At first, a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic lights a fire under people, and they feel charged up and are more productive. However, before long, they hit a regressive phase, where they feel tired and lose their sense of purpose. However, don’t get discouraged. There are some ways to combat this:
- Start by determining how deep you and your team are into the regressive phase. Look for evidence such as how long it takes to make decisions, the number of conflicts that have arisen, and what deadlines have been missed.
- Next, disrupt the team and create a new day. Introduce a new structure and assign some new tasks.
- Learn to calibrate your team’s emotions. Watch for signs that they are feeling fatigued and starting to regress. Do something before they sink into ennui and lose interest in their work.
- Aim beyond business as usual. While it may be tempting (and sometimes necessary) to kick into survival mode during a crisis, try to keep things fresh and focus on some goals above and beyond the usual.
- Take time to celebrate even little successes.
