How to embrace recovery at work and at home

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Make connection and recovery your team’s priorities

We all need time to recover and adjust to the new normal. This means that both you and your team need to find ways to build rest and reflection into the new state of work. One way to accomplish this is to emphasize recovery and build breaks into the project cycle. Another way is to focus on connection. For example, one of Johanne’s clients has a check in with their team where they answer the question, "what have we learned this week?"

Help your team reframe challenges, and even find silver linings

For Johanne, an unexpected benefit of the pandemic is having her daughters at home. This silver lining fit right in with Johanne’s practice of exploring the positive sides of challenging experiences. To help your team reframe their situation, start by discussing what’s going well, despite the circumstances. By changing your team’s perspective, you could discover unique opportunities or overlooked silver linings.‍

Have empathy for yourself and your team

In a previous interview with Johanne, we mentioned how leaders often struggle with vulnerability. Months later, with more pandemic experience under her belt, Johanne wants to remind us that it’s understandable for leaders and teams to be struggling. The pandemic continues to put many of our basic needs - ex. connection, a sense of control, agency, belonging - under threat, making productivity an ongoing challenge. By understanding this framework, we can better understand why our work and personal lives feel out of sync, and why it will remain important to readjust and rethink our approach to WFH.

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