As a leader, today you’re probably dealing with a lot of emotions personally as well as with your team members. As I worked to navigate this with my team, I sent the following note, feel free to borrow & modify as you see fit.
Team,
I wanted to send a note to the team in light of yesterday’s events, that being said, staring at a blank email I struggled to know where to even begin so I apologize this didn’t come out first thing this morning.
Having lived in all the different places I have lived, my social media feeds encompass the entire political spectrum and it is VERY evident, regardless of where you land politically, yesterday was a day of major disappointments and frustration and I personally don’t remember a day where I was as easily distracted by every alert that came across my phone more than yesterday. A day fraught with as much emotion as yesterday had, many people are probably still feeling the effects and probably will for a while. The question becomes how do we move forward? That question will be addressed at multiple levels of our society many of which we have no control over, but in the span that we control as a team I’d like to set some guidelines.
- Start with the fact that on a continual basis, everyone on this team has exhibited that even though there are wide differences of opinion on many different subjects, we all care about each other and want what’s best for each other. With this fact as the foundation of how we interact with each other, we’ll get through this just fine and come out stronger on the other end.
- Acknowledge whether or not you’re ready to discuss what happened yesterday and be transparent with those on the team and respectful when others tell you they don’t want to talk about it or be around it being discussed. It is ok if emotions are still too raw.
- If you’re not ready to engage with the team, engage with someone in a constructive manner whether that be a friend, partner/spouse, or a professional counselor (for the employees in the group do not hesitate to engage our EAP resources, contractors, please work with your company to understand what benefits you have available). Do not go through this alone!
- Consider a media/social media fast – Tim Ferriss made a great point yesterday when he posted and followed up on this Tweet [added below], sometimes the worst thing you can do in moments like this is to keep scrolling…
- Finally, if at all possible, avoid echo chambers. When you’re ready, seek different perspective and understandings of what happened. We can all use this as an opportunity to grow. As terrible as yesterday was, it would be even more terrible if we didn’t learn from it and the only way we can do that constructively is together.
As you all know, my door is always open, please feel free to engage me with any questions you may have.
