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As a leadership and culture coach, I often see great leaders who want the best for their people somehow manage to block their success.
Both their own success and their team’s.
You’ll know from my prior blogs that as humans we’re either in Critter State (fight, flight, freeze, or reptilian/mammalian brain hijack) or we’re in Smart State where all 3 areas of our brain are working together and we’re highly engaged, collaborative, innovative.
Needless to say, we want to create cultures where our teams are in Smart State as much as possible. Yet, our behaviors often sabotage this intention—especially when we’re in Critter State.
Avoid Critter State and keep your team in Smart State
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Take a moment and look at the left side of the below chart. Which behaviors are most common in your organization?
Behaviors That Send Us into Our Critter State and Smart State
| What sends us into our Critter State | What sends us into our Smart State |
| Layoffs/reorganizations without explanation | Clear messaging on what this layoff or reorganization means and how it is for the health of the company and team |
| Tight/unrealistic deadlines | A culture of promises and requests. clear priorities, and safety in communication |
| Conflict | A culture that supports differing opinions and acknowledges plus resolves conflict openly |
| Gossip | Zero tolerance for gossip, with full leadership support |
| Political posturing | Zero tolerance for politics, backstabbing, sabotage, and undermining, with full leadership support |
| Secrecy/the unknown | Consistent and transparent communication |
| Mixed messages/unclear expectations | Explicit communication and needle movers |
| Budget cuts | Clear messaging on “belt tightening” and how we can all chip in |
| Imposed change | Clear change messaging with an explanation as to why and what it means |
| Revenue loss/key customer loss | Clear messaging on how we’ll turn this around |
| Burnout | Sustainable cultures with managed workloads |
Now, look at the right side of the table.
How often could you communicate differently to keep your team in Smart State or shift them there?
Christine Comaford is a leadership and culture coach who helps businesses achieve growth. Learn more at SmartTribes Institute and see Power Your Tribe: Create Resilient Teams in Turbulent Times and SmartTribes: How Teams Become Brilliant Together.
