Here Are The Buttons American Leaders Should Push During A Crisis
The novel coronavirus pandemic has led to an unprecedented period of global uncertainty and anxiety. Around the world, all aspects of our lives — personal, emotional, spiritual, physical and even commercial — have been deeply impacted. During times like this, what do we as human beings do? We lean even further into what matters most to us: our values.
Effective leadership in times of crisis means helping people with what they’re already focused on and care most about. If you try to pull the collective focus away from people’s values right now, it simply won’t work. Help people where they’re at, and they’ll follow you.
What do Americans value most? Our company's database, which is made up of more than half a million surveys from 180 countries collected in 152 languages, is a dataset of what people actually care about.
In the nine regions we’ve identified during our five years of conducting this research, at least one (if not all) three of the following values top the list: family, relationships and belonging. While these sound similar, there is a significant difference buried in that similarity that affects how leaders should leverage those values to create as much impact as possible.
To begin making more productive decisions, it helps to first examine these values in more detail. Why? Because no matter where you live, creating messages based on one of those values can be an effective way to inspire action. From there, we’ll look at specific examples of how leaders in the U.S. can message to one of these values in their region.
The World’s Top Three Values
The value that tops my company's list for more regions in the world than any other is family. When we think about this value, it’s important to note that family isn’t just mom, dad and the kids. Historically, family in many cultures also refers to aunts, uncles, grandparents and everyone else in the village.
Next up is belonging, which is the top value we found in the U.S. Belonging is that sense you get when you walk into a party and say to yourself, “I like it here. This is my type of crowd. I belong.”
Belonging, to me, is a lot different than family. It’s about feeling that “we’re all in this together.” It’s when you can sense similarity, which is incredibly reassuring. Belonging is not as tight as family, but it’s just as real and important. When you talk about American pride, that’s belonging.
Similarly, relationships are also about tighter connections than belonging, but broader than family. Relationships fall somewhere between the two. Here’s an example: I have a relationship with the woman at my grocery store who rings me up. When I’m in her line and it’s my turn, we have some fun banter about the topics we always discuss.
She’s not in my family, but I have a relationship with her that I care about. When I went to the grocery store the other day and she wasn’t there, I got worried about her well-being.
Now that you understand the differences between family, belonging and relationships, let’s explore how leaders can leverage the value of belonging.
How American Leaders Can Speak to Belonging
This sense of “we’re Americans and we’ll get through tough times together” seems to be a uniquely American concept. People generally don’t want to feel excluded from what’s happening around them. In fact, in one 2016 survey (via Business Insider), the United States ranked first in patriotism in a poll of 19 countries. And research from Gregory Walton (via CNN) found that interventions to help subjects' sense of belonging "increased subjects' happiness, improved their health and reduced cognitive activation of negative stereotypes for several years after the initial intervention."
Knowing how distinct and important belonging is, government and business leaders must know how to speak to this value during challenging times. As the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to unfold, Americans need their leaders to reassure them that we’re going to get through these tough times together. Here are some examples of how to do that:
American politicians and business leaders need to be seen as “one of us” right now. If they’re behind a podium telling their constituents to practice social distancing, they should not be on stage with a dozen other people, shaking hands after they finish talking. Instead, hold your press conference or company update from your living room, and field questions from reporters digitally. Then, after you’re done, show that you’re spending time at home with your family, just like you’re asking your constituents to do.
When remote work is the norm, CEOs must be aware of how this change affects the sense of belonging their employees have. Watercooler talk is gone. Popping into your office for a quick chat isn't so easy anymore. What if you offered a happy hour video link for people to gather without an agenda? At the same time, you could have “office hours” where you sit to do your work at home, and make time for any employees who pop in to chat on Zoom.
Here’s another idea for CEOs: Every day, pick 10 employees to either call or text. Again, no agenda — you're just checking in to see how they’re doing and if they need any help from you.
These are just a few intentionally simple ideas to keep the sense of belonging present even when those you lead are quarantined. In every situation, there are dozens more.
What We Value Determines What We Do
From collecting surveys around the world, I’ve learned that what we value determines what we do.
When you’re asking those you lead to behave in a certain way, such as staying home and practicing social distancing, your odds of having that message land go up significantly if you speak to the values of your intended audience. Belonging is a powerful value.
If you want to know how to lead during a crisis, one of the best approaches is to adapt your messaging and actions to speak to values, which can forge an even deeper connection with those you lead and inspire more of them to act.
This story first appeared in Forbes Magazine. Read it online here.