Normally, as a speaker, the spring is a very busy season for me, with lots of travel for conferences and events. But there is very little, as you all well know, that is “normal” right now. Not only is everyone postponing and cancelling events, employees are now shifting to remote working environments (with little to no prep), often at the same time that they are suddenly becoming home schoolers (with little to no prep). Stress is through the roof, and we’re all scrambling to keep things going, while using some different methods. Everyone is worried about deadlines in the office or at school, and this has resulted in stress, anxiety, and other similar issues, which make falling asleep as hard as getting quality sleep. When you are not sleeping well, you are bound to feel the impact on your body. Click here if you want to get kratom info. Your immune system and overall physical health will deteriorate, your fitness levels will go down, and your brain performance will face a major blow due to the accumulation of toxins and the lack of enough rest to refresh. You’ll effectively be a ticking time bomb, and the worst part is you’ll never know when you’re going to crash.

So I know we all have hair on fire, and I know things are unsettled, but as you find your way forward, I urge you to always keep one question open, even if it’s sometimes at the back of your mind:

How can I help my employees be more successful right now?

I’ve been analyzing the aggregate data from our culture assessment over the last week, and that’s one thing that jumped out at me—there is a distinct pattern in the data indicating employees rely more on themselves than management to find their own agency or power. This isn’t employees whining that management should support them more. It’s a culture pattern, where the elements of internally generated agency are more present in the cultures of the organizations we’ve studied than elements where leadership and management are intentionally supporting the agency and power of their people.

That’s why it’s so important for you to focus on their success right now. Their bandwidth is taxed, and the external support will go a long way. They probably won’t ask for it, either, as external support has not been something they have experienced as strongly in the culture. But if you can step up and show them some support right now, it will (a) help them be more successful and (b) probably increase their overall level of commitment and engagement.

There are many things you can do to support your employees’ success, most of which will be unique to your situation, but I can share these three ideas that come from my perspective as a speaker.

Add content to virtual town halls. If you’re doing some kind of all-hands meetings (now virtually), use that as an opportunity to add some content from an external speaker. I can guarantee you that there are a LOT of speakers that have loads of free time right now, so I’m sure you could get a good deal for a 30-minute, web-based presentation on a topic that’s relevant to your people. Remember, your employees were probably headed to some of those cancelled conferences too, so they’d probably appreciate getting back a learning opportunity.

Get people some coaching. Coaching is already a virtual activity, and as we’re all moving to a remote environment, your managers are likely going to need some extra help in how to navigate this new world. I just put out a new conflict resolution coaching program for senior managers, as an example. But there are lots of different types of coaches out there. Here’s an association site where you can find one.

Offer some on-line training. There are already a gazillion online training programs out there (Lynda.com, udemy.com, coursera.org, etc.), and I’m betting speakers are going to start putting even more up right now. Maddie and I created “Culture Campus” as an online training site. It’s still in a fairly experimental stage right now, but there are a few courses there, and if you wanted to give access to your entire team to some of them, we’d be happy to work something out.

These are just a few suggestions. You don’t have to come up with some kind of perfect, magical solution for them. Just do something that is visible and has a quick impact. We call these actions “making it real” in our culture change work. Sometimes a quick win can go a long way.

Photo by Marten Newhall on Unsplash