Observation
People are stressed and leaders are not immune from this. Many of my conversations have a much higher level of anxiety than usual. The causes vary including: the practicalities of young children at home and both parents trying to work, making announcements to the market/investors, personal financial strain putting lifestyles at risk, bosses who have gone into ‘command and control’ mode, genuine differences amongst the leadership team and yet still having to act at speed, not to mention the long days, underlying worries of Covid–19 and an uncertain economic future.
As we each learn to cope, it will be easy to overlook that others are responding differently. For many months to come I suspect effective leaders will have their antennae tuned to their colleagues even more than usual, despite all the other noise and demands circling around them.
Current Leadership Challenge
Shifting From A Sprint To A 100 Mile Route March
One of my clients described his current challenge in this way and it really struck a note (thank you – Peter)
As we get over the first adrenaline rush of immediate action, setting up new rhythms and WFH, the reality is dawning that we need a more sustainable approach which will this require months of hard work and discipline.
Practical Action
Plan For A Route March (Not A Sprint)
Thanks to my cousin, Major John Cotterill, Worcestershire & Sherwood Foresters 1977 – 2014, who gave me the following advice. My reflections on its applicability to the current leadership challenges are in italics.
The secret of success is in the preparation and training. You need to have already completed 5, 10, 20 and 50 mile route marches after which you will have confidence in your capabilities. Your challenges won’t be solved in one single bound, you need to set a direction and start planning, building capability, setting milestones (even though they will change) and marking progress along the way.
Only carry what you need ; which means you must trust in whoever is going to resupply you with your needs on route. Get your teams to stay focused on their task, move at speed and trust others to do their job.
Know where you are for every mile of the route. Nobody will thank you if your 100 miles becomes 105 miles because of your navigational errors. Make sure you have meaningful MI and insight (create it if you need to) and let it inform your decisions.
Maintain morale throughout. Full marching band is best , a pair of drummers is good but a penny whistle or kazoo will do. Learn some marching songs. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Engage others.
Keep step with your comrades throughout. If you do so you will be marching as a formed body , which is much easier than marching as an individual Constantly reinforce the value of the team and that ‘we are in this, and will get out of this, together.’
NB If you want to have something to look forward to and fancy a different experience when this is all over, have a look at Cotterill Battlefields
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