Motivating Your Team In A Crisis
CRISIS WEBINAR SERIES 1/5
MOTIVATING, MANAGING, AND HANDLING BUSINESS IN TIMES OF CRISIS
When distractions are high and stress is mounting, keeping your team engaged + focused on their goals may feel like its own battle. In this webinar, Certified Professional Behavior Analyst, Rachel Sheerin, gives you insight into fast + effective motivational tools for leaders and peers alike to boost morale in stressful times.
Anyone wish they could fast-forward through the next 4-8 weeks? Me too.
BUT if we're going to go through hell, we gotta keep going - and with the right mindset and focus, we can accomplish some big things for us, our teams and our businesses. Today's webinar focused on how to keep teams engaged amongst all this chaos, stress and change.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS WEBINAR:
3min: The winning mindset we must have right now = We don't have to, WE GET TO
7min 45sec: Showing up for teams right now means more than saying "My door is open" - it means gathering together, checking in privately and the 3 C's of connection
9min 45sec: Coaching questions to release fears and grow creativity, empowerment and confidence in work, with clients, and in life
13min: Seeking and complimenting the right things today and often
15min 15sec: Keep your team focused on micro goals, the next steps that can move the ball forward. Don't look too far future, concentrate on the projects for the long term if you can.
16min 30sec: Chaos destroys habits, which sends routines out the window. Help your teammembers get routine in their lives - podcasts, rituals, drinking water, etc.
17min 30sec: Empower your team members and employees where you can. Suggestions shared for inspiration, including hosting your own webinars!
SOME OF THE QUESTIONS ASKED LIVE BY ATTENDEES:
What tips do you have for tracking hours of those we supervise?
What if the clients don't come back after this is all over?
What are some meaningful ways to bring our community together and support each other since referrals are going to be scarce?
Do you have any "free" learning (other than yours of course!) that we can recommend to our staff?
What can I say to my temporary staff we've had to cut to make them feel better?
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS WEBINAR
Weddings For Real Podcast
Planoly: Visually Plan, Manage, And Schedule Your Instagram
Slack: Messaging For Work That Works
Asana: Manage Your Team's Work, Projects, & Tasks Online
Basecamp: Project Management & Team Communication
Trello: A Visual Tool For Organizing Your Work And Life
Timothy S.Y. Lam Certification Scholarships
+ Open Full Webinar Transcript
Rachel Sheerin: (00:03)
Hey guys, welcome to today's webinar. I’ll let everybody start coming in the room. But Holy smokes, am I the only person that absolutely wishes this was under completely different circumstances? it's wild times y'all. So welcome. I hope you have a margarita. I hope you have a coffee. I hope you have something to sip on and are just excited: excited to be together, excited to get a little bit of motivation, whether it's for yourself or your teams or your clients. My name is Rachel Sheerin, and I am so fricking honored to be with you today.
Rachel Sheerin: (01:14)
You know, over the weekend preparing for these webinars and preparing to be with you guys. I couldn't help but come back to that Mr. Rogers idea of - when things go South, look for the helpers. And that's what's beautiful about talking to you guys today. You are the helpers. You're here for yourself to be better for others. And I'm going to guess that that's what your clients know you by. That's what your team knows you by - your industry, your association. So I'm just, I'm thankful. I know time is short, things are crazy. And you know what, at the end of the day, we’ve survived a million crazy things before. I think about all the days that I thought for a second we weren't gonna make it. And this feels different because it's fresh, but just like every other day, this is going to be a memory soon. So today we're going to go fast, we're going to go fun.
Rachel Sheerin: (02:02)
This is a zoom webinar. So zoom has all these great features. You can put some Q and A's in the chat. You can connect with everybody and say, hello, I see you Jacqueline. I see you, Ari. I'm so excited. MSP, holding it down. Um, listen, we have so many people tuning in from all over the world today. I was bowled over when I saw the hundreds that are registered and it just goes to show - we, we stick together. Philly, PA, what's up? Laresa this is perfect. I know I've got my friend Mary Chris out there in Lansing. #LoveLansing. Listen, we're gathered together and because you're here, I know that you are servant-hearted, and I know that you are bigger than what is going on right now. You are bigger than your clients worst fears who are bigger than the teams.
Rachel Sheerin: (02:54)
What's up Caitlin Upstate! Norfolk Caitlin, I see you. I am so freaking excited. So you're here with a big heart. Let's freaking get to it. And the reason I wanted to start off this week with this webinar, motivating your team in a crisis is because have you ever had this moment, whether it's happening right now or previously, where you are the person that keeps it together for your team? I mean I, I'll raise my hand. I am the person that keeps it together, whether it's my family, whether it's my clients, my friends, Laura, and I see you raising a hand. Laresa - amen. Listen at the end of the day, we're the glue and we are the non Freaker outers and when everyone else is really starting to um, you know, spiral is a dramatic word, but it can feel like that. Anyone else kind of feel like that's happening right now?
Rachel Sheerin: (03:41)
We are the ones that if the earth is spinning, we need to stand up and we need to guide people and walk the way that's going to help them the most. So that's what this is really generated around is motivating your team in a crisis. And I think it's, it's really directly related to starting off in connecting in a new way. I said on the weddings for real podcast yesterday, Megan Gilligan of The Planner’s Vault did this and you know, just a quick episode, she invited me on. I was so thankful. And the thing that I said is, is the big mindset shift we all have to make right now. We do not have to do something. We get to do something. We do not have to be there for our clients. We get to be there for our clients. We don't have to be exceptional leaders. We get to be exceptional leaders.
