Please indulge an analogy that I think captures the season in which leaders find themselves today – a season in which I’ve become increasingly aware of a real dynamic at work in real time throughout the workforce.
In my 30s and early 40s I hiked 14,000-foot peaks in Colorado. Even when in the best of shape, some of the inclines and altitude combined to make you so fatigued that accessing the summit became nothing more than numbly putting one foot in front of the other. At such times, one’s focus narrowed to encompass only those actions that would get you to the top – nothing more. Pace counts and cadence, moderating breathing patterns, monitoring your heart rate, and maintaining hydration were about all one could summon the physical and mental strength to maintain; all the while looking only far enough ahead to see the next step or two.
During those times, it didn’t matter what motivated you to engage the climb in the first place! You certainly didn’t risk stopping to take in the awesome splendor that surrounded you for fear that if you did, you wouldn’t be able to find the gumption to resume the climb. More ominously however, it was during such times of myopic focus – putting one foot in front of the other – that you were most likely to become increasingly unaware of impending dangers like change in weather patterns, straying off the trail, or being aware of the position and state of your fellow hikers. The phrase “living in the moment” became poignantly limited to putting one foot in front of the other – numb, passive, showing no visible sign of emotion or feeling.
This pandemic has caused levels of ambiguity and anxiety we have not seen in a generation, resulting in what I call “pandemic passivity.” This passivity manifests itself in people who are simply putting one foot in front of the other – focusing only on those things that get them through the next hour, day or week. Amid such seasons, the work of caring for one another, our families, loved ones, neighbors, and communities (let alone one’s self), cannot be overstated. Exhausted, our employees and co-workers come to their place of work burdened by the concern that they literally can’t afford to get sick. Or, the “lucky ones,” who are in relative isolation, log on to yet another two-dimensional, impersonal video meeting about an uncertain future.
Encouraging and maintaining situational awareness in our workforce, is arguably more critical now than it was at the onset of the pandemic, because our year-long trek on an uncertain landscape has exhausted us and/or our leaders into a pandemic passivity.
My journey of faith is framed by the idea that spiritual maturity consistently requires moving from ambiguity to clarity; from anxiety to peace, as we come to increasingly see, understand, and engage God at work. So, as we plod toward the summit, empathy for the exhaustion and ensuing passivity, must co-exist with situational awareness.
For some leaders (like me) the ambiguity is energizing because it means possibility is near. These leaders don’t need to see the summit – they sense it and it invigorates them. They are wired for such times as these because the future is exciting and limitless, even if unknown. However, they can’t lose sight of the fatigue of the rest of the team, lest it grow into resentment because the energy such leaders feel may come across as “out of touch” or insensitive. Or, their teams may feel the need to muster up similar energy, energy that they simply don’t have, thereby exasperating their exhaustion.
Other leaders are deeply moved by, and are fervently responding to, the very real sense of loss and accompanying grief that this pandemic has caused in the lives of those who make up their teams and workforce. Wired differently, these leaders are driven by the understandable impulse to circle the proverbial wagons and “simply survive” by maintaining status quo. For these leaders, they must consciously remain aware of whether or not pandemic passivity is disproportionately influencing the decisions that are being or need to be made.
Either way, encouraging and maintaining situational awareness in our workforce, is arguably more critical now than it was at the onset of the pandemic. The best way to cultivate a healthy balance is for leaders to recognize their own propensity, value the need for a balancing propensity and then identifying one another – agreeing that, since they are roped up together on the climb, together they form the necessary balanced leadership needed for this next stretch of the road.