Observation
‘Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.’
Winston Churchill - November 1942
I am writing this to the sound of the wind howling around our rooftop and the waves pounding on to the beach. Yesterday evening I found myself shivering as I walked back from my local high street. Summer is well and truly over and a long and unknown winter lies ahead.
In the past month many of my clients have returned from a much needed summer break, determined to reenergise their business. I am hearing talk of revenue returning ahead of the draconian forecasts of the spring, I have taken part in workshops where there has been a palpable energy from colleagues being physically together again and for a number of clients the existential threat of closure has retreated, at least for the moment. However other clients have opened their offices, only to have to close them again. For many it is clear that the short term challenges of ‘return to the office’ and the long term challenge of hybrid working, combining office and home, sound wonderful in theory but are practically fraught with challenge and uncertainty. And of course, in the wider world, the politicians continue to confound ( though who would want their job?), our national debt racks up, COVID remains stubbornly virulent and the nights are drawing in.
Winston Churchill may now generate a marmite reaction, but for me, this most famous of quotes, perfectly sums up our current situation. If that is the case, then our challenge as leaders is to lean in hard and figure out the implications, as best we can and act on them. The context does not change by ignoring it or by hoping it will go away.
Current Leadership Challenge
Are you being intentional about your leadership?
I have very few, if any, clients who dispute the importance of leadership. Where they do differ is the extent to which they believe leadership is mainly around the charisma that you bring to the sum of the tasks you need to do or that leadership is an asset that you need to understand, shape, act on and develop. For the avoidance of doubt, I am very definitely in the latter camp. For me leadership is one of the key levers that you have to drive performance and like any other asset you have to be intentional about how you pull that lever.
I was in a workshop with a FinTec client this week and they identified the following areas as key to being intentional about their leadership – being clear on the purpose of the leadership team, having a compelling narrative internally and externally, having robust processes that help them deliver their leadership agenda (exec meetings, business reviews etc) and individual & collective accountability to act on all of the above.
Practical Action
Put your own house in order
‘In the event of an emergency please fit your own mask
before helping your children.’
When we were travelling and the children were young I always found this incredibly counter intuitive – as a parent every ounce of your being wants to help the children first and yet the reality is that being able to help the children is dependent on you looking after yourself. This week one of my clients used a similar message to encourage her team to invest in themselves. She was very direct, this was not a nice to do, putting their own house in order was essential to them being effective leaders over the tough months ahead. She highlighted the following areas for attention and I have added my own commentary.
Ruthlessly Focus On Your Role and Priorities – be very clear on where you add most value and make sure your use of time reflects this, you can’t do everything. I am still surprised how many people seem to be drinking from the fire hose and as a result their days are driven by external factors not their own agenda.
Leverage Personal Support – for the past two decades I have seen a corporate obsession with reducing the number of PA’s and Executive Assistants. I do not understand it. A great support team absolutely leverages the contribution of the leader, not least that in order to have an effective relationship you have to agree your way of working and stick with it and that’s a great discipline. I can imagine that a combination of budget pressures and remote working will continue this trend, perhaps with the CEO feeling they need to show a good example by making personal cuts. My advice would be to resist this like mad, in fact I’d encourage you to double down on great support (especially coaches!).
Harness Technology – this may seem obvious but everything from the practicalities of the height of your screen to the effective use of modern software will impact on your performance. I see a vast disparity between individual clients and within their teams in terms of the resources they have and how they are used. Painful as it may be, reviewing your needs and training yourself and your team in what might seem like basic protocols, may make a real difference. If you are a well-established business with a strong central technology department, don’t abdicate the use of technology to them. Most of the exemplars I see are newer businesses where technology is just part of what everybody does. COVID is compounding these differences as we see the accelerated drive to digital.
Take Your Wellbeing Seriously – our physical and mental wellbeing impacts our performance not to mention our happiness and relationships. One day this week I got up at 02.30 to do a client note – I am part proud and part horrified by this. I can justify this in all sorts of ways and practically I was wide awake and thinking about it, so I thought I might as well get it done. In reality I was jaded for the next two days and who knows what the long term cost will be. Hydration, exercise, breaks, mental attitude – we all know what we should do, making it happen is so much harder. As you can see I am far from a paragon of virtue but what has and does work me, at least in part, is taking time to reflect and be aware of those things that impact my wellbeing and having some sort of realistic plan to act on it.
Comments