Corporate and political leaders globally wrestle daily with uncertainty. Some succeed without too many bruises, but many don’t. The world of certainty, which they navigated successfully to reach the top, is now undermined by factors unforeseeable.
A handful of visionary leaders and risk-takers have adapted well. They have shed the instinct of caution to thrive on change and risk. But these leaders are in the minority. An overwhelming majority are struggling to navigate the current torrent of uncertainty and confusion in the world – but why? Leaders now need the skills and insights to understand, embrace, and then use very different from what was required when most began their careers. The conformity back then, seen as a career booster, is now becoming the emergency brake, stopping growth, reputations, and careers.
Many leaders are overwhelmed by the new pressures of the short-termism that is prevalent everywhere.
Leaders must view the current pace of change as equivalent to what happens in extreme circumstances, circumstances 100% outside their control. The speed and scale of negative disruption destroy any assumptions of relative stability for which leaders manage.
This isn’t a scenario that’s necessarily going to get better quickly. Current issues relating to finance, politics, commerce, sustainability, competition, IT development, and so on will not resolve promptly. But, one way or another, the prominent and subsidiary matters affect us all. Therefore, we must assume that there are many more holes in the road ahead for leadership, and some of those holes will take the wheels off.
Nation-state conflict - and seemingly insoluble issues like Brexit - affect leadership thinking and actions. Moreover, the potential impact of artificial intelligence and burgeoning technologies means that we’re in the early days of significant social and economic shifts. Also, the way we view the work-life balance has changed the modus operandi of many organizations—the instabilities in government and economies worldwide cause delays, doubts, and the inability to make proper decisions.
Many leaders conform to the status quo, how their organization remains or how their industry has continuously operated. This attempt at ‘safety’, at conformity, at short-term thinking, at ‘it’ll be alright on the night’ assumption - all these stop leaders from understanding and engaging with the scale of potential damage to their situation and organization. Massive pressure from stakeholders, customers, and the media means that many leaders are stuck, dazzled by the oncoming headlights. And that’s not even taking account of the culture of blame and accusation that will inevitably arise as they always do when organizations struggle.
To come to terms with realities internally and externally requires bravery and the ability to take onboard some plain truths. Some equally essential decisions need settling, not all of them famous. That necessitates excellent communication at all levels to understand any decision or action, even if it’s painful. That, of course, doesn’t ease the path for leaders. With good communication comes good questions requiring good answers. With good campaigns to manage challenging issues come internal barriers to successful actions. Leaders must scope their ways of dealing with any obstacle and any aspect of potential or necessary change, all of which may occur suddenly, might have been forced upon them, or might have been visible from a long way back.
Essentially, the more that we plan, the better. While that’s blindingly obvious in the extreme, it flies against the fact that many leaders will ignore a situation in the hope that it’ll go away.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to most problems or situations a leader faces. The process of solution adaptation must become a core principle through which a leader and their organization think and work. It’s about having open minds and taking on board advice, again not always easy for some. Can the advice be trusted as well as workable? Will it be painful? What if it’s wrong? One has only to look at political leaders’ advisors to see how what they offer may be simply wrong, thin or just unhelpful. History shows a long list of advisors and ‘king makers’ in business and politics were sometimes brilliant while others were useless and damaging. Leaders often find it hard to rid themselves of advisors. That requires courage.
Above all, leaders must have courage. For example, leaders in the UK are experiencing intense pressure as the country copes or tries to cope with Brexit