How the Pandemic Influenced Our Leadership and How to Stay Positive

By Tim Elmore

As you reflect on the past year, do you notice you’ve gone through mindset changes since the quarantine began in March of 2020?  I certainly have. In fact, I observed myself evolving from one stage to another internally:

At first, it was novel. I came off the road and got to spend more time with my wife.Next, I felt productive. I spent less time going places and got more done at home.Then, it became boring. My biggest enemies were the fridge, the TV, and the bed.Next, it grew frustrating. We all noticed too many realities were out of our control.Finally, it became exhausting. Millions of leaders now feel emotionally taxed.

 
Over the last year, we have been affected psychologically, even if we’ve remained healthy physically in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak. Consider again the changes we’ve had thrust upon us in one year’s time, including a pandemic, protests, pay reductions, polarized politics, and panic attacks from today’s kids. Over the course of time, our realities took a psychological toll on us. Leaders especially had to pay an “emotional tax,” perhaps even greater than others did.
 
The Impact of the Last Year
 
Let’s consider what happened and how we can regain traction and realign ourselves with our goals. Whether you lead a large organization, a school, a team, a department, a classroom, or a family, you may not be aware of the reasons you feel the way you do right now.
 
Last year was a great accelerator.
If nothing else, 2020 accelerated change. So many realities that were slowly evolving morphed quickly. For example, schools were sluggishly getting better at utilizing technology and online learning but were suddenly forced to speed toward that goal. Many companies were slowly making progress on diversity and inclusion training but had to hasten their progress. Higher education was recognizing its need to update and upgrade the learning experience and was rapidly forced to accelerate its work. And many brick-and-mortar retailers that were already inching toward bankruptcy had it thrust upon them. Last year sped up change.
 
It forced us to become great innovators.
When lots of change happens quickly, leaders generally respond in one of three ways. They dig in their heels, forcing the current plan to work better. They become overwhelmed, suffering from the paralysis of analysis. Or they adapt and improve. Each of these responses requires an emotional tax, but the tax for innovation is always a better one to pay. Effective leaders recognize if they don’t adapt they don’t survive. They also recognize, however, that even great decisions merely trade one set of problems for a better set of problems. But make no mistake—the name of the game last year was innovation. It became a necessity.
 
This led millions of us to suffer from decision fatigue.
Decisions are essential acts for leaders, but as I’ve suggested, they are emotionally expensive. Even when leaders make great decisions and see the benefits of those choices, they come at a cost. Make no mistake, in times of great change, innovation is right and costs less than remaining stagnant, but it still has a price tag. Psychologists Holmes and Rahe created a questionnaire in 1967 called the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) that measures how change affects our stress levels. Even positive change can take a toll. They introduced life change units to assess how change costs us, from moving to a new home, a new job, a new school, a divorce, the loss of a pet, you name it. Each one is assigned points. Bottom line? Stress levels are higher for those who make many decisions affecting both themselves and others. 
 
So, What Can We Do?
 
Let me suggest three steps we can take to remain focused and positive in these times.
 
Focus on the helpers.
Part of our problem in tumultuous times is we focus on all that’s coming against us, the obstacles and the opposition. This usually leads to a glass half empty mindset. After retiring from his award-winning children’s television show, Fred Rogers was asked where he got his outlook on life. He said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people helping.’” Her wisdom rings true. We get what we focus on. Following every disaster or crisis, we can find people jumping in to respond and restore. When we do this, we regain a proper attitude and a renewed purpose. 
 
Practice preventative problem solving.
In times of disruption, leaders can find themselves reacting to problems like the Whac-A-Mole game. It’s difficult to keep up and puts us on the defense. Why not take action that prevents the problems you expect. If you know parents will struggle and complain about the carpool line or the PTA meetings—address those struggles before they happen. I love the parable of the two fishermen who saw a child drowning in the river. They both jumped in to save his life, but when they did, a second child was spotted and then a third one floating down the river. Suddenly, one fisherman handed all three kids to the other and got out of the water. “Where are you going! I need your help!” said the one still in the river. The other replied, “I’m going upstream to tackle the guy who’s tossing these kids into the river!”
 
Identify the silver lining.
I learned this as a kid growing up. When I was challenged with a setback, my mom would listen to me with heartfelt empathy as I complained about it. Later, however, she’d reengage me in conversation and help me see the good that could come from the setback. When I got cut from the basketball team, she reminded me it gave me time to work on that art project I wanted to complete. I do this naturally as an adult today—she trained me to think this way. Every dark cloud has a silver lining, right? The best decision I made over the past twelve months was to view the interruption as an introduction to something else I would’ve never experienced. Isaac Newton was a Cambridge University student during the Great Plague of London. When the school sent everyone home, Newton had the time to study whatever he wanted to study. He ended up inventing the subject of calculus, developed his theories on optics, and discovered the law of gravity and the laws of motion, all while quarantined.
 
Here’s to staying positive in the aftermath of a pandemic.