Retirement isn't hitting the brakes. It's shifting gears.
Stop living life by default. Start living life by design.
Your staff members have anxieties they bring to the job. Every one of your staff is different. Some have enough anxiety to keep them on their game. Others, not so much. Regardless, their anxiety influences the role they play in your organization. Let's address your role as leader of individuals who are all hired to bring about a certain outcome for which they are paid.
First, a few elements:
So here's the principle that, if you can master it, will become your go-to behavior whenever you need to light a fire under a staff member, or talk them off a cliff. It's called Thermostat Leadership, and many leaders simply don't use it because they don't get it. They're too busy fighting the tendency to be "one of the guys", rather than engage with individual staff members' to get to truly know them and offer a little well-timed, well-placed advice. This advice you give does one of two things: regulate anxiety UP or regulate anxiety DOWN.
When a staff member is high on anxiety, it's time for you to turn down the temperature. Give them an empathetic ear when they're sharing their struggle with you. Offer advice only as a last resort. Mainly ask open-ended questions that draw your staff member out of their own heads. That way, they'll begin to see their anxiety from a broader perspective and feel better about that. A good resource to become better at this kind of conversation is The Coaching Habit.
When a staff member is low on anxiety, it's time for you to turn up the temperature. In this scenario, you're doing a little more of the talking and showing, by illustration, how important the staff person's role and results are to the overall mission. Be sure to communicate a clear line of attachment between what they were hired to do and how it enables your organization to achieve its mission.
ACTION STEP