Rachel Sheerin: (04:27)
And I think that really starts with that meant that mindset shift. It starts with connecting in a brand new way and what's great about our teams and our leaders, I know being a leader, our peers, the people above us because we all manage up right? A lot of us do. In the end of the day, this is hitting the reset button on gratefulness, thankfulness, awareness. Um, there's a lot of different things that are going to come out of this. So why not take this opportunity to connect in a few different ways with the teams. You could have worked with people for years. I know a lot of you guys out there probably have legacy employees. You um, you know, people who have been there 5, 10, 15, 20 years of great, great places to work, great legacy employees, great teams. On the opposite side, you might have people that when you onboarded them, you were too busy to actually connect with.
Rachel Sheerin: (05:19)
Or what about if you're managing a national sales team? Like a lot of you guys out there are, when you have people in remote locations, how do you get to connect? Well, I'm going to encourage you to do three things. The first one right now that you can do today is gathering together and of course that means for most of us not being in the same office, but it means gathering together in whatever way works for you. Do you want to host morning calls to kick off the day? Um, how about a morning call that isn't agenda based? It's just motivational based. It's reading a quote. It's watching a video. It's listening to a snippet of a podcast. I love some of my favorite Ted talks, some of my favorite podcasts, some of my favorite songs. Okay. Me and my Cardi B. Okurrrr! I was watching and listening earlier today because I need that pump up.
Rachel Sheerin: (06:06)
So gathering together the conference video conference, like we're here doing zoom, zoom. By the way, I can't recommend enough zoom actually donated there. Their founder donated K-12 institutions will now have free access to zoom, which I just got a shout out. That is, that's an incredible move to support everyone during this time, but gathering together could also be, why not Institute a 4:30 PM happy hour? We get on video chat, everyone grabs a beverage of their choice and we just enjoy and we de-stress and we gather together. Whatever gathering together is going to look like for you and your team. Make sure that you do it but not just that, not just saying, you know, gathering together, being there. Also checking in privately, because how many times have we all said the words “open door”, I have an open door to you - and the fact of the matter is yes, you do have an open door.
Rachel Sheerin: (06:59)
I know your heart - on your best days, we all know your heart, but at the end of the day, exceptional things require exceptional leadership. And this moment does, so check in privately, don't have an open door policy. Go to their doors, go to your team members doors and check in on them. Talk with them privately because sometimes they'll want to speak privately, but all of the time, I guarantee you they're going to appreciate it because they wouldn't have had to speak up to get your attention. How many times have you seen it? You know, I have a wonderful middle sister, and I got to tell you, she didn't speak up as much as I did. I know, I talk a lot, but it's one of those things where I look back now and I'm like, huh. Just because she didn't say something didn't mean that she didn't need it.
Rachel Sheerin: (07:48)
It just, the attention seemed to go to somebody that was a little bit louder and needed it more and raised their hand. Check in privately and finally living by the three C’s. Even more than I think connecting publicly and privately, if you can live by the three C’s, not just today and not just tomorrow, next week, but always with internal clients, your teams, your leaders, but also external clients. You're going to be really impressed with what you're able to do. So what do the three C’s look like? It means to congratulate, to celebrate, and to console. If you see something worthy of celebration. Right? So many different people right now have things to celebrate and congratulate in their lives.
Rachel Sheerin: (08:38)
Congratulate someone on their new baby. The president of NACE Ventura chapter Allie, she just had a brand new beautiful baby. It is so worthy of congratulations Andrea from Live Nation House of Blues down in New Orleans. She just engaged - super huge news! Congratulations! Keep it up. People are still succeeding. There’s still good stuff. And there's stuff that even around all this stress right now, celebrate it, congratulate it, and also consoling. When people have fears around their aging parents and what's going on right now with this disease, console it. When people have great loss, console it. When people have an anniversary of the death console it, you know, the world can go on around us. But what about the things that are happening to us and in us don't, don't miss out on these opportunities to connect, to congratulate, to celebrate, and to console the three C’s - it really helps us being together.
Rachel Sheerin: (09:37)
I'm not sure why the slide deck isn't exactly working. What we're going to try it again folks, and we're going to start and go on to coaching with questions. Coaching with questions is something that looks a lot like, um, being able to have conversations that don't just say, Hey, how are you? What can I do for you? When you ask questions like that, I think it's always well-intended, but what you don't realize is that people oftentimes don't know. They don't know where it hurts. They don't know what they can do to help. They don't know what is possible. And so I would encourage you - coaching with questions, what that really looks like. These are some of my favorite questions, ah Larissa on those three C’s. I am so sorry to hear about your aunt girl.
Rachel Sheerin: (10:32)
Well, Larissa, I'm so sorry. Emotions. Listen, Larissa we're going to catch up after. Whew, getting misty-eyed. But coaching questions. What does that look like? You know a few questions that I love: what do you see is the best case scenario for X? You know what this does? Inspiring hope, getting creative, dreaming bigger. What you look for is what you're going to find. Let's try and manifest. Let's try and see the victories we're going to have through this and let's get creative with the follow up question. How do you think we get there? How do you think we get there in this best case scenario? Another question is what do you see as the worst case scenario for X? Yes, Ari, I am going to send you these slides after I got you the whole deck. I'm sharing it all, all week, every webinar.
