When I joined the Army about 20 years ago, we had a saying: Mission First, People Always. I’ve reflected upon this often in my career, and it has always served me well. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that already has significantly altered life and work as we know it, the maxim still resonates. 

The visual that comes to mind is a balance scale, with mission on one side and people on the other. 

Most days in our workplaces, the mission side weighs a little heavier. After all, it’s why the people—employees—are there in the first place. Even thoughtful organizational policies and practices that “take care of people” are primarily there to enhance organizational performance. When we ramp up for major projects, the mission side gets a little heavier. During most organizational crises, it gets a lot heavier. And generally, it’s at a proportionate expense to people: We work harder, longer hours, carry stress home, miss a child’s baseball game or two, put our dinner dates on hold. And we accept that it’s part of the job.

But during this COVID-19 outbreak, it makes sense to give the people side of that equation a little more weight. In fact, it’s the only thing to do if you care about the mission bouncing back...