“2020 has been a very challenging year.” If we’ve said that statement once, we’ve said it a million times. I’ve known people who have gotten extremely sick from Covid or who have passed away. I know people who have lost their jobs and businesses, and many who are navigating e-learning with their kids on top of full-time jobs.
As leaders, we are bombarded with daily fires and problems to solve, in addition to the personal stresses that are flooding us. How do we maintain organizational focus and remain productive during these difficult times?
1. Focus on yourself.
Focused leadership flows from a focused heart.
The concept of focusing on yourself isn’t intuitive for most leaders. We tend to be driven and don’t want to “waste the time” on ourselves. The important thing to remember is your organization is only as good as you are.
If you are frazzled, frustrated, angry, or confused–your organization and your team will become frazzled, frustrated, angry and confused. During times of stress, leaders must do whatever it takes to bring a healthy, calm, and focused self to the table.
2. Keep the vision clear.
If vision leaks when things are normal, when stress hits, vision hemorrhages!
When anxiety hits an organization, a collective question forms in the minds of your team members. “What are we going to do?” That is when you, the leader, must calmly point your team back to the vision. Why do you exist? You must recast the vision with the staff as well as the people you are serving. You will need to show them that, while the methods may need to be adjusted, the vision is still the same.
3. Adjust your targets.
You can’t focus if you don’t have a clear target.
When Covid hit our community hard in March, my team had just set goals for our second quarter after seeing 26% growth over the previous year. We moved from being named Outreach Magazine’s 4th fastest growing church to shifting overnight to an online-only church. As you can imagine, all of our goals and targets went right out the window along with many of yours.
In order to maintain organizational focus, a leader must constantly adjust the targets. Your vision doesn’t change; however, the quicker you can adjust your targets and pivot, the quicker you can get your organization back into alignment.
4. Stay on rhythm.
Our Executive Team is made up of 5 team members including myself. We have continued to meet consistently throughout the year, even during the shelter-in-place months, and have also kept our individual weekly staff meetings with our teams. This will ensure that you are hitting your new targets and keeping forward motion.
5. Celebrate like crazy.
It’s important to celebrate even the small wins. Celebrating does a couple things for your organizational focus:
- Reinforces the vision – we celebrate what we value.
- Builds morale – it says we are winning, even in the midst of all the craziness. People want to be on a winning team.
It is possible to stay organizationally focused in the middle of a pandemic by applying these principles.
What can you implement this week to help your organization to refocus?
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