Raise your hand if you feel like your life in the past weeks has been more disrupted thanever before?–I think it’s fair to say that regardless of our gender, nationality, background and even age group, we’re all raising our hands right now.
COVID-19 has spread around the globenot only endangering our health but also ourfinancial, social, culturaland political stability. Humanityas a whole isfeeling a collective vulnerability and a ‘reality check’ of enormous proportionsthatis forcing us to change how we work, how we socialise, how we communicate and stay connected, how we parent, how we learnand even how weentertain ourselves. It is also making usre-evaluatethe tools we use, the way weleadand is bringing our truest values to the forefront.
There is a lot out there about how the pandemic is fast-tracking digital transformation, we are all seeing it in our internal operationsbut how can this crisis transform us as humans and impact our leadership style? Is it time to re-evaluate the way we think about leadershipandevenour own humanness?
I would like to think that whether we’re aware of it or not, we as people are starting to realise how deeply connected we truly are, and withanincreasing wave of empathywe can start to see a different and more human way tothink andlead, could there be good news after all?
This is a perfect time to open our minds to new ways and for that process to kick init might be useful to vocalisesomebig questions,questions are more important than answersbecausethey tend to open the mind!Here we go…
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Vulnerability is an essential asset for innovation, how can we use it to impact the way we lead?
If you’ve read or heard about award winner and New York Times Best SellerProfessorBrenéBrown,you know about the myth of vulnerabilityequalsweakness.As humans we inevitably feel vulnerable in uncertainty,and asBrené’sdecadesof research shows, there is animplicit correlation between vulnerability, creativity and courage. Thismeans that right here,right now,as vulnerable as we are,itis the time to shake the pre-existing model around, test and trial new ways and leverage from a diverse team to come back stronger at the other end.With that in mind, are you encouraging your team to share new ideas? Mind mapping, brainstorming or having honest andopen-heartedconversations about how the current state of affairs is transforming our old ways?This might be just what your team needs to stay motivated and it also might be just what you need to keep the team/organisation afloat.
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Sharing values buildstrust throughout a team –can you namethemaincore values you stand by and lead by?
Trust is built in small actions and it is the glue that keeps teams and organisations together.Our valuesare what drives our actions; in the presence of fear, insecurity and ambiguity we can forget what they are and when we do, our actions and outcomes are affected.Learning about the core values of your team members is essential to working togetherand so is sharing your core values. If we don’t have clarity of values, we forget why we are here and what brought us here in the first place.If you cantranslate values from ideas into behaviours for you andmodel them for the peopleyoulead,you’ll see trust strengthen and even purpose reinforced.
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Real communicationdespite of real physical disconnection – can you build stronger connections with your team and internal/external clients in a “Social Distancing”environment?
Beyond staying in touch with teams, co-workers and using video conferencing tools, are we connecting effectively? This is a question we’re asking ourselves internally,how can our communications (internal and external) reflect what we feel in this particular time. I use the‘turbulence analogy’quite a lot and I find it is crucial for me and my team as we navigate the unprecedented territory. Think of the last time you were on a plane, it is likely that the pilot announced the weather conditions before taking off, the flight plan and the estimatedtime of arrival. She asked you to buckle yourseat beltif theturbulencelight was on and refrain from getting upfrom your seat. She also said that the flight attendants would interrupt service during the turbulence. As a result, when the flight got bumpy you trusted the pilot was working on altitude andthatsoon the flight would feel steady again, even when turbulence is uncomfortable and scary, the pilot communicated effectively so you know to hold on tight and trust the process.On the contrary, if the pilot had said nothing or even worse, if she’dsaid to expect a quiet and uneventful flight, what would your reaction be to the heavy turbulence and absence of flight attendants?– let’s never underestimate the power ofhonesty and empathy in our communications, they are key to connectingwith the people we lead.
Thisracewill come to an end, I suspect this one will be more of amarathon long than a sprintandthere will be sweat,tearsand painbut alsocommunity, collaboration, achievementand transformation.I find myself questioninga lot of my concepts at the moment, are theseuseful for me and my team?DoIstill want to believe in thisotherone?What is the purpose of this one over here?...Iwould like to invite you toaskyourselves,when we getto thefinish line,what kind of leadersdo we want to be?