Walking into Oslo on Saturday lunchtime to see the flowers being laid in tribute, the atmosphere was palpable, yet hard to describe. A mixture of defiance, sadness, disbelief, were just some of the feelings that hung thick in the claustrophobic air.
Under the grey skies and warm summer rain, coming into work in Oslo this Monday morning, those emotions had not simply dissipated, either from the collective community, or from the individuals on our team. It would have been weird to pretend like coming into work was normal.
“Is it our place to say something?”
“I don’t know if I should say something, or what I would say”.
“I’m not sure our team wants us to say anything”.
In days gone by, we might have fallen back on received wisdom that the workplace isn't the place for politics. But in these times, that argument doesn't just feel outdated, it feels obsolete. The world of work has undergone rapid changes over the last few years, and working from home has further seen the edges of our personal lives bleed further into the sphere of work, and vice versa.
We (quite rightly) expect companies to actively care for employee well-being; as a result, our concept of what a manager is has changed as a result. It’s not only about leading a group of employees and maximising their output and profitability. Instead it’s about leading people, based on shared goals and values.
But acknowledging large cultural events and crises at work isn’t about bringing politics and ideology into the workplace, so much as being human and recognising that big important things happen outside the office that can have an impact on people inside the office. As a leader, the risk isn’t in saying something, it’s in remaining silent coming across as uncaring or insensitive to the people you’re responsible for.
There aren’t any 100% right or wrong answers to managing teams through difficult periods. So many factors can influence what is appropriate or necessary to support your team in a given scenario.
We’ve put together some suggestions to help manage your teams through difficult or traumatic events. Don’t use it as a checklist of things you should specifically say or do, but instead use it as a framework to make sure your crisis response is structured and considerate to the needs of your team.
People will still think and feel about events that impact them, regardless of whether you acknowledge it or not. It’s human nature to fill empty spaces, by saying nothing at all people will more than likely guess at what you’re thinking.
Bringing your team together helps to address things with a sense of community; and it simplifies communications by making your response visible and specific, rather than remaining fragmented and ad hoc.
This is about understanding that responses to trauma and crisis are very personal and can vary a lot from each individual. Some of the team will be impacted more directly than others, or may feel more able to share what they need privately than in a group session.
Crisis communication can obviously happen quickly and make processes and approval difficult compared to other brand communications. But within reason, try and loop the team in on your planned public statements as a brand.
Sometimes leaders and managers shouldn’t always be responsible for leading every activity, as long as they can help facilitate.
Beyond some key actions to consider in your immediate response, it’s always helpful to think of additional concerns that your executive team might think about.