Rachel Sheerin: (11:19)
Um, what do you see as the worst case scenario for X? What's great about this is whether you do it individually or in a group activity. What this does is it lets your fears and your team's fears be put into the light, right? What is in the darkness can hurt us. If you give voice to it, you give words to it. You give understanding and a platform to do it well, it can't. The monster on their bed cannot hurt. If you turn on the light and you realize that it's, you know, a pair of your old jeans that didn't fit anymore - it is one of those things. So what's the worst case scenario? Additionally, following that, what can we do to prevent that from happening? What can we do to prevent the worst from happening right now? And a step even further, this is magic right here.
Rachel Sheerin: (12:06)
How can we repair it if the worst actually comes, how can we repair it? Because guess what? There there's very few things in this lifetime that are irreparable - death. That's one of them. I can't even think of another. What do we repair? If the worst does happen, it literally is an empowering possibility and a great exercise to unite the team together. And while we're at it, while we're, while we're teaching them, while we're coaching them, while we're connecting with them, I want you all as leaders. I encourage you all as leaders. By the way, this isn't just internal teams, this is also your family. This is also your friends. I want you to look for seeking and complementing and of course with the margarita slide, if you can find some booze, that'd be great. At the end of the day, seeking and complementing is going to be important. So what should we seek and compliment? A few different things, different people.
Rachel Sheerin: (13:00)
If you've ever taken any of my behavioral training classes, um, or had done webinars with me on this privately, what you would see is all behavior profiles have different things they want to be complimented on. Um, if you have somebody that is very, very direct, compliment them on the tasks that they're doing, right? This is something where seeing the tasks and complimenting, Hey, great job on this. I see you doing this. Like great job getting that deadline, et cetera. That's going to be motivating. Um, somebody who's more gregarious, outgoing, interactive, somebody who typically has my behavior profile. If the chatty folks in your group, in your team - make sure that you're complimenting them as individuals, you are so you make me feel blank, you make others feel blank. I love your blank. This is very, very motivating. They're able to be seen as individuals and as you kind of go around the circle here, you're going to see the care.
Rachel Sheerin: (13:55)
This is where people who feel like a hug, people who are peacekeepers and loyal and just, you know, I feel like they've got that southerness to them where you know, I live here in Charlotte, North Carolina. We have a slight slowdown to us that makes us magic and compliment people that feel like that for their care, their awareness, their education, their understanding, their empathy. You can identify people a lot of times on their care, by the way that they're always thinking of others and suggesting, Hey, you know, maybe this won't work because of X or you know, we don't want to leave out this person. They’re the first person to remind you of carpool times and schedules and things like that, thank them for their care. And finally people who are oftentimes asking questions in meetings or on your team, they tend to be more practical folks.
Rachel Sheerin: (14:46)
So applaud them for their practicality. Now, it could come off like they are a bit a dark cloud sometimes, like they're just saying maybe things that are true or things that, you know, because it's the truth. And I would say that you can really coach them well and really compliment them on their practicality. They're, they're typically data-driven folks. They're great at researching, they're great at compiling as well as making long term project decisions. So complimenting people in the right way I think can go a long way and being able to lead them and focus and refocus - constantly refocusing - cause go ahead and strap in. We all know this. Leadership is a constant refocus of your people. Help them focus on your next step. And by the way, do it for yourself too. I don't know if you guys have thought, um, you know about what the next steps look like.
Rachel Sheerin: (15:36)
Art, I see you over there. Thanks brother. It's great to see you! Listen, focusing on the next steps. If you haven't done this, if you have not started and ended your day with the three things you want to accomplish, then I suggest you do it right now. In the email that you'll get a little later on this afternoon with these slides as well as the link to replay so you can share this with anyone who might benefit from it. You're going to get what me and my team, my incredible director of ops, Rachel Davis Humphries, she created a system for us and it is essentially the - the week. And it has it broken down - it's a week planner that's broken down by the things we will do in the morning, and the things we'll do in the afternoon. It is so easy, even a disorganized all over the place, zany creative like myself uses it, and that template is a helpful focus.
Rachel Sheerin: (16:19)
It's a collaborative document, so how are we focusing on these next steps while we're doing it? I want to encourage you all to encourage your team and make sure that they're leaning on daily habits. Are they getting enough water? I don't know if CeCe is on the webinar today, but I saw on Facebook, I'm CeCe Todd. She's this incredible event professional and she got dehydrated, so dehydrated in fact that it ended her up in the hospital this weekend during a wedding. Let's not have that happen. Okay? Leaning on daily habits - habits tend to be the first things that go when chaos or crisis arrives. So are people drinking enough water? Are people moving? Are people doing yoga? You know, are you providing maybe a yoga online membership for everybody to log into?
Rachel Sheerin: (17:11)
Are they moving their body? Are they tucking their kids into bed? Right? I feel like a lot of us are about to start eating a bunch of junk food. You know, are we keeping those daily habits, and you guys as leaders, if you were to challenge yourself, I bet you know those daily habits that you know people really, really enjoy. Make sure that you're encouraging them to lean on them, and you're doing the same thing. On the juxtaposition of habits. Empower your team to adjust and an empowering to adjust can look like a lot of different things. I've compiled some of my favorite connections, um, and suggestions for you guys [items listed on slide deck]. But empowerment opportunities that you might not be thinking right now. Katelyn, I hear you on the junk food. I love chocolate as well. Italian food is love. Amen sister. Listen, the empowerment opportunities, you might not be thinking of them right now but it's okay cause I am.
