When teammates leave, it can have a ripple effect. How can you help mitigate further attrition and keep everyone motivated and engaged when someone quits? Harvard Business Review’s Rebecca Zucker and Dina Smith offer some good strategies.

Create terra firma

The human brain was not built for the amount of uncertainty we’re facing in our personal and professional lives, write social psychologist Heidi Grant and EY Americas CEO Tal Goldhamer. With an unclear end to the pandemic and ever-changing shifts in the business landscape, customer and employee expectations, and work arrangements, it can feel like the ground is continually shifting underneath our feet.

To counter this, create certainty for your team wherever you can. If you have no plans to leave the organization, make that clear. You might say, “Just so you know, I don’t have any plans to leave. I will be here for you.”

Solicit feedback to assess individual and collective capacity

Check in with your team members regularly to understand what work they currently have on their plates. This will give you a sense of how you might rebalance some of the work among team members, as well as what your team’s collective capacity is at any given time.

Their feedback will also increase your visibility into their workload, which may require you to adjust your expectations about what can realistically be accomplished. And, if necessary, it will help you make a stronger case to your boss for additional resources, given your team goals.

Enable autonomy

Once you and your team have aligned on collective goals, allow them to decide how, when and where they complete their work. When people feel in control and that they have a choice, they are more motivated and experience higher well-being.

Give your team permission to push back

Let your team members know it’s OK to say “no” and question deadlines. Invite them to challenge your assumptions and tell you how much time something that “seems simple” will actually take to accomplish the work requested.

Shield your team

While good leaders should typically protect their teams from unrealistic or low-priority requests, it’s more essential than ever now, when there are fewer people to bear the same workload.

Create connection

Tackling big challenges together and knowing others have your back can build morale. Aim to foster a “we’re in it together” ethos where team members pitch in to help each other.