Hanna sat cross legged in her hospital room surrounded by her mom, a handful of friends, and “her team” that included her OT therapist, music therapist, and child life specialist…

Scott is convinced that Kaleen is the reason that their people are treated so well when they go out into the world. “She really builds the relationships out in the community to make that happen.”

You’ve seen this happen, probably multiple times each day. A group of people come into a room and sit down around a table just before a meeting. Barely looking at each other, they might mumble a greeting but give their devices their full attention. When the appointed time arrives, they launch in to the agenda items and get to work….

Welcome to your new job; we are glad you’ve joined our team! We value you, or more accurately, we really value your brain and your physical body. And we know you agree that it’s important to leave any other aspects of yourself at home…

As the pandemic begins to recede in some regions of the world, and organizations grapple with what comes next, workers are making clear that the world has changed. They have changed. We all have changed. Many of us are no longer willing to trade away the quality of our daily lives for a paycheck. This is true even if we enjoy our jobs, companies, and teams. The pandemic awakened a sense of urgency to make count what poet Mary Oliver described as “our one wild and precious life.”

When leaders craft strategy, they consider analyses of the current and projected states of markets, stakeholders, suppliers, competitors, customer feedback, employee feedback, company data, executive feedback, and business insights summarizing strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats. This is Strategy 101 for identifying competitive position. And these factors have ALL changed.

We know a lot has changed. But exactly what has changed and what matters most? To move forward with wisdom and confidence, we leaders need to have a clear idea of what’s changed in three specific areas. Working with our team, we need to discover and better understand what’s changed for our customers, our employees, and our shared values. This step is about seeking to understand these important changes to inform Step 3. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, let’s look at these one at a time.

In the last 18 months, this phrase has not been part of our vernacular despite the fact that, indeed, we have had many problems. Maybe because 1995 was a long time ago, even for classic films. And maybe because, with all that’s happened, we would’ve uttered this phrase so many times in one day or week that it would just be too discouraging! But right now, as we grapple with ongoing disruptions, uncertainty, and continued changes that upend the way we work, this is a good time to revisit and draw inspiration from Apollo 13.

One of the best feelings we can experience as people is to feel connection and belonging. One of the worst feelings is that we are alone. This is true for every one of us, including for leaders. In fact, leaders can be very lonely, especially during times of crisis when the weight of searching for answers and making decisions falls heavy on our shoulders. But here’s the good news for you if you are a leader: You are not alone. Especially in this process of going Forward to Work and many other aspects of your leadership, you don’t have to be.

Communicate Openly. That’s Step 5 on the Path Forward to Work.

It could be called, “Everyone Keep Communicating!” because we all need to continually engage in communication for our relationships to be healthy and our efforts to succeed.

Communication is essential to any relationship, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard. Our work relationships are no different. AND right now let’s face it, workplace communication is hard. But as in any relationship, we need to own our mutual responsibility to communicate with our colleagues. We do this out of love. Love for our work, for our team members, for our customers, and for our field and love for the results we want to achieve too. In short, we care so we need to communicate!

Here are some practical ideas for communicating openly, actively, continually, lovingly.