know my staff, their family situations, I know about their parents; all the people who are most important to them in the world. I’ve made a point of spending time with our younger staff, who don’t report to me, but who have given me simple ideas about how to make their working lives easier from home, things I can act on more quickly and efficiently than their managers could.
I’m hoping that COVID is making me a better leader. And if that’s true it won’t be because I came up with a brand new idea about how to “leverage a good crisis”. It will be because I gave my team permission to work through this crisis in a way that works for their situation. That I didn’t add undo stress. That I was able to allow integration and flexibility. That I didn’t “drive” the organization at this time, but rather I let them set the pace.
And guess what? They’re doing amazing! They are acting on the culture of experimentation we’ve fostered over the last few years and they’re doing an amazing job! And they’re doing it while being a bit more kind to themselves and practicing some self-care. They’re doing it with bad hair and with children on their laps. I’m not perfect through this, I’ve had moments of “the old” impatience, but they’re finally getting comfortable telling me “I could only put a half day in yesterday because my partner had a management meeting and I was on toddler duty”, “I’m going off line to take my kids out for a walk for the next couple hours” or “I’m going to take a day off and check in on my mom and dad.”
There’s so much we can learn from this as leaders. This isn’t about us. The mark I want to leave is a compassionate mark. We can do good work for the world by giving our idealistic, driven staff, permission to live through this crisis and come out the other side whole.
Sharon Avery is President & CEO of Toronto Foundation, one of Canada’s leading community foundations and a Toronto city-building institution.
