Episode #153: Covid Communication and Comparisonitis

Q&A with Marty & Em

This Q&A episode deals with two excellent listener questions! The first, is about how to communicate the uncertainty of the current environment, while still making employees feel supported and secure. Sometimes, it can be tricky to find the balance between honesty and optimism.

In the second question, we explore how to manage your emotions when a new employee comes in, all shiny and keen, and casts a shadow over you. The contrast between their attitude and energy, and your own, can make you feel even more jaded and exhausted. So how do you cope with these feelings?

This episode has some great hacks to help you approach these types of situations with confidence and ease!

We LOVE answering listener questions, so if you've got something you'd like us to cover, send your question to hello@yourceomentor.com and we'll add it to the Q&A list.

Covid Communication and Comparisonitis

Q&A with Marty and Em

EPISODE #153 TRANSCRIPT

Marty: We're getting some great questions at the moment and picking up on the common themes is important for our community. This week, we have two quite different questions, but I think it's worth throwing both of them into the mix.

The first is from a business owner, Sebastian, who's trying to find the right balance between communicating the uncertainty of the current environment and making his employees feel supported and secure when so much is unknown. In Australia at the moment, vaccination rates are low, lockdowns are frequent, and business owners in industries like retail, hospitality, and tourism in particular, bear the brunt of the political vacillations of our elected leaders.

The second question from Caroline, asks about how to deal with the emotions when a new employee comes in all shiny and keen and cast a shadow over you, which reminds you of your own jaded exhaustion. Lots of fodder to chew over today. And to help me of course, is the other half of Your CEO Mentor, Emma Green. Em great to have you back on the mic. What's been happening?

Em: Hello, great to be back. I think these Q&A episodes are becoming more and more frequent but I'm loving it.

Marty: I just think it's a great format because we can really bounce some ideas around and have really conversational flow.

Em: So what's been happening in my world? Well, I think we mentioned in the last Q&A episode that we were looking for a new Customer Success Manager, and Kelilah started this week, which is super exciting.

For all of you who are in our Leadership Beyond the Theory community and on our newsletter list, you will be seeing a lot more of Kel in the coming months.

Other than that, obviously just all the book stuff. So we're about four weeks away from publication date. If you haven't pre-ordered your copy of the book and snapped up all the exclusive pre-order bonuses, get to it!

• For our Australian listeners - buy the book here.

• For our US and international listeners - buy the book here.

Marty: That's awesome, Em. Thanks for that. And it's so good to have Kel onboard joining you and Tash. We have a formidable team building in YCM global HQ there in Sydney. All right. Why don't we get on with it? Ask me a question.

Communicating through COVID

Em: The first question is from Sebastian. Sebastian asked, "Can you please do an episode on communicating through COVID? Things are changing all the time. One minute, we're doing well and the business is recovering and the next we're getting locked down and people are scared for their jobs. I'm trying to juggle the personal responsibility that I face as a business owner with being strong for my employees. What's the best way to approach this ever-changing landscape? How should I be communicating changes to my people without sounding wishy-washy or not in control?" This is such a good question. I just had to cover it this week.

Marty: Yeah, and I bet that's something on everyone's lips in Australia at the moment. Well, first of all, there's a lot of things that you can't control and that's a given. So there's no point in pretending otherwise.

Your people don't want to hear bullshit. They want to hear you tell it the way it is. And one of the things about communicating to your people at times like this, is you've got to be really clear about what's going on and the fact that many things are completely outside of your control.

Lockdowns are a classic, right? If they affect your business, there's no point in speculating about how long they'll last for or what impact they'll have. The only thing you can do is to be open with your people about where you are and where the business is to the best of your ability.

I'd say something like this. "Okay, we can't control the lockdowns. They're going to happen based on the whims of government, which we know are determined purely by popularity polls and media pressure. But when they do come, here's our plan. We're going to handle it this way. This is what it means for you. This is what we intend to do as a company to support you. And this is what we can't do if we want to have any chance of staying in business".

As you've probably heard me say many times, people hate uncertainty way more than they hate bad news.

