Are you a good encourager-in-chief?

Our multi-layered social, health, and economic crises in 2020 are enough to make anyone feel heartsick and overwhelmed. The crises we must face and the changes we must make are massive. Lives are at stake. What can a leader do?

Have a look at Scott Belsky’s work. Lots of people write about business. Many of them write about communication. But I love the way Scott addresses both in The Messy Middle. Here are some of my favorite excerpts from his book, suited to the mess we are in right now.

Be generous: “Your job is to be an energy giver rather than taker, which is common among founders and leaders I admire.”

Just a couple of weeks into lockdown I watched Band of Brothers again. In episode 6, Easy Company is stuck in freezing trenches in Bastogne, France. Everyone is miserable. But 1st Sgt. Carwood Lipton, who is just as freezing and hungry as everyone else, spends his days checking on each member of his team. Watching him run from foxhole to foxhole to look after his team made me cry. He was an energy giver.

Be a great encourager-in-chief: “Hardship is easier to tolerate when your work is being recognized. . . I would characterize much of my first few years leading my team at Behance as an adventure in manufacturing motivation. . . We would celebrate any new customers, even if the overall numbers were tiny. We would celebrate completing a page of tasks on the wall or bashing a particularly elusive bug in the software with cheap champagne. . . Whatever we could repurpose as a milestone, we would.”

Everyone wants to feel seen and valued. People whose efforts are recognized and celebrated find reserves of motivation to keep contributing. Equally important, each person holding an oar in the boat needs to know that everyone else is rowing the boat just as hard. If any member of the team suffers a painful reversal, it’s great to know that someone else on the team has kept the boat moving forward. One team’s success can be every team’s success in the hands of the right leader.

Be the one who sees: “Your perspective during the most difficult times will help your team defy their own self-doubt. You are the steward of your team’s perspective, and there is always a way forward so long as you explain it.”

Your job as a leader is to keep that 30,000 foot perspective. You can see the goal, you can describe it, you can spot obstacles, and help your team surmount them. You can help illuminate the way forward, even in the dark.

Be a truth teller: “Nothing beats explicitness. Aspire to say it like it is.”

Telling the truth is the most respectful and the most efficient way to communicate with your teams. You hired adults who are capable of doing great things. Treat them that way - tell them the truth.

The structural racism and economic inequalities embedded in American culture will not resolve themselves without massive, sustained, painful effort. As we stare up at the mountains we know we must climb and feel our hope and courage flag, Teddy Roosevelt’s voice is clarifying: “Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.”

What else can we do?