In recent EFG member calls and member masterminds, leaders are asking how to create safe spaces, how to motivate their teams when they themselves are unmotivated and how to move work forward when we’re reading terrible news stories back to back to back.
Whether you work at a nonprofit, a company, a social enterprise, an agency or elsewhere, what’s happening in the world impacts you and your team. Given how tumultuous the last few years have been, we wanted to bring on an expert to help you understand how to support yourself and your team when the news is terrible.
In this episode, EFG’s Alli Murphy is joined by Author and Organizational Development expert Mollie West Duffy. Mollie is co-author of the WSJ bestseller No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power of Embracing Emotion at Work and the new book Big Feelings: How to Be Okay When Things Are Not Okay.
She was previously an Organizational Design Lead at global innovation firm IDEO and a research associate for the Dean of Harvard Business School. She has worked with companies of all sizes on organizational development, leadership development and workplace culture. Today, she’ll share five tips for supporting your team when the news is terrible.
In today’s episode, we’ll explore:
- Those 5 tips and how to implement them
- How to acknowledge triggering events as a leader, even if you don’t know what to say
- How to make it safe to talk about identity-based issues
- How to build a foundation of trust with your team
- How to create spaces for employees to have different reactions
- How to help your team channel their energy toward positive change
- Ideas for how to show yourself and your team some grace
- One of the most important things you can do as a manager
- Why the question “What has your attention as we start this meeting?” is a great one to start your meetings with
Links & Notes
- No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power of Embracing Emotion at Work
- Big Feelings: How to Be Okay When Things Are Not Okay
- Liz + Mollie Instagram
- Liz + Mollie Twitter
- Liz + Mollie Website
- Supporting Your Team When the News Is Terrible
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- Check out past podcast episodes
- Access free resources
- Check out our monthly webinars
- Let Alli know what you think of the show!
- (00:00) – Welcome to Engage for Good
- (02:34) – Introducing Mollie West-Duffy
- (03:12) – Supporting your team when the news is terrible — it’s not business as usual
- (05:45) – Strategies for Leaders
- (09:24) – Make it safe to talk about identity-based issues
- (11:56) – Direct report conversations
- (13:38) – Letting things go
- (16:12) – Channel energy toward positive change
- (20:06) – It’s OK to not feel OK.
- (22:29) – If you can do only one thing…
- (23:38) – Learn More