Em: So true.

Marty: Here's the thing. If you do it this way, it means you have to get control of these things yourself and understand the answers to those questions before you can communicate to your people.

So I suspect that for Sebastian, those answers may not necessarily be clear in his own head right now.

One of the models that we use, which we find really useful for handling situations with this type of extreme crisis and ambiguity is the control, influence, and cold hard facts model, which we teach of course in Leadership Beyond the Theory, and it's a central part of the book.

This is about working on the things that you can control and influence and not worrying about all the other stuff that's there to distract you. You've got to understand it and you've got to know what's going on. But you can't spend time agonising over it or worrying about it or feeling anxious for your people. It just doesn't help. Focus on the stuff you can do. Recognise the stuff you can't and make that really, really explicit.

I've found that people will respect you when you demonstrate a firm and decisive approach. They don't expect you to know everything and they certainly don't expect you to solve every problem. They just want to know that you are rationally and calmly looking after the best interests of the business and therefore them as individuals.

Em: Some great points there, Marty. You know, my husband Royce, owns a business that is very geared to these lockdown issues in Australia. So his business, The Display Builders, they design and build custom exhibition stands. And while they quite successfully transitioned into virtual events last year, it's been incredibly difficult for them to plan ahead.

And I guess his team knows this, but what happens when the stroke of the pen decision by a politician can cost someone their job? I mean, this is the real stuff that keeps Royce up at night and I can bet he's not the only one.

Marty: Yeah, I bet he's not the only one either because for a lot of people, this weighs very heavily on them, particularly business owners who are very close to their people and their people rely on them for their weekly income.

So in the past I've taken this approach. And I think this is quite important that you recognise the pain that people are going through and the challenges that they face. I would say something like this; "There is no certainty. We wish we could provide guarantees, but we can't. And we understand that you all have to do what's best for you. And we totally understand it if you needed to seek alternative employment options, and anything we can do to help you, we will. But our intent as a business, is to come out of this period with a strong, lean core".

Em: That's a great point that strong, lean core. Going back to Royce's business, he has said we've had conversations over the last few months about the fact that the COVID crisis has actually forced him and his business partner, Kathy, to really lean up the business, in all senses of the word. There's no waste or fat in any area, and the resilience that they've built is quite incredible. I know there's been so many businesses who have built up that resilience and they've got their businesses actually working better than they were before.

Marty: Yeah, that's right, for sure. There's always a silver lining, isn't there? But, it's not much consolation for the individual who has to lose their job.

And I realised years ago, 20 years ago, when I had to run a set of redundancies at a large mining company in Australia, I couldn't change the outcome. This was happening as a result of a hostile takeover. And I couldn't change what happened to those individuals because the new owner had determined how they were going to structure my part of the business.

The only thing I had control over was how it was done. And so rather than letting some faceless person fly in from London to actually do the redundancies, it was like a scene out of, Up in the Air, that George Clooney movie, where he used to fly around the country sacking people, telling them they were redundant.

I said to the guy who was running the transaction, I said, look, I actually want to be the guy who tells my team the news, because even though I couldn't control the outcome, I could control how it was done. And for me, it was hard to do because I knew these guys pretty well.

But for the guys who it had affected, I at least knew that I was giving them the news the right way with a level of compassion and understanding for their personal circumstances that enabled them to move through that process as well as they possibly could, even if they didn't like the news that they got.

Em: Yeah, Marty, I don't think that many leaders would have liked to face into that situation, but obviously the people who are listening to this podcast, would have absolutely done the same because they are No Bullsh!t Leaders. Am I right?

Marty: Absolutely. That's one of the things that No Bullsh!t Leaders do. They shoulder that sort of stuff. And they think more about their people and say, okay, well it might be hard for me, but how hard is it for them? So I've got to give them the very, very best opportunity I can to move through this and survive out the other side stronger.

