It has now been a little over a year into a shut down that was supposed to last three weeks, remember that. Some of the things that I have seen in this year was that we have atrophied in some of the areas that were once our strengths, we haven’t used that muscle or at least not in the same capacity. This became clear to me when my kids were playing at a park for the first time in over a year and my daughter Paige was struggling with the monkey bars. Pre-Covid she could swing all over the place but now after growing and not using the “monkey bar” muscles she needed to take a step back and adjust, which meant tears for a few minutes. Whether that is monkey bars, basketball, strategic planning, retreats, or even holiday parties. Here are a few concepts that will serve you well, along with your clients and organization:

1. Reconnect and Stretch as a team and individual. When you walk back into work or have a face to face meeting for the first time, make sure to be intentional on reconnection. There is a powerful video from Chick-Fil-A “Every Life Has a Story”. We have missed many aspects of people’s stories this year. Just like in basketball or the monkey bars, we need to stretch, we need to stretch before we move forward with a team that needs to find out what the culture is again. One student talked about how she didn’t realize that a co-worker was 8 months pregnant until the company picnic. She had only seen her on Zoom…what a shock! She was used to seeing her every day in the office but they had not done that for a year.

2. Celebrate with and for your team. How many people have you hired and only had a chance to do a Zoom “interesting question” time. Although that is a good way to introduce, we need to think about to build true connection and celebrate that they have joined your team. Use the Relational Nutrient of celebration because you and your team need to receive and give it. As the leader integrate humor back into the work place, often we forget to “Lead with Humor” Your team wants to laugh again or maybe for the first time as a group. As the leader, you can take the initiative…even if you aren’t funny, don’t take yourself to seriously.

3. Plan what success will look like for you personally and your organization. There is going to be fatigue from the pandemic that you might not see until you get below the surface. Taking the time as a leader to embrace the need to connect and think about success is critical. A great article “How To Reenergize Your Organization to Overcome Pandemic Fatigue” Helping your team with resilience and bounded optimism regarding the future will increase employee engagement and might just launch your team for the new opportunities that are coming.

How are you going to bring meaning back into your organization? When you think about the initiatives of Stretch/Reconnect; Celebrate; and Plan, which one needs immediate attention? My daughter is flying around on the monkey bars again and many people are starting to think about becoming social but there are still people who are fatigued and feel left behind. As the leader, find a time to attune and give them containment as they process through the challenges and victories that have happened this year.