{"id":14854,"date":"2020-03-26T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/?p=14854"},"modified":"2020-03-26T09:55:46","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T13:55:46","slug":"leading-through-uncertain-rapidly-changing-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/?p=14854","title":{"rendered":"Leading Through Uncertain, Rapidly Changing Times"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>This is a guest post written by Jennie Yelvington,\nProgram Manager, HR Organization and Professional Development<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>March brought unprecedented change to this large, often slow-moving\norganization, and it is easy to see why it might feel overwhelming at times.\nEach day brings new information and impactful changes that leaders must\ninfluence and enact without much warning. Additionally, each of us must manage\nadjustments in our personal lives. Making a proactive effort to take care of\nyourself will be critical to handling these times effectively with your staff.\nStaying calm, forward-thinking and encouraging requires you to not allow\nyourself to become depleted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know what this involves: get enough sleep, eat\nnourishing food, &nbsp;exercise, and do other\nthings that help to sustain you. If you don\u2019t take care of yourself, you\u2019ll\nhave no capacity to take care of your team and the organization. I am confident\nthat this upheaval in our daily routine will change us in ways we can\u2019t yet\nimagine and perhaps for the better. Creativity and innovation are often born\nout of times when we can no longer do \u201cbusiness as usual.\u201d In addition to doing\nthe work of the day, don\u2019t forget to bring humanness to your leadership with\nthese tips for success:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Be patient with yourself and others as we\nnavigate this new terrain and recognize gains made, however small. <\/li><li>Acknowledge and grieve losses, sharing empathy\nand compassion as we find our way through.<\/li><li>Strengthening our connections is more critical\nnow than ever, so help each other to learn new technology and overcome\nbarriers. Share knowledge and seek help from your peers across the organization.\n<\/li><li>Make an extra effort to connect with your team.\nUtilize Microsoft Teams to hold daily virtual meetings, share information and\nprovide encouragement. Or just pick up the phone. <\/li><li>Learn something new as a team. Have team members\n\u201chost\u201d the ideas. <\/li><li>Stay connected with people who cannot work\nremotely. They are important to the overall success of your organization and\nwhen things get back to normal, you will need them. Think about how you can\nstay connected in new ways. Try mailing letters or cards. <\/li><li>If you are a higher-level leader, providing support\nfor your Chairs and front-line supervisors is critical. Make sure you are connecting\nwith them on a regular basis.<\/li><li>Create structured meetings for all and consider one-on-one\nmeetings and small project\/team meetings to enhance communication. It\u2019s OK to\njust \u201ctalk.\u201d It is vital, more than ever, to increase positive interactions. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The following paradoxes outlined in the article <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/leadership-confidence-times-uncertainty-dave-ulrich\/?trackingId=2Xa4HAlp8xcOpEp3RFH%2FDQ%3D%3D\">Leadership Confidence in Times of Uncertainty<\/a><\/em> by Dave Ulrich may be helpful to consider:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Avoid the extremes of either over-reacting or under-reacting or as a thoughtful sage once said, \u201crun with patience.\u201d<\/li><li>Care for both the individual and the organization. <\/li><li>Balance the need for decisive action (be bold) and the need for thoughtful value-based decisions (be calm).<\/li><li>Respond to the short-term challenges of the moment and anticipate and plan for the long-term implications.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Along with the obvious challenges, this is also a time of\ngreat opportunity if we can remain open. In the Forbes article<em>, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/hvmacarthur\/2020\/03\/16\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty-how-to-engage-optimism-and-focus-when-nothing-seems-predictable\/#cf6ecb447e20\"><em>Leading\nIn Times Of Uncertainty: How To Engage Optimism And Focus When Nothing Seems\nPredictable<\/em><\/a><strong>, <\/strong>H.V. MacArthur reminds us that we have a number of\noptions that uniquely present themselves at this time, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>The ability of your team to experience the flexibility that comes from using remote work options.<\/li><li>Opportunity for team members to catch up on work and upcoming deadlines.<\/li><li>Time for your business to do proactive planning and strategic thinking.<\/li><li>An opening for up-skilling team members through training and development.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Eventually, this crisis will pass, and we will move to\nanother new normal. Focusing now on how we are taking care of ourselves, each\nother and the organization will influence how we come out on the other side. We\nhave been encouraged by the compassion and determination expressed by our\ncolleagues across the organization\u2014continue that good work. While you\u2019re at it,\nconsider sending us your thoughts and suggestions on what is working well so we\ncan share them more broadly at <a href=\"mailto:ProDev@hr.msu.edu\">ProDev@hr.msu.edu<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sources<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MacArthur, H. V. (2020, March 17). Leading In Times Of\nUncertainty: How To Engage Optimism And Focus When Nothing Seems Predictable.\nRetrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/hvmacarthur\/2020\/03\/16\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty-how-to-engage-optimism-and-focus-when-nothing-seems-predictable\/#5ebb3fed47e2\">https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/hvmacarthur\/2020\/03\/16\/leading-in-times-of-uncertainty-how-to-engage-optimism-and-focus-when-nothing-seems-predictable\/#5ebb3fed47e2<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ulrich, D. (2020, March 12). Leadership Confidence in Times\nof Uncertainty. Retrieved from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/leadership-confidence-times-uncertainty-dave-ulrich\/?trackingId=2Xa4HAlp8xcOpEp3RFH\/DQ==\">https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/leadership-confidence-times-uncertainty-dave-ulrich\/?trackingId=2Xa4HAlp8xcOpEp3RFH\/DQ==<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is a guest post written by Jennie Yelvington, Program Manager, HR Organization and Professional Development March brought unprecedented change to this large, often slow-moving organization, and it is easy to see why it might&hellip; <a class=\"continue\" href=\"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/?p=14854\">Continue Reading&#8230;<span> Leading Through Uncertain, Rapidly Changing Times<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[68,69,234,364,375,254,365],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb1fcA-3RA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14854"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14855,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14854\/revisions\/14855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}