Rachel Sheerin: (18:02)
So what are some of the things we can empower our teams right now, whether they're working from home or working in real time in the office. First of all, the schedule. If we may think, Oh Hey we need to be there. All this kind of stuff. Yes, absolutely. But if they have small kids in the house right now, I would encourage you to take a hard look at yourself and say, is it possible to give a two hour break in the middle of the day? Is it possible to adjust the schedule? Is it possible to, you know, have somebody cover each other. Maybe we have two folks that are covering each other's inboxes during shifts of the day. Just thinking out loud where there's a will. There's a way. What about video chat? Right? If you don't have a video system like zoom already, you know, get on the FaceTime parties like, do we want to do online coworking?
Rachel Sheerin: (18:48)
Do we want to do open, um, you know, open chats and stuff like that. I will say Renee Dahlo. Um, she has an incredible podcast talking with Renee Dahlo. She's doing office hours where, you know, you can just log on if you're a wedding pro, or events pro, you can just log on and hang out and by the way, if you're not in weddings and events, create your own. Like, feel free to email me. I can help you do it. But creating a space where we can all co-work together, that'd be awesome. What about new systems of connections? You know, you have somebody you want to engage and empower on the team that that's got this tech savviness? Great. What new online systems? What new social media systems have you been meaning to schedule your content in Planoly for Instagram? Great time to do it. Now, do you want to switch to Slack or Asana or Basecamp or Trello for your project management solutions?
Rachel Sheerin: (19:39)
Great time right now. Like empower your folks to get organized because they don't have to. They get to, and by the way, if you don't know anything that I just said, totally get it. I'm barely on the project management train. Feel free to email me. I can send you those links and we can link to them as well in that email we'll send out later. Well, what about a book library? What about if you give everybody $20 to buy the one book that they, they've been dying to do that will help them in their business? Some of my favorites. Um, you, You Are A Badass at Making Money by Jensen Sincero. Um, Dare to Lead by Brenee Brown, Thrive by Arianna Huffington. I'll have a blog with all that stuff in there, but it's one of those things where every time I read a book, I'm empowered.
Rachel Sheerin: (20:22)
Can you empower your team to read and then give a report? What are the three things from the book that you feel like can move the needle forward that can help your team? Empower them as leaders right now. Educational courses, same thing, you know, are you giving them a Lynda.com subscription? Are they required to watch these webinars and you debrief? Are you looking for training? All that kind of stuff is out there and by the way, you know client calls, how they do it, when they do it, why they do it. Content planning, I already alluded to it. Write up those blogs. Plan the content for Instagram and other social media and finally, why do I do what what I'm doing right now? I'm webinar hosting for clients with no strings attached. I wanted to get this information out there. If you like it, awesome. Pass it along, like we are seriously in it together.
Rachel Sheerin: (21:05)
I just love sharing and helping wherever I can. That's why I'm doing this. Do you have people on your team that love to do that? Do you have people that love to present, that have valuable knowledge that your clients or your peers could really value, benefit from why not host a webinar? Let's do it. If you have questions about how to do it, let me know. I can certainly help where I can. Um, I, you know, I have to give super huge kudus to my team and Rachel, she was the Director of Operations for not just me, but for all of what you're experiencing today. So super huge shout out, Rachel, I can't do this without you, but webinar hosting, this is an empowerment to give people the opportunity to be the experts that they truly are. So if you can't tell, I have loved being here with you guys. In the last five minutes of this webinar, I want to hand it over to you guys. Feel free to use the chat to use the question and answer feature. What questions do you have around motivating your team right now? If anything, I am an open book.
Rachel Sheerin: (22:12)
Oh, you're welcome, Alison. You rock, you rock back. We all are out. My God, we're in survival mode. Look at us go. I love it.
Rachel Sheerin: (22:25)
Oh Caitlin, I love your comment about the Italian food is love. What do you guys see as maybe the biggest fear? Feel free to put it in the chat box. What's the biggest fear you're hearing from your team? What's the biggest fear you're feeling as a leader? I mean, chances are honestly, if you feel it then someone else on here does. Yeah Colleen says the loss of hours and jobs. Yeah, well let me tell you, first of all, it's going to be big and it's going to be different. And we honestly, we don't know. This is where I would lean on somebody like Brenee Brown and her great advice about vulnerability. And I always have a phrase - to say what's true. Colleen, say what's true. You know, we care about you. We'll let you know, we're going to do everything we can.
Rachel Sheerin: (23:12)
Um, and also too, I would say that, you know, we can really learn a lot, especially on calling. I believe you're, you're on the events and hospitality industry. I'm calling. What we can do is we can really look a lot to other industries that have forced passively offs before. I always look to Telecom and tech and see how they've handled it. And to be quite honest, you know, I think they do an incredible job at, you know, trying to place encouraging, um, referrals. If the worst really does happen, you know, who can you connect with? And then also too making sure, like if you, that that writing's on the wall, how can you help employees get certifications that can help them, that can strengthen them. By the way, we'll link to it in this email, but the Timothy M S Y Lam foundation, this is an incredible, if you are in events and hospitality, this is an incredible foundation that gives out scholarships for education and certification.
