Professional Development and Career Advancement Blog

By: Beth Schaefer, IPD Director

Earlier this month, I attended a conference on business architecture and was inspired to write a series of leadership articles to promote our business transformation course that starts in March. After the last few weeks, I could not muster the enthusiasm to refine and launch this series. Like many of you, I am trying to lead my team when it feels like our world is falling apart.

When community‑level crises disrupt daily life—such as the current intensification of ICE operations in the Twin Cities—leaders face a painful paradox: keeping essential operations moving while their teams (and often they themselves) are anxious, distracted, or afraid.

This is not a time for me to offer cliches. Instead, I offer specific practical actions you can take if you and/or your team are struggling.

1. Acknowledge reality clearly and compassionately

Avoid overly positive spin that alienates people who are directly living the hardship. Even when there is no crisis, people appreciate leaders who are transparent and empathetic with their communication. Try to avoid corporate detachment, but do not be so emotional that it overwhelms your team.

Put into practice, it looks like this:

• Naming what is happening without minimizing it – “Many on our team are affected by their children attending school online instead of in person.”
• Avoiding dismissive cheerleading with statements similar to this, “I am sure we will stand strong and get through this soon.” These types of statements can unintentionally invalidate people’s feelings.
• Stating what is known, and what is not yet known, and what the department can flex. “Our schedule the next few weeks allows for remote work. Let me know if you prefer this option, and I will put together a schedule that ensures our office response has coverage.”

2. Prioritize human needs before tasks

Pay attention to people’s lived experiences. While empathy and flexibility are leadership qualities you want to use all the time, they are especially needed during times of crisis to provide stability. Keep in mind that team members may be navigating fear for loved ones, disrupted schooling, or food shortages or all of the above along with the daily stressors like aging parents, health issues, and personal finance.

Put into practice, it looks like this:

• Making space for brief check‑ins before meetings and allowing team members to choose how much they share
• Giving explicit permission for reduced capacity – “It’s understandable if it is difficult to focus right now.”
• Identifying essential vs. non‑essential work to assist individuals with prioritizing their work

3. Maintain critical operations using flexible structures

You cannot stop all operations, but you also cannot maintain “business as usual.” During times of crisis, identify work that needs immediate response with work that can be postponed. Make workload adjustments without compromising essential functions.

Put into practice, it looks like this:

• Breaking work into smaller increments and extending timelines where possible
• Allowing for remote accommodations, if feasible
• Reassigning tasks temporarily based on who has capacity

4. Create clear communication routines that reduce cognitive load

When people are fearful and anxious, their ability to focus and process information decreases. Switching to shorter more frequent communication can be helpful. Providing predictable check-in times can build a short-term routine for more adaptability. This provides both a stabilizing routine and the ability to adapt as situations change.

Put into practice, it looks like this:

• Sending short weekly (or twice‑weekly) status message with:
  • What’s changed
  • What are the current priorities
  • What support is available
  • What the team does not need to worry about right now

• Scheduling predictable check‑in meetings at consistent times

5. Mobilize organizational resources without requiring disclosure

Most organizations have access to resources that assist with physical and emotional well-being. As a leader, you should ensure that your employees know all the access points before they need them. By proactively sharing, people can access them without asking and without revealing information they may not wish you to know.

Put into practice, it looks like this:

• Sharing mental health resources proactively through an email with direct links
• Giving your group permission to use those resources to reduce or eliminate stigma
• Not asking too many questions or requiring shared information before sharing resources

6. Support yourself as a leader—because crisis impacts you too

One of the realities—especially relevant for department-level leaders—is that you may be directly affected. It’s not unusual for leaders to feel the need to suppress their own fears as a strategy to support their people. Contrary to what many of us think, evidence suggests that unrealistic stoicism harms decision-making and communication clarity.

Put into practice, it looks like this:

• Seeking peer support from other leaders—shared sensemaking is a validated crisis‑coping practice
• Setting boundaries for yourself (for example: designated times to step away from email)
• Being honest with yourself about having a hard time. Selected sharing of your own concerns normalizes the team’s emotional responses while modeling healthy transparency

Final Thought

When people do those exercises where they list leadership qualities, the word you seldom see is perfect. Your people do not expect you to be perfect during ordinary times, and they do not expect it now. Use these actions to communicate clearly, ease the load where you can, and remove barriers for support – for them and yourself.

The new year has begun, and in place of a workplace resolution, I am pondering my leadership goal for 2026.

These annual leadership goals are not official.  They are not reflected in my performance review.  They are not SMART because it can be tough to measure improved leadership (vs management) performance with a number.

So, how do you approach the goal of improving your leadership skills?

I started with self-reflection.  I have spent a lot of time shoveling snow during December, so I used some of that time to ponder on what I could do differently to improve how I lead my team.

