Lockdown sucks…so be empathetic

Lockdown sucks. Truly. Apologies for some London-centric posting of late, it may not feel relevant to friends and family in Cayman where they are Covid-free, or even the USA where very little of the country is under restrictions, but when you live in London, we are in true lockdown and it both sucks and is a little scary. After all, approaching 1 in 15 people within my local radius currently has Covid and we have a dominant strain of the virus that spreads 70% faster than before, so yes it is feeling pretty claustrophobic right now. Lockdown sucks.

What to do as leader, well, start with being empathetic. The other day I wrote “Leading through Lockdown” , giving three areas to focus on in leadership and communications right now. The first ot the three is empathy.

To me, empathy is listening to someone and being able to say “I get what you feel” and it is all about listening, not about being in conversation and responding too quickly with “yes, let me tell you about my problems and how I feel”.

However, when times are tough and everyone is going through this in their own way, sometimes it can create space for people to share where they are if you first simply acknowledge that you feel impacted by the situation we are all sharing. How much detail you share is up to you (I suggest very little if you are truly listening with the intent to…