Rachel Sheerin: (24:05)
So if you want to be a cm P, if you want to be a CPC, if you want to be a, um, I mean just a CEM, so many different things. This foundation exists and it is incredibly founded, um, to provide you with that education and that certification, which it's there. Please use it. Uh, I, I see that Morgan, yeah. Yeah. Timothy S Y Lam foundation. Big, big things. And Morgan, if you can, will you put that? Um, Oh, you know what? I think I'll be able to do it myself. I'll, I'll say it to all panelists and attendees. The, um, the association for their, I will say I'm seeing a lot, let me catch up on this. So the biggest questions, let's see. Yeah. Is the unknown. Stephanie, I'm with you. The unknown is some seriously scary stuff. Um, yeah. Oh my God. Rachel, I see you feeling so grateful for the people who are still out there delivering us food and service and things like that.
Rachel Sheerin: (24:58)
Amen to that. Seriously. Healthcare workers. So many margarita is on the other side of this. Um, let's see. Denise says we're trying to connect with all our clients, but don't want to be seen as selling. Do you think it's sensitive or shortsighted? That's a great question, Denise. I think that I've seen it done both ways. I got an email from a fellow speaker last night and it was tasteless. Um, I also got a, an email from another speaker this morning that was incredibly helpful and I would say that it goes back to something actually we talk about in negotiation class. It's to deposit before you withdraw deposit before you withdraw. So what are you able to do right now? What are you able to do right now, Denise, for you and your catering company? Um, I might say something like, you know, like what are you able to do right now?
Rachel Sheerin: (25:47)
Is it offering peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for all the employees, kids that are out of school right now? That to me is a no brainer. Let's get the assembly line going. I know you've got an incredible team out there in Denver. Let's freaking go and start the assembly line. A PB and J is that what you want to do? Because I got to tell you this week, let's, let's all think about how we can get and then maybe next week as well. Hopefully God please as we settle then we can talk about, I know, Hey listen, I know stuff's nuts. You know, you can always add a P S in there. [inaudible] here's the thing, people are going to know your heart lead lead from your heart. So I, you know, I think go with your gut if you're feeling a little weird about it, think about making sure how you can give first that'll spell out success.
Rachel Sheerin: (26:31)
Jen, I supervise a few people but my company's really trying to make sure we work a full day from home. Oh, tracking hours of those we supervise Jen, to be quite honest. This is where that video hangout or that video on really works well really, really works well. I would also say that that weekly tracker, I'm going to share the template out that um, my director of ops created. This has been really helpful because essentially what it does is it just asks for three bullet points in the morning and three bullet points at night. Really tracking what we've done on a bigger picture level, the minutia. I will say we've got a webinar coming up later this week on engaging work from home teams. The fear behind that. And Jen, this is not to call up your leadership at all. It's said with love, but I think the fear behind letting people work from home, letting people work from home, that's really a trust issue.
Rachel Sheerin: (27:20)
And so what are the ways that we can build trust? If you're not signed up for tomorrow's webinar, it's all about that. Um, but the video Hangouts and the tracking I think can be helpful with you there. Kaitlin. What if the clients don't come back after all this is over? What if all the companies have to cut events and it's over and we don't bounce back? Kaitlin, I got to tell you, I can't, I can't see that happening. I have not given that particular fear a moment of my life. Um, I, I hate to presuppose anything, but here's the thing. Have you ever not been better by gathering together with somebody? Think about yourself. Like, think about Caitlin. I know you are the incredible president of NPI in upstate New York. Think about all those gatherings and all those meetings and if you know the value of it, then I'm going to, I'm going to give you a big spoiler alert.
Rachel Sheerin: (28:13)
You're normal, you're a human, and that is such a refreshing fact of the matter is people are always going to want to travel. People are always going to want to gather together. People are always going to want to celebrate, and by the way, the three CS, that's what the immense business is based off of celebrating, congratulating, and consoling. You know, God forbid we get an increase in for your whole business right now, but you know what? It's the gathering together that unifies us and Kaitlyn. If seriously, if clients don't come back and if we don't bounce back, then that means the robots and aliens have taken over and we're all screwed in so many different levels. That's what I got to say to that. All right, Lauren, I see a biggest question from my team or questions regarding their own hours you have future. I would say the rescheduling events, the postponing.
Rachel Sheerin: (28:59)
I am doing it a complete webinar on that on Friday. My initial feedback is, you know, making sure that we're clear on postponement dates, we've got enough info as we can in terms of leading into client conversations with saying, I'm the expert, I've already talked these things through. This is my contingency plans. And then also too, you know, handling future events with clients. I would say look at your busy season and look at your slow season. Like for example, I am here in North Carolina. If I owned a venue for example for events and I was going to reschedule, I would force folks to reschedule them 365 days upon agreed upon dates. And the reason is is because January, February and March are slow here. They just are. If you need to restrict your seasons and, and your events, two different seasons and events, it is totally okay. And by the way, if they choose to, you know, postpone and they want to commit a date for something alternative, you know, let's use this as an opportunity to get created.
