What are you feeling right now? Are you panicked? Filled with anxiety? Working every hour of the day and night to keep your business afloat?
As the leader of your business, your behavior sets the tone for the culture and behavior of everyone else in the business.
Trying to Do Too Much
As entrepreneurs we always try and do too much. In a crisis, this is amplified. Building and running a business is a marathon. It requires pacing. Planning. Focus.
I am hearing from a lot of employees that they are expected to keep up with the pace of work, even though they are working from home and there is no school or day care for their children. When I suggest that they put some boundaries around work time, they say they cannot because the owner of their business is working all day and night and expects them to do the same. If they say “no” they are afraid they will be let go.
You Set Culture
As a business owner, you set the culture in your business. Most entrepreneurs do this without any forethought or planning. They just expect people to mimic their behaviours—good and bad.
The current crisis is a time to do a reset. To examine what your values are. Decide what you want your values to be. In a crisis, everything is changing externally and internally for a business. You may have successfully got all of your employees setup to work at home. That doesn’t mean that they will thrive without you understanding what it is really like for your employees.
Coping Mechanisms
If your employees are not thriving, it is likely that you are not thriving. In this physically distant environment it is even easier to use coping mechanisms to cover up our anxiety. We are not around people we trust enough to point out our behaviours. You may have used these coping mechanisms for years but are turning to them more if you are feeling increasingly anxious or worried.
- Working more. Completing tasks, fighting fires, and getting a lot done can feel good in the moment, but it often requires us to push down our true feelings.
- Being an adrenaline junkie (often related to the first coping mechanism).
- Alcohol and/or drugs.
- Food or sex.
- Stopping exercise.
- Feeling angry and taking it out on your employees or family.
Get Help
I’ve personally experienced several of these, including being a workaholic, an adrenaline junkie, and using alcohol. Creating problems for me, my family, and my employees.
With the help of my first coach, Kevin Lawrence, I was able to see that these coping mechanisms were in fact killing me and destroying my relationships. Today I know that it is far more important to end my day with a sunset walk on the beach with my wife Karalee than it is to answer one more email message.
Know that there are entrepreneurs who have gone through trial by fire and got help when they could not handle it anymore. In this crazy world of ours where none of us know what the future holds, be sure to notice how you are doing. If you want to confidentially talk about how you are doing, you can always book a free one-hour coaching call with me. Do it today.