After reflecting on what I could do better, and mentally crossing off the items I have already tried to do better and failed, the list was quite short – OK – nonexistent.

(While shoveling) I remembered that Strengths-theory says you should focus on improving existing strengths rather than addressing weaknesses.  Since I have taken the IPD course Leading with your Strengths – based on the text Strengths-Based Leadership by Tom Roth, I know that my leadership style is Execution – I lead by follow-through and being consistent.  And, even though I agree with the theory, I am not inspired to form a leadership goal on my ability to “make things happen.”  And I smile when I read, “As much as possible, avoid being in team situations with lackadaisical colleagues,” (p.216), but it does not inspire a goal either.

At this point, I decided to do some research on what leaders need to do for the future.  One of the reasons the leadership topic is so interesting to me is that in leadership, best practice keeps evolving.

According to my research, here are the 2026 leadership trends (in no specific order) that you could use to help you set a goal.

1. Determining AI Work Vs Human-Centered Work

As a leader, you need to learn enough about AI to figure out how to balance AI-Generated work with Human-Centered work.  When and how should AI do the work, and when and how should people do the work?  And, as a leader, how are you coaching your team to use AI most effectively?  And how are you influencing your organization’s AI policies?

2. Managing Culture

Culture management is a big arena.  This means that you are directly shaping your workplace culture to be flexible and adaptable, innovative and focused on growth, inclusive and welcoming, and balanced to encourage wellness. You may want to pick just one of these cultural elements to set your goal. Review the Middle Manager article series for ideas on how to intentionally shape workplace culture.

3. Communicating Effectively

Yes, “better communication” almost always tops the list for what workers in organizations want from their leaders.  The fact that it stays on the list year after year indicates that we have not figured this out yet.  Communication is a big, often undefined, topic, so you probably need to be more specific about your goal than be better at communication. One IPD course that could help you out is Leading Teams through Change.  You will learn how communication skills help your individuals, teams, and stakeholders make crucial transitions for your organization’s growth.

As my leadership goals started to emerge, I consulted my text Strengths-Based Leadership by Tom Roth.  The book contains development strategies for each of the strengths. Most of the suggestions for these strengths tell me to spend time developing my skills in coaching and mentoring others.  This gives me a starting point for melding my strength of mentoring with the injection of AI into the workplace.  Because my leadership style is Executing, I need a bit more pondering to put some concrete actions to that starting thought.

As I return to shoveling, I am pondering what jobs can be done by AI, and which jobs survive AI.  While I have not checked with AI to see if this is a correct assumption, it does seem that an AI skill gap is that it cannot do the work of a leader. Fellow leaders, let’s be worthy of our work. Let’s set leadership goals to lead our teams in ways that AI can never match.

Sources:

6 Leadership Goals Every Leader Should Set for 2026

10 Essential Leadership Tips for 2025

The Biggest Leadership Trends for 2026 and Beyond 

The Five Leadership Article You Should Read in 2025

Five Leadership Recommendations that will Reshape Development in 2026

Six Emerging Leadership Shifts and How to Leverage Them in 2026

My new laptop does not like my old docking station.  Even routine changes — like a new laptop or timesheet system — can derail a day. Supervisors often overlook these routine changes, but for team members, these transitions need to be managed.

As supervisors, we focus on honoring valuable departing employees. Many times, there is build up to their “last day.”  Collecting equipment, transferring files, and conducting exit interviews all focus on the departing employee. The departure is viewed as a routine process, with the departing employee getting the spotlight rather than as a time of transition to support those employees who are remaining and doing the work.

For your team, it is an impactful transition because leaving your team is more than just an emotional moment. One easy tool you can use to manage this transition for your team is the Elements of Successful Change.

Vision

Will the position be replaced?  How will the work get done during the short (or long) term?  Are there more departures coming?  Help your team see the future vision by providing them with the information they need to process the departure.

Skills

Does anyone on your team need new skills?  If someone is taking over the work, are they already cross-trained?  Does that need to happen before the departure?  Help remaining team members maintain productivity by ensuring they know how to do the work.

Resources

Do your team members need access to additional software programs?  Does a team member need more time to complete work while they learn a new skill? Does a team member need a schedule or shift change? Help your team avoid obstacles and frustration by getting them what they need.

Action Plan

Do you have a transition timeline in place?  Have you shared that timeline and milestones with your team? Help your team see the endgame by letting them know what part they’ll play.

Incentives

Obvious incentives are bonus pay and overtime or promotion; however, many times those are not options, so ask yourself what the WIIFM* is for each of your team members?  How can you ensure that you are using the correct motivation for each team member? Help your team members see value and purpose in their changing work.