Rachel Sheerin: (30:03)
Um, yeah, I see Rachel Davis, she says, you know, maybe start updating LinkedIn now. Networking, self-development. I would say get in those Facebook groups of your MPI, your NACE, your Wippa, your association for women in events, which you know, if you go to women and events.org I'm biased. I'm on the board, but an incredible association of really connected people. Callie and I see you. You are welcome. Thanks for the thanks. Let's see. Oh Jacqueline, I love this comment. It's the unknown, but I'm a motivator and positive person. No matter what is every day is we live in an unknown life. It's just ground shaking. We need to hold onto. So with that I thank you. Thank you Jacqueline. That made me happy. Okay. Anna asks, Hey Anna from Tampa Bay, what are some of meaningful ways to bring our community together and support each other since referrals are going to be scarce?
Rachel Sheerin: (30:50)
Great question. This is, this is really powerful, meaningful ways to bring together, I would say having open office hours, showing up on social media, like actually with your face, with your unwashed no-bake up face, like whatever face you've got going on there. I always go back to dog pics to be quite honest. Dog and kitty pictures just, I mean, then they make the internet great. Yeah. But when it comes to meaningful community together, I would say really keeping aware of those. Um, I know I had this moment last night, I am so completely blessed. Like I, I'm just blessed and yeah. Do I have fears short? Do I have concerns? Absolutely. You know, I'm human and we're in it together, but do I have awareness of that? I don't have children so I don't have to worry about trying to do this webinar as somebody asking for chicken nuggets for the millions time.
Rachel Sheerin: (31:39)
Yes. You know, being more sensitive to people who are going to be marginalized and then also to, you know, um, I think this is going to be an opportunity to figure out like your state and your local leaders and even up to the national level. Um, not to be political justice. Seriously. Say, think about who you know, election season will be here soon. Who are you putting in your communities that might support programs and systems that you feel like would really help your peers? You know, our, our votes do matter. And, you know, forget the presidential election. Um, you know, let's talk about your mayor, your city council, your school board, these people matter. So be focused on that and really be able to kind of take up a cause. And by the way, if you see, um, you know, a special interest group or people particularly struggling.
Rachel Sheerin: (32:26)
Yeah, I mean weapon, I go back to what can you do to help you can share your knowledge, can share your experience. And Anna, I know you do a great job of that. Anyway, let's see. Oh, Sarah asks, do you have any other free learning other than that I can recommend to our staff? Absolutely. I would see that. Check on your associations. Associations are going to be, I tell you why associations are going to be one of the number one things that separates the success and the failure of a lot of organizations and companies right now. Because associations not only provide networking, but they provide an invaluable job network and they provide tons of education. If you are a NACE member, um, I know for a fact you can go back and watch all the webinars previously. If you are a whip, a member, all the members, only webinars and videos of speakers, you can see every single association typically has continuing ed [inaudible].
Rachel Sheerin: (33:19)
I would say start there. You've already paid the membership to not waste a second check out that I would say otherwise. Free learning. There are some great podcasts out there depending on who you love and what you're looking for. I know my friend Judy holler, she has an incredible quote and it goes, fear hates focus, fear hates focus and she has the fear Bosch show, which is an awesome show. We've also got the Jenna Kutcher show if you're into, but weddings and events and just share. I really enjoy that. If you're, you're specifically niched in business ownership. I would think the weddings for real podcast with Megan Gilligan, a Kimberly and Annie of this weekend. Weddings. Um, Angela prophet has an inquiry edible podcast of um, Nashville, Tennessee. There's so much I could honestly go on and on and on. If you want to email me, Sarah, I could send you a podcast and anyone I could send podcasts and my book recommendations and stuff like that.
Rachel Sheerin: (34:12)
Okay, great. We've got so much, I'm a wedding planner. This is Larissa and clients want us to make the decisions on this. Oh, it's really dig deep and they have to make the decisions. How do you support this and not lead with bias, Laura? So lean on those coaching questions that we discussed earlier. Try and help them discover what they do not know yet in terms of questions that you could ask. You know, I'm thinking of couples, I'm thinking of parents of the bride or grooms or things like that. Some things would be, you know, what's the best case scenario here? You know, um, what's your biggest fear? Um, a favor. A question of mine. When I was a director of sales and catering, one of the questions that I loved asking is, um, what is the most important thing to you about this wedding?
Rachel Sheerin: (34:55)
Is it great food and beverage? Is it everyone being together? Is it the romance and internalness of the marriage ceremony? Um, you know, is it a packed dance floor, things like that. And try and get clear on what is that most important emotional thing to them and get creative around it. By the way, bonus idea, I was talking with a friend yesterday, she's an incredible wedding planner in the triangle and one of the things she was talking about was how one of her bride's mothers was extremely upset and was basically saying, I don't care about any of this. We're going forward. The sweating to which the venue was like, no, please talk to our lawyers. Which you know, well they said the bride don't love hearing that. And long story short, I said, well how many do you have? And said, we have 180 people.
Rachel Sheerin: (35:38)
And I said, what about this to keep it under the hundred P a person. Um, this is of course when it was just a hundred people being limited, but you can still use the strategy. What about instead of doing, um, to keep it under the a hundred, why don't we do a brunch wedding for the older people, that's 80 people. And why don't we do the evening wedding? That's the dancing and the partying for the younger people. How can we split events? How can we, I mean even if we need to segment them, let's get creative and start to really say, you know, Hey listen, they're not the experts at what your clients are, not the experts at what you do. You are what kind of creative alternatives it, I used this illusion yesterday, this, this metaphor. I'm on the weddings for podcast. That episode, we'll link to it in the email, but one of the things I said was, you know, when you give a child an option for lunch, you say, what would you like for lunch?
