Hurricanes, floods, high-stakes elections, and more. Leadership is rarely easy, and it seems like there's tremendous pressure right now on those who are leaders at work. I'm hoping today's issue provides resources to support you.
If you're new here, I'm Jess, and this free monthly newsletter is intended to provide you all (a community of just over 5,000 managers at work) with practical resources to inspire more joy, ease, and effectiveness in your leadership.
Let's get to your Monthly Management Memo - as always with something bold, something new, something borrowed, and something to pursue.
Something Bold - Election Preparation If you're based in the US, prepare to support your team around this consequential presidential election. Here are a few specific tips:
Calendar: Ensure you're not booking anything mission-critical on Election Day (November 5th) or the days immediately following. You want to ensure that folks have time to vote if they haven't yet done so by Election Day, and you can also assume some level of distractedness for yourself and your team during that day and in the immediate days following. There's a chance we won't know electoral outcomes, locally and nationally, for many days after 11/5.
Day Off: Could you close your office on November 5th to give your staff time to vote or get involved in civic activities as they see fit? More and more organizations are doing this, and I think it's a smart practice.
Communicate Proactively: The Management Center shared this excellent sample email to staff shortly before an election. Snooze this email (a feature if you're using Outlook or Gmail) until mid-October so that you can use this as a resource to craft your own email to your team.
Assume Distraction: Could meetings on the morning of November 6th be optional? Some folks might need solo time to process whatever is happening (or might have been up late glued to election results), and others might love the chance to be in community with their colleagues. This is especially important if you're doing mission-driven work or if your work is directly connected to electoral outcomes.
Something New - Add to Your Onboarding Plans If you've got any new teammates starting soon, empower them directly to spot opportunities to improve the onboarding process for whoever comes behind them. You might say something like the following in an email or written onboarding document (I invite you to copy and paste this language and modify however you see fit): "As part of your onboarding experience, we'd love your help making the process even better for future team members. As you go through each step, please take note of any areas where things could be clearer or more streamlined. Are there FAQs you think we should add? Did you come across any documents or links that are outdated? Or is there something you feel is missing from the process that could help the next person? Your fresh perspective is invaluable, and your feedback will help us continue improving the onboarding experience for everyone who joins our team."
Something Borrowed - Multifaith Calendar As leaders, we cannot bring all identities to the table alone. But without being intentional, it's easy to create harm or unintentionally leave people out when we plan (for example, planning a food-based team-building experience right in the middle of Ramadan when a teammate is fasting, scheduling a conference in a state where it's not safe to be non-gender conforming, or planning a team retreat during the Jewish High Holidays). One resource I find so helpful regarding faith identities, in particular, is this Multifaith Calendar from Harvard Divinity School. You can subscribe to the calendar or set a recurring task to look at this calendar every month or quarter to help it inform your planning as a team leader.
Something to Pursue - Coaching for Your or Your Team If you're in a leadership role in a social change organization of some kind, read on: my former coach, Rayne Martin (who has had an unparalleled impact on my professional journey), is now filling up the spots in the next group cohort of The Changemaker program. It's worth checking out if you want to have a more significant impact and lead more effectively within your organization. She also has a powerful group experience for leadership teams; if you're in charge of a senior-level team, you already know how much developing others matters. If you want your team to have higher ownership levels, fix any trust or cohesion issues, and ensure everyone gets the leadership support they deserve, you should connect with Rayne. I highly recommend scheduling a free call with Rayne (she's lovely; I'm pretty sure the call will be the highlight of your day) to see if one of these programs might be a good fit for you or someone on your team. Learn more about some of her impressive clients' results here. Say hi to Rayne from me if you talk with her!
Bring your team, I'll bring my A-game. I love helping team with workshops on topics of productivity, team culture, and effectiveness at work. Find out more and book a free chat to see if I can be helpful for your organization.