How can I lead during a pandemic?
So before we jump into the steps to being a leader during the pandemic, let’s talk about an important feeling we all have experienced.
THE CRINGE MOMENT. That moment when we are asked by a friend or family member to do something that puts personal safety and public safety at risk. Our bodies physiologically react. We tense up. We get nervous about how to answer. And we are torn between doing what’s best for public safety and what (we perceive) is best to keep everyone close to us happy. We evolutionarily have been trained to not “ruffle feathers” if we want to be in good standing within our “tribe”. We don’t want to disappoint people. We don’t want to make our friends and family feel like we are rejecting or denying them. So we consider the possibility of maybe taking the unsafe option; just to keep the social harmony.
Social disharmony hurts. Literally. The same pain receptors light up when we perceive we are losing a connection or being kicked out of a tribe. That’s why it is so hard to say no to our friends and family, and to choose safety.
It feels like there is a winner and a loser. Either safety wins, or keeping social harmony wins. That term, “being put between a rock and a hard place” – that. It’s almost paralyzing. But it doesn’t have to be. Below are the steps you can take to be a leader within your social circle. By being a leader within your social circle you are shifting the social dynamic in your circle, and helping to shift norms towards prioritizing personal and public safety.
Step one
Express Your COVID-19 Boundaries.
So what exactly is a COVID-19 boundary?
We’ve all heard the term “setting your boundaries”. It means expressing your needs, expressing what is (and is not) acceptable. We define COVID-19 boundary as, your specific boundaries around what you will not accept as it relates to personal and public safety.
An example of a COVID-19 boundary could be, “I’m not meeting friends for dinner dates” or “I don’t do parties”, or “I’m not willing to be indoors for prolonged periods of time."
Tactics.
When expressing our COVID-19 boundaries we have to be very strategic and intentional. These discussions are touchy for many, and do create some (unnecessary) social disharmony from time to time. We need to boldly redefine how we convey and accept love and care, to gently wrap the truth in explicit compassion and mutual understanding. Learn more about how to be strategic in discussing your COVID-19 boundaries.
Step two
Model Safe Behavior.
We’ve gotten past the hardest part. Once you have set your COVID boundaries, you have set a stake in the ground. You are clear about what you will not accept, and those around you are clear on it as well. As long as you’re consistent in following your boundaries,, people will come to expect, and accept your actions, and as a result will have more respect for you. There will be times when you have to reinforce your boundaries. Overtime it gets easier. I know this from personal experience. You will also gain in your tactics, confidence, charisma, and will simply know what to say more.
Modeling safe behavior requires that we always act in the interest of personal and public safety. We have massive influence on those around us. By being a role-model and leader of safe action you are influencing those within your social circle to be more aware and safe. By being a role-model and leader you are shifting the social norm within your social circle to one that is more geared towards safety. You have more influence than you think. When you do this, your courage gives others hope.
Our biggest influencers are those closest to us. By modeling safe behavior we can help to shift social norms within our social circles and beyond.
Step three
Start Something Bigger.
When you’ve practiced being a leader within your social circle through COVID boundary-setting, and role-modeling, but you want to do even more, it’s time to consider building something. That something could be a club, a weekly zoom chat with friends, a donation campaign for PPE, a focus on specific advocacy, a blog or website talking about your experience in a COVID world. If there is a need, and you have a passion, then there is nothing stopping you to build it.
Many of our MGT leaders are already contributing in massive ways. From Ruth’s Long COVID advocacy, Lily’s small business shift to aid her community, Laura’s mask disinfection product, Joaquín Beltrán’s app Speak Up America that connect people to their representatives automatically, to building a green zone – we all have the capacity to bring awareness to, and help end the pandemic.
If you want to do something right now, we suggest simply making the promise. The promise is a symbol of your commitment, and a way to visibly show your social circle that you are taking the pandemic seriously. By being a leader within your social circle you can help to annihilate COVID-19 by influencing the world in ways that make us all safer. You have more reach and influence that you may realize.
Already signed the promise, and want to have a larger impact?
Check out The MakeGoodTogether Coalition and join the discussion.