Leaders today are facing a challenge. While they need their employees to get up to speed, feel the competitive hunger to win again, and to rekindle collaboration, they’re facing an odd kind of inertia: Priorities are fuzzy, progress is slow, and social interactions feel somewhat awkward. One senior leadership team described the feeling on her team as “bland with frantic bursts.” So how can leaders help their employees break through the lull? The answer is to set aside “normal” strategies around motivation (goal-setting, incentivizing, tracking the numbers, and pacing for progress with milestones and deadlines) and focus more on managing their team’s energy and understanding the psychological changes their employees have undergone over the past two years.