Rachel Sheerin: (36:30)
Kids still say the damnedest things. They really will and you'll be like, I cannot make sushi. How do you even know what sushi is? What the heck is going on? But if you let them choose between peanut butter and jelly and chicken nuggets, they will make a choice. And the same thing's true for our clients. So Lorissa I'd encourage you to get creative and see what's going on. Let's see. Michelle says, Hey, Michelle, down in San Antonio, I supervise a team of temporary staff and all of our working schedules through may have been canceled. What can I say to make them feel better? You know what Michelle, um, this, I have chills about this right now. This is a grieving time, your particular position and I think maybe a lot of people listening out here, if it's not you right now, this is a grieving time and when we're talking about it, I would really encourage you to seek out some brief advice, whether it's, you know, what to say to people who are grieving, what to say to people who've experienced a loss.
Rachel Sheerin: (37:25)
Personally, I follow a lot of, um, Instagram accounts around the subject. Um, you know, I've, my dad actually, he's no longer with us, but his birthday is on Saturday and these accounts have really helped me. Some of the things you can say, you know, uh, my hardest with you. Um, I, you'll be the first person I tell when I see something. What's the best email that I, or phone number that I can share job opportunities with? Um, you know, saying what's true and, and not saying I feel you are not saying that I'm, you know, like you know, relating your own story, I would say make sure that you're keeping it focused on them and just massive empathy. But check out those, those brief links as well. Yeah. Ari. Oh my gosh. We could just, we can hang out forever. Let me skip to the question and answers and see what you guys are saying there.
Rachel Sheerin: (38:13)
Um, Oh Mary Chris says, I think this experiences make it even more obvious how very, very important face to face meetings are off. Amen. Amen. I'm Robin with over 80 events probably canceled. It's convincing clients to plan for the events later this spring. Even if we under, uh, end up canceling, trying to get ahead of the work, even if we may be spinning our wheels. Robin. Absolutely. And what I would say, Robin, you sound like a, an experienced up pro here. What I would say is lean on the stories that you can tell a previous times when this has happened cause it to this scale. No. Have we ever seen something like this in the industry? Not really, but here's the thing. You've been around long enough. We all remember Oh eight and, and for those who don't, ask the people in your, um, in your industry, in your region, ask about a weight and how that happened.
Rachel Sheerin: (39:01)
Um, if you've been in the industry a long time, you'll remember 2011 or 2001 and nine 11. And how that affected, we can look back over history. [inaudible] it's our choice to learn from it and do better or it's our choice to repeat it. And so, you know, again, I go back to associations. I go back to being here together. If you've got some experience in dealing with tragedies and, and chaos and crisis, I mean, drop them in the chat. We're all here to talk about it. Um, but Robin, I got to tell you why it makes sense to me. I would want to reschedule and get on, but I would, I would want to be that beacon of hope. You can, by the way, if you're not consistently sharing hopeful news stories, um, or links or webinars with your clients, start it today. There's the good stories coming out.
Rachel Sheerin: (39:47)
There's the good stories about how mother earth has healed herself of in a big way from China and the factories being checked out. There is um, a study coming out about the, um, you know, the coronavirus hospitals in China already at the last temporary hospital has been closed. This is the news we need. People started providing it to your clients. Diana's, what if it's more than eight weeks for groups to gather? I mean, I got to tell you, Diane, I think I'm going to have the great set of abs and lose a little bit of weight and read a bunch of books. I mean, I don't know what happens if there's a big question and I'll be excited to see what's available to us to help us, but also to, um, I'll be excited to see the creativity, you know, coming out of it. I know that some friends and I are discussing right now, you know, completely huge, multi-day online summit to keep the inspiration.
Rachel Sheerin: (40:42)
If we cannot gather, let's get better. And that's the challenge I would say if we can't gather, let's get better. What are you going to get better at? And Diane, I think it's going to seriously be eight weeks. We're going to be good as hell ITSM. So I'm looking forward to it. Girl. Let's see Kesha, I know this is supposed to be about motivating your team but what about wanting to posits back, you want to be accommodating he up at schools. You want me to take this question offline cause we are going to be able to talk about this on um, on Friday's webinar. But you can't afford to give the money back to everyone. Let me just say out loud. It's a phone call, not an email. It's a phone call, not an email. People, when we're talking money, we talk it on the phone, not via email.
Rachel Sheerin: (41:22)
And transparency is going to be key here. A lot of people do not understand what's happening behind our businesses. They don't understand the people we employ, the people we support. And also too there, there's to be a big shift here. There's going to be some of our clients that money is less of an object for them and there's going to be some of our clients that it's really, it's going to be, it's going to be massive. You know, I have some clients right now that we are postponing our team trainings because they're going to have to make some hard decisions. There's also some clients that are like, nah, we got money in the bank. This doesn't really affect us. And I'm like, take me with you. And so you know, they're, they're able to pay. But that would be my initial reaction. Kesha and I hope you're able to join us on Friday.
