Leading in a Post-COVID World
Nearly 20 years ago I took my first international trip. I spent most of a summer in the Philippines, and to say that this was a life-changing experience would be an understatement. It was a summer of experiencing extremes; I witnessed wealth and poverty, observed urban and rural challenges, stayed at nice hotels and slept on the bamboo floor of a hut, and I learned from the innocence of children and the wisdom of the elderly. I experienced it all that summer. This is why experiences matter; they have the potential to change people in profound ways.
When I returned home, I quickly discovered the phenomenon called Cross-Cultural Reentry. This term encapsulates the idea that coming home is much harder than leaving. I had heard of Cross-Cultural Reentry before I left, but I couldn’t wrap my brain around it. How could it be possible that coming home would be harder than being away?
I have experienced the difficulty of Cross-Cultural Reentry after nearly every international trip I have taken. Bolivia, the Republic of Georgia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Haiti… each reentry was a challenge because during my time away I had changed, but this change was inward and invisible to others. I also discovered that the people around me who asked about my trip just wanted to hear about the fun or even neutral parts; they didn’t “really” want to know what I had experienced or how I had been transformed. In many ways, they just wanted me to “get back to normal.”
They didn’t want to hear stories about being at Payatas in the Philippines, where several thousand people had died only a few days prior to our arrival, or washing babies who had no access to water at a garbage community in Cochabamba, or spending a day with people who suffer from leprosy in the Dominican Republic, or bringing food to Internally Displaced People in the Republic of Georgia. Those stories are hard to talk about and certainly hard for others to hear, but those are the experiences that changed me. These were not moments in my life that simply came and went; they were experiences that reshaped who I am and directly impacted how I navigate the world.
The hardest, most extreme moments of life shape who we are on the inside. This is why Cross-Cultural Reentry is so difficult; no one can see the change that has taken place. Leaders in all industries need to know that “getting back to normal” as we transition into a post-COVID world will be very much like Cross-Cultural Reentry. Those you are leading have had a year filled with extremes that you may know nothing about, and they have likely been changed in the process.
As we begin to transition back to the office, to campuses, to doing life more face-to-face, it will be critical that leaders intentionally create space and have tools in place to allow people to express their personal COVID experience. The fact is, while we have all experienced this pandemic together, we have each experienced it differently. So as people “return to normal,” please understand they may not be the same and likely won’t seem like their old normal selves.
And for those of you in the sports industry who are so ready to get back to competing, please know that for many of your administrators, coaches, and athletes this year has been traumatic. The research is clear: unprocessed trauma does become lodged in the body. If I had ten million dollars for a research project, I would study chronic injuries in college athletics over the next eight to ten years. I am predicting that those who fail to intentionally process their COVID experience will encounter reoccurring chronic injuries. If you are curious about the topic of trauma being stuck in your body, I highly recommend The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk.
So, what should leaders be doing as people try and navigate this post-COVID reentry process? I believe you should be leading the hard conversations but let me be clear: leading a conversation is not the same as having a conversation.
First, you will need tools and processes to help your people talk about things that they may not be ready to talk about yet. I suggest you start by using “check-ins” at every gathering as a way to set a foundation for more in-depth conversations in the future. Check-ins often give people the language to talk about things when they don’t feel like they have the words to express what is happening internally. You can download a few of my check-ins for free here or purchase a package here.
Next, you need to make sure you are willing to participate in but not dominate the conversation. Your people need to know that you have a story too, but your story is no more or less important than anyone else’s. When you participate you are giving them permission to engage as well. And when you choose to not dominate the conversation you are holding space for others and validating their own experience.
And a final key element is to make sure this is not a one-time event. Check-in with your people individually and as a group on a regular basis, continue to ask the hard questions which invite people to talk about their COVID extremes, share more layers of your story, and follow up with others to let them know you heard them.
These shifts you are making will lead to a greater degree of psychological safety for your organization or team. Right now, people are not just craving the opportunity to be with other people but to be with people in honest and meaningful ways.
As a leader, you have the opportunity to create meaningful experiences where people can unpack their pain and prepare to flourish as they potentially reenter a post-COVID world.
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