In Times of Stress, Build Your Team’s Resilience Rituals
Part 3 of the 5-point checklist: Check Releases
A Diving Checklist approach, written by Luciana Barrancos in collaboration with Skylyte.
3) Spread responsibility; in diving terminology: Check Releases
In a period where change is the name of the day and priorities, constraints and objectives are evolving constantly, we need to be agile and be able to distribute and redistribute work.
What does it mean?
This means that you’ll be able to stay efficient and goal-oriented while ensuring that you or your team-mates are not burning out.
Are you a manager yourself? Then, think about how you delegate. Are you a non-manager or individual contributor? Then, be proactive about supporting your manager (they are usually even more likely to burnout given their added responsibilities!).
Sample Ritual
One suggestion is to go through people’s weekly to-dos and ask yourself: (i) is there any room to share responsibilities?; (ii) do we have the right balance between what is important, what is urgent, and what is feasible, given people’s constraints (see for example the Eisenhower Matrix Below on when to delegate)?
You can follow the diagram below, or use this Slack-integrated app, a bot that helps you select a decision-making model and process to try with your team. In particular, lean into tasks that are ‘sticky’ or ‘blocked’, and help each other identify the underlying reasons for that. Take a moment to pause and reflect, and have a conversation with your teammates about it. Many times, our ‘aha’ moments or insights into how to best move our days forward will come from the simplest interactions or moments of break.
Sometimes we forget that the easiest way to distribute responsibilities is to ask whether others need help. Sometimes it is that simple. Are you asking your team-mates if they need help? Can you make any trades? This will destigmatize ‘asking for help’ and make it a norm in your team.
Reminder prompt: “Hey Jude, don’t carry the world upon your shoulders”