Rachel Sheerin: (42:01)
Nope. Okay. Michelle, I see. I see your question so we got to got to answer that. Let's see these, this is great. Thanks for sticking with me guys. I love these questions. Um, Oh yeah, Andy goes, event planners can do anything. We will be okay and bounce back. Heck yeah. I'm, you know what, Annie, I just want to give super huge [inaudible] is she is, I'm a really strong I Lia member here in the Charlotte North Carolina community, so she's raising teenagers. I'm totally crushing it. And you know any, you're a rock star, Jen. You're definitely right. This is a trust issue on my upper administration. I'm trying my hardest. Jen, send them the link for tomorrow's webinar. Get them on. Let them, let ha let them have an outsider tell them the truth, right. Cause it sounds like they need to get checked into the boards a little bit up.
Rachel Sheerin: (42:44)
Time's up. Feel free to wrap up if you're not getting new questions. Thanks Rachel. See, this is why she's a great director of operations. Um, ah, Coleen, let me, let me end with, let me end with this question. Uh, it looks like, Oh thanks. By the way, Ari says happy birthday. And my dad, those are tough days, but good stuff. Oh, you can see all the questions in the Q and a. Great, we're in this together. Larissa says the civil path you inspire in this time of the unknown. Oh, Lorissa stop. I'm going to cry. Let me end with this question from Colleen. Right now. Events under 50 people are not allowed. Should we still be booking events in the next month or so for under 50 people? And should we allow our staff members and guests to be exposed to gatherings? Believe it or not, I have people asking for first Perth days and small weddings.
Rachel Sheerin: (43:26)
Holy smokes. Mmm, that's a great question. Coleen. Here's the thing. I think you've got to go with your gut. I think it has to be a leadership decision. I think that if you do decide to go forward with these things, really being transparent of all the precautionary things that you're doing to protect people, extra sanitation, extra, um, disinfectant, I mean, wiping everybody down, I don't know, spraying them with Lysol upon entry. I dunno what would be the solution, but it's gotta be a group decision and I want to make sure that you're profiling those, those health, um, those health precautions very, very accurately because of the CDC recommending that no gatherings over 50 happen. What you do is if you do get right around that little Mark, it might open you up for the potentially, no, I'm not a lawyer, but I'm going to assume here and I'm going to suggest that you got a lawyer's opinion on if this opens you up to liability and lawsuits.
Rachel Sheerin: (44:22)
If God forbid someone got sick because I don't know about you, but the first birthday party, I'm like, can we celebrate without the child? No children. And I know if that's a possibility, but I would say, you know, Colleen, listen, when, when, when you're selling, and this just goes for everyday when you're selling, you're not just selling for the money. That's like fourth on the list. Fifth, 10th. For some of you guys, when you're selling, you're selling for jobs, you're selling for payroll, you're selling for happiness, you're selling for impact, you're selling for connection. You're selling to make sure that you are leaving a legacy and building a company that is bigger than yourself. And if we're not doing that, uh, what are we doing? It truly is one of those things when you sell. And I would encourage us all if people want it, keep selling, keep selling.
Rachel Sheerin: (45:12)
We can handle whatever adjustments we need to make but keep selling because you never know when what you're going to sell is going to provide for your family, your community, your team. Yeah, our impact is great and that's our job to stay great. Which I got to tell you, I'm so thankful for everyone that joined. It's um, know it's, it's um, the recommendations of the restrictions on, uh, on guest counts. We'll get through it, the cancellations. We'll get through it. And guys, thanks for joining me today. If it's cool with you, we'll wrap up here. You will be getting an email that does have this recordings. You can share it, you can review it, you can discuss it with your team. Full disclosure would, you're on this every single day. This week, 2:00 PM Eastern, 11:00 AM Pacific. Tomorrow's webinar's going to be engaged in a team from working from home.
Rachel Sheerin: (46:01)
Jennifer, I look forward to seeing you on there, girl. Um, it get that leadership, you know, if this is something that, you know, people are worried about, if people are supportive of working from home and want to know how to really engage and keep accountable and make sure that we're crushing those goals. Let's join me to a Wednesday staying positive for clients. I don't know about you guys, but Wednesday's going to be like five years in the future. I think it's gonna feel like, so let's talk about staying positive for clients. How to stay calm, how to keep energized, right? It's not caffeine and red bulls. It's, it's a real stuff of Thursday. We're going to talk about productive virtual meetings. If you decide to go the a M if you decided to do the focus of maybe having virtual Hangouts, moving all of your, uh, you know, in person meetings to virtual, super smart, by the way.
Rachel Sheerin: (46:48)
You want a meeting with me, you want to talk about coaching or training or something. Um, we call them margarita minutes. So come on over, let's get a drink and we can cheers online, but productive virtual meetings, how we can really make sure that our messages are getting through and we can also flow and be comfortable on the screen. And then Friday we are talking muh-ney money, money, money. So that's cancellations, refunds, negotiations. We're going to talk about it. It's going to be a big one. As always. I am so super thankful to be here with you guys. I am sending so much power and so much light and so much courage and you know what? A little bit of fun. All right. I hope your margarita are strong and salty and just so, so sweet. Once you get past the salt, that's how we're going to get together and we're going to get through this. So stay great. I'll see you soon. Thanks for being here you guys.
Questions / Comments / Margaritas? Let me know below!