Observation
I suspect like many, I spent the first 10 days of WFH doing sensible stretching and exercise. Even my back, which is in a continual state of permafrost, started to loosen up. Then I became rather too excited doing an extended hamstring stretch and my back went into painful spasm. I stopped exercising immediately and after 3 days had recovered sufficiently to start again. However I felt the need to revert to the comfort of what I knew and so pounded out the press ups and ‘beasted’ it on the bike. The result was entirely predictable and I have spent a very uncomfortable last ten days, physically and mentally, trying to recover.
Mastering the benefits and challenges of WFH will take hundreds, or indeed, thousands of hours. We shouldn’t let our initial enthusiasm for Microsoft Teams and a permanent dress down code, lull ourselves into a false sense of confidence that we know what we are doing. Like yoga, leading in a WFH world will mean isolating, educating and exercising different leadership muscles than we have done before.
Current Leadership Challenge
Create A Narrative Not A Stream Of Sound Bites
The story we tell will shape how all our stakeholders understand and respond. A series of fragmented sound bites, will create a fragmented view of the business and generate little confidence. A coherent, compelling and confident story will have the opposite effect.
How we keep this grounded in reality and not seen as bullsh** is one of the great leadership challenges.
It’s possibly the most repeated leadership story of my working life but it still seems entirely relevant:
At NASA in the 1960’s, two toilet cleaners were asked what they were doing, one said ‘wiping the pee off the floor’, the other said ‘helping put a person on the moon!’
Which narrative are you creating?
Practical Action
Don’t Waste A Great Crisis
This may sound extremely callous and yet we now have a greater opportunity and need to make change, than most of us will have experienced in our working lives. Our colleagues, customers and communities need healthy, viable businesses as part of a successful future and to achieve that will require bold action. I’d encourage you to act in terms of:
Customers – shape the relationships you want based on where you can add real value
Colleagues – align your OD with what is needed in the future, not just short term expediencies. Look after you’re A* talent, they will make a disproportionate impact and now is a great opportunity to give them real stretch assignments.
Culture – stand up for what you stand for, it will set the tone for years to come
Costs – create a sustainable long term cost base (and make sure the cash flow works in the short term)
Communication – make the unapologetic case for change, people may not be ecstatic but they are now more likely to listen
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