To summarise, here are the rules of thumb for communicating through COVID:

• Be open and honest in what you communicate

• You've got to be clear about the things that are in your control and what you're going to do about them

• You've got to show understanding, and of course, empathy, we talk about a lot of each individual's position

• Focus them down on what they need to do to give the business the best chance of long-term survival

• Don't let your people take the pain while the pointy end of the organisation is untouched by the crisis

Marty: I've seen many corporates execute mass layoffs, during COVID, while the executive team still collect their bonuses.

Now they'll say of course, that they should be rewarded for leading the business through tough times, which I think is bullshit.

It's not just a bad look, but it's one that will be incredibly divisive and good luck ever getting another ounce of discretionary effort out of any one of those people.

Em: Couldn't agree more Marty. That says a lot about their integrity and values.

how to manage your emotions when a new employee comes in, all shiny and keen, and casts a shadow over you

All right, so let's get onto the second question from Caroline. Caroline wrote in and said, "A new guy has joined our team. He's really enthusiastic about the role and the organisation, and he's very new to our industry. When he came on board, I actually felt a bit of jealousy about the pep in his step. He's all bright-eyed and wants to be an asset to the team, but I actually feel burnt out and I don't feel excited about teaching him the ropes. Marty have you got any ideas on how to shift this mindset?"

Let's start with Caroline. Why are you burnt out? Knowing what the cause is, is absolutely critical because it could be a range of things.

• It could be dissatisfaction with, or a lack of respect, for the leadership in your organisation

• It could be, in your eyes, the futility of the organization's mission

• It could be your own inability to make a difference or a lack of control that you might feel

• It could simply be overworked

There are a whole range of reasons why you might be feeling burned out, but here's the thing: Don't compare yourself to anyone else. It's always going to be an unfair comparison. We naturally compare our worst attributes, because we know ourselves pretty well, with other people's best attributes, which they put on display when they come into work each day with their game face.

Em: But it's really hard not to do. Sometimes I have to take social media breaks at times when I get caught up in that comparisonitis spiral. I guess at least I can delete an app from my phone, but it's much harder when that person is in front of you day in, day out. How do you get your head around that when it's just so in your face?

Marty: Well, for a start, you know that you can only control yourself, right? Not them. It comes down to making a decision to be your best.

If it's appropriate, take them under your wing, show them the ropes, help them to be their best, that's leadership. But the fact that this new person has come in is an incredible blessing. It's provided the contrast to make you more aware of where you are at present.

So think about why you're burnt out and change that. Don't blame the poor person who's just excited for an opportunity to have an impact. It may be as significant as having to change companies, if you're dealing with intractable issues where you are, and you feel as though you're just banging your head against a brick wall. Or it may be something that's completely within your control.

For example, if you're not working at the right level. Working at the right level is really important because if you're dipping down and doing the work of your team, you will have an oppressive workload by definition, because you'll be doing your job and at least part of theirs. So when we think about working the right level, that's our ticket to freedom in terms of burnout and overwork. So if it's an overwork thing, there are ways of dealing with it and there are techniques.

Em: Yeah, and there's a reason why we have an entire chapter of the book dedicated to working at level and an entire module of Leadership Beyond the Theory to really dig in and figure out what those practical strategies are to make sure that you're working at the right level. It's so important. And as you know, it is one of my favourite leadership concepts.

Marty: Yeah, absolutely.

Marty: Alright, Marty, that's really great

To summarise, here are the key points on what to do in this situation:

• Stop with comparisonitis. It is not about the other person it's about you.

• Actively make a change to your situation. Use this as an opportunity for reflection and work out what you need to do to get that pep back in your step. Anything else you want to add?

RESOURCES AND RELATED TOPICS:

• Pre-order the NO BULLSH!T LEADERSHIP BOOK - Here

• Episode #7: Working At The Right Level - Here

• Episode #64: Restructures and Redundancies - Here

• Episode #86: Silver Lining on the Pandemic - Here

• Episode #93: COVID19 Leadership Scorecard - Here

• Explore other podcast episodes - Here

• Take our FREE Level Up Leadership Masterclass - Start now

• Leadership Beyond the Theory- Learn More

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