Leading in Disruption
Even under the garden-variety, everyday circumstances, we want our leaders to stand for something that we can feel proud of accepting and emulating. These are not normal times.
A team's need to look into the eyes of their leaders and see more than hope in fearful circumstances is perhaps heightened now than it has been in decades earlier. Most team leaders have never been through something as pervasive, complex and changeable as our current times. So, a bit of guidance and hopefully, self-reflection might help to move ahead.
Here are six messages your team is really looking for in your leadership. Celebrate the ones you are doing well and reflect on the ones you could step up and deliver better on.
1. The courage to share the facts
“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.” — Abraham Lincoln
To keep the obvious a secret is not wise. Most organisations are struggling and find themselves on shaky ground. As a leader you may need to confront unsettling business realities for the long-term, and not just in the immediate. The next best thing to resolving difficult issues is to acknowledge them and bravely face tough facts. When your people can trust you in bad times, they trust you to lead them into better ones. You need nothing short of your team's full support right now. Sharing without breaching confidentiality or setting off a panic is imperative to keeping the worst from knocking people over. Allow your team to know that you respect and value them enough to be truthful and compassionate at the same time. When people know you are there for them, they truly rally around your leadership.
2. The empathy to understand fears
"When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That’s when you can get more creative in solving problems."— Stephen Covey
Fears run rampant in uncertainty and upheavals. Your leadership efforts might never be able to uproot and eliminate fears all together and neither is that desirable. But you can do a lot to allay these fears and even put the worst of them into perspective, so they don't derail day-to-day morale and wellbeing. As a leader, your team is watching you closely to sense how many of their fears might come true and if you even understand how the team feels about the current situation. Addressing this in a team meeting helps everyone know that you have the empathy and the understanding to acknowledge that their worries and apprehensions are not being dismissed or minimised. Most people don't want to be agreed with, but understood and validated. Even in the most harsh business circumstances, empathy makes a big difference.
3. The vulnerability to share feelings
“Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.”— Brené Brown
To make yourself vulnerable as a leader doesn't mean oversharing or sharing on impulse and overstepping professional boundaries that inhibit conversations instead of encourage them. Being vulnerable is about sharing appropriate feelings in a way that provide you a release from their emotional grip and allow your team to see the human and fallible side of your leadership. Contrary to popular belief, teams are not looking for a superhuman to lead them into certainty and calmer waters, they are just looking to make sure you are able to stay human and credible in tough situations. Teams trust a leader who can share that they are struggling with circumstances, but that they know the team together has the strength to ride the storm. The idea of togetherness is not so much built on toughness as on tenderness.
4. The accountability to own outcomes
“A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.” — John Maxwell
Nothing disappoints and disillusions a team more than their leader passing the buck. Leadership is a tough job. You can happily accept the accolades in good times as much as you need to courageously take accountability in the tough times. When things get challenging and not everything is in your control, you still need to raise your hand if someone asks, who is ultimately responsible? That can be really hard on your leadership. But you standing tall in your values and principles is never a wasted effort. As they say, a diamond wouldn't be one if it wasn't put under pressure and tested over time. Robust, reliable leadership is tested in difficult times, and those in the gallery watch your values shining in the spotlight. When you take accountability, you inspire your team do the same.
5. The curiosity to keep learning
“Much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity an intuition turned out to be priceless later on.” —Steve Jobs
Curiosity is most needed in challenging times in order to dispel the illusion of knowing what you need to know. To step into a room to solve prickly work issues and discuss difficult work decisions with your cup full is like losing the battle before you've even begun. While you are accountable as a leader, you are not the problem-solver in-charge. The team is a valuable space to view problems from various perspectives and suggest possible ways to tackle difficult work matters. Without that support, your job as a leader is not one to be envied. Your sense of curiosity encourages even the shy amongst your team to step forward and share their point of view. Curiosity lets everyone put down their armours and pick up their courage to step into their resourcefulness and help each other take better decisions.
6. The optimism to keep going
"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time". —Thomas A. Edison
Optimism and hope are infectious and cause a good sort of contagion within teams. It gives everyone something to fight for, something to persevere for and something to hold on to in difficult times. Being optimistic is not being unrealistic or plunging headlong into positive thinking at the risk of delusion. Optimism is the support that teams need in challenging circumstances to lean on and know that things will improve in the future even if they are bleak right now. As a leader, as much as you are expected to tell the truth and not mislead your team, it's also your responsibility to provide hope and reassurance when it matters the most. Even what seems like the bottom of the pit comes with the optimism that the only way to go from there is upwards. As a leader, you can shine the light on the human spirit that prevails every adversity imaginable and has the potential to come out the other end.
A team is always a reflection of their leader. Pause and think if you are able to provide the support that can help you rise above current challenges, stay honest and credible, and provide the leadership your team deserves and is looking for.
Equality Consulting offers practical and engaging training workshops in three key areas: Leadership for New Leaders, Leading with Inclusion in Diversity and Advancing Women into Leadership. All workshops can be delivered in-person or as online programs, so your people can attend from where ever they might be. Request a personalised preview showcasing our workshops so you have a better idea.