How is the Health of Your Team: Starting Up Without Slowing Down?
It’s that time of year again when organizations with cyclical work—trail maintenance, fire prevention, construction in zones that have harsh winters, tourism, church ministries, recreation centers, summer sports leagues, etc.—may experience a mini slowdown while simultaneously planning and preparing for shifts to Fall demands. It’s also the time when some heavily summer-dependent employees may be feeling stretched while others are returning home rested from recent vacations. Still other workers have had to scramble all season to find camps and child care and may be looking forward to the regularity of sending children off to school—even with the requisite colds and flu that may be generously brought home.
The other day, I was asked by a department in a larger organization to do a mini-debrief of that team’s StrengthsFinder results. This team is busy throughout the year AND has extra duties in the summer months. Before easing into that conversation, I suggested a one-word check-in. Just a word that said something about how each person was that that moment.
These dedicated folks are usually positive (one even has Positivity as his top Strength) and are all relationship and execution focused (by Strengths as well). However, as we went around the circle, the check-in words they shared included:
· Fried
· Pulled
· Tired (x2)
· Overwhelmed
· Thankful
· Emotional
· Floaty
· Torn
There were actual tears. There was a palpable sense of exhaustion and overwhelm. The moment was poignant. And instructive. Of the nine words offered, eight are on the negative or worn out or “used up” side.
Don’t get me wrong. These faithful staff members continue to be enthusiastic about and committed to their work and to the people they impact. They had also just finished up a newly-designed camp week for children that involved countless moving parts, many new and existing volunteers, lots of ramp-up and engagement and tear-down and processing. They are also one week from the early start of school (some have school-age children to ready for the year) and two weeks from the beginning of their most busy season. So, basically lots to do with no real break.
They all were dependably prepared to do this mini-retreat and had completed the Gallup Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment in advance. And yet. If we had not paused to checked in, we might have just rolled through the discussion of individual strengths and team communication and collaboration without noting nor acknowledging the ebb of energy throughout their team. Being with and supporting them in this moment felt like a privilege.
From the outside, others in different parts of the organization might think that these colleagues have had some down time. After all, the parking lot isn’t full of parents dropping off their kids like during camp week, the building isn’t decorated from top to bottom in colorful children’s artwork, and after the initial glowing reports at staff meetings, most seem to have moved on to the next thing.
How do we care for our people during these times of continuous demand—and help them with the self-care necessary for their own souls, their rest, their recovery—all while still forging ahead with necessary efforts that care for our clients, customers, and users?
For teams, are we as leaders and team members aware of how people are showing up—perhaps taking what seems like precious time to check-in—so that we have a better understanding when someone seems “off” or has an emotional moment or an inexplicable outburst?
Having said this, it’s key to have psychological safety on a team before people will be perfectly honest about the check-in words they choose. As a team leader, you can do many things to help create that sense of safety over time (as well as many things that create the opposite effect). Contact me if you wish to have a coaching conversation about leadership and psychological safety.
If you happen to be the one who heads the organization, how are you spending regular staff meeting times? Do you do most of the talking instead of using it as a time to listen to your people? Is there any room for your team to meaningfully connect with one another? Is there a place for the honest sharing of how each one is doing—in a non-judgmental context?
Increasing your awareness of how you are showing up, how others are feeling, and paying attention to if people are in an ebb or a flow state is key to effective leadership. What are you doing to get better at these things?
Shirley Giles Davis is a consultant, coach, facilitator who has worked with a diversity of teams, leaders, and organizations locally, nationally, and internationally for four decades. She specializes in collaborative dialogue around a variety of subjects, with the goal of assisting every client in identifying priorities, becoming increasingly self-aware and deepening other-awareness, pursuing goals, overcoming obstacles, leaning into strengths, growing to greater health and skill, finding clarity, and, ultimately, flourishing. In addition, she is author of the God. Gifts. You. Your Unique Calling and Design workbook, Your Unique Design Class Guide, Your Unique Design Facilitator Guide, DIOS. DONES. TÚ.: Tu llamado y diseño único (Spanish Edition), and Gifts-Calling-Purpose blog,
Photo (c) Shirley Giles Davis, all rights reserved.