6 Strategies to Boost Startup Productivity During the Current Crisis (and the Next One)
Navigating startup productivity during times of conflict, such as the recent war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
This article is based on Naama’s recent conversation with Guy Katsovich on Od Podcast for Startups, and offers practical ways to keep your startup and track and provide valuable stability to your employees during these very difficult times.
Listen to the episode here:
Navigating startup productivity during a larger crisis adds an extra layer of difficulty to an already challenging journey. The "Emergency Routine" becomes a central focus as team members face military drafts, civic responsibilities, and heightened emotional states.
Founders, managers, and employees struggle with anxiety and emotional difficulties while still needing to address their day-to-day work challenges. And amidst all this uncertainty, the startup still needs to keep the lights on – securing funding for business continuity and acquiring new customers.
\According to Naama Zalzman, an organizational consultant specializing in business psychology, "With team members balancing military service, volunteer activities, and the daily demands of life, the expectation to stay productive can feel overwhelming. Many employees can feel paralyzed in these circumstances.”"
Naama has a wealth of experience from her previous managerial roles at Vertex Ventures and PWC, and from collaborating with over 100 tech companies and venture firms worldwide.
The People Behind the Crisis
At the time of this writing, many Israeli companies are dealing with an unprecedented situation. A significant number of employees in active reserves duty or engaged in voluntary civic activities. The ones who are at work often find themselves emotionally paralyzed - concerned about relatives who were forced to evacuate their homes, loved ones in active duty, or just glued to the news and unable to focus. This vividly illustrates the human and emotional toll of the war.
In these challenging times, employers need to reduce the stress their people are under by creating as much continuity and security as possible. This means addressing the different needs human beings have, which can be divided into four groups or levels.
4 Levels of Human Needs
Essential survival needs: safety and security - at home or in the workplace.
Social needs: the sense of belonging - to a community, an organization, or a team. As Israelis, we are famously emotional about our work, and it plays a crucial role in our identity - which can feel absent when team members are absent or working remotely.
Impact: many studies have shown that well-being is correlated with productivity. Human beings want to feel that they are contributing and that what they do has meaning.
Growth: professional development, advancing our career, and taking on more challenging problems. In many cases the war has put personal development plans on the backburner, but it’s important to get back to them when it is viable to do so.
As managers, we can assess which level each of our team members is currently at and consider how to support them. This doesn’t mean that managers need to have all the answers, but they do need to know how to communicate transparently, acknowledge what they don’t know, and invite their teams to think through issues together.
Six Practical Strategies for Workplace Resilience
There is no ‘one size fits all’ in management, and every manager has their own approach and style. Our role as founders and managers is to support our employees in their professional, personal, emotional, and developmental aspects. This doesn't mean acting as 'caregivers', but understanding where they are in the four levels we described above, and what they need to succeed at this time. These needs and conditions will evolve, and we must adapt accordingly. Here are six relevant strategies to keep in your managerial toolbox in order to do so:
1. Create Certainty
Our mission is to create as much certainty as possible in the face of widespread uncertainty in the world at large.
The ongoing war and concern over team members who are still in reserve duty contribute to heightened anxiety levels. The human brain, wired for survival, struggles with uncertainty, which it perceives as a threat.
Creating certainty can be by establishing set working hours and availability for your team, providing them with daily frameworks to navigate routine. One-on-one meetings are crucial; prioritize them, highlight their significance, and avoid postponing them. Doing so yourself sends a signal to others in the organization, who will follow suit.
2. Prioritize Tasks and Set Realistic Expectations
Recalibrating expectations is crucial. In some cases we might be able to stick to our original plans; in others, it’s likely that we will have to adjust. In these cases, we need to update our tasks and timelines according to what is realistic to achieve in the current time, while still incorporating measurable goals and a tangible definition of success.
Your calendar might also need to be adjusted. Go through your regular scheduled meetings and decide what has to stay, what can be deferred, and what should be canceled.
Another essential aspect is short-term planning. Avoid discussions spanning months and quarters; focus on what needs to be done today or by the end of the week. Break long-term projects down into as many milestones as possible.
3. Maintain Openness and Intimacy
Remember that energy or ‘vibes’ are contagious. This means we need to be at our peak all the time. Rather, as managers, our attitude should combine vulnerability with optimism. For example, during a Zoom team meeting, you can show everyone your messy kitchen - the chaos, the dirty dishes in the sink. Other people are in the same boat; you’re normalizing the situation, which can be very powerful.
We all want to normalize the complex feelings we experience, and there is a cost to the facade of invulnerability. A team's ability to feel secure is rooted in their freedom to ask silly questions, share thoughts, and express their emotions.
4. Understand Team Dynamics
We need to grasp what is happening within our team—this could literally mean maintaining an Excel file that documents who has children, their ages, who is being called up for reserve duty, expectations regarding spouses and partners, and the impact of recent events on their lives.
For instance, if you have an employee whose partner's family has moved in unexpectedly and indefinitely, you’ll need to be aware of this, give them space to breathe, and where possible even help them find practical solutions. We can’t just say ‘hi’ and ‘how are you doing’ and feel like we’ve done our part.
5. Communicate Transparently
Communication needs to occur on two levels:
On a personal level, mapping out where each individual stands. There is no "back to normal" at the moment; the situation is not normal, and we need to be realistic about it. However, our collective goal is to be in motion, returning to a mode of action. Hence, our expectation is to see progress. If you don't demand anything from your employees, they are conveying that you don't trust them in a particular aspect.
On the professional side, it's crucial to guide employees to break down tasks into small milestones and decide on the best way to achieve them together. Explain to the team where you stand, and what they need to do on a daily and weekly basis. Reassess and perform checks frequently. Some team members might dive straight into action as a coping mechanism, and they might catch up with the workload later. When this happens, it's important for us to be there to support them.
When confronted with negative emotions, our natural tendency is to avoid them. However, these emotions actually play a vital role in our well-being as they help us understand what isn’t working and needs correction. We all experience negative emotions from time to time, and it's crucial to communicate with our teams. This communication should extend to our definitions of what is urgent and what can be postponed. Embracing and normalizing negative emotions is a learning process that involves open dialogue with our teams.
Plan for the Future
Even in these uncertain times, we should strive to understand where our employees see themselves in two or three years. Don't hesitate to engage in these conversations with them.
As we eventually return to routine, people will require additional support, and we need to make room for these discussions when the time is right. The secure base we initially discussed comes from our early days in the world when we had a caregiving figure who provided warmth, nourishment, care, and a secure foundation for development. This concept accompanies us throughout life in the form of relationship systems we create, starting with parents, teachers, commanding officers in the army, and today, managerial figures we encounter in the workplace.
It's essential to recognize that this infrastructure has been shaken, and the secure base for all of us is shaking under the force of the recent tragedies. As managers, we might currently serve as the only secure base our employees have.
Finding the Opportunity for Growth
Resilience is the remarkable ability to confront an unforeseen and undesired reality and emerge stronger. It goes beyond merely going through the motions, and plays an essential role in helping us thrive despite unexpected challenges. While questioning how we can strengthen ourselves from this crisis may seem premature, it is a pivotal question that will guide our individual and collective journey forward.
As we confront these challenges, we need to recognize them as opportunities for personal and professional development, and to establish a foundation of continuity and security for our teams. Through thoughtful management and unwavering support, teams can navigate these testing times, demonstrate adaptability, strength, and a shared commitment to progress. Facing adversity can be an opportunity for growth and resilience. As a leader, you can help your employees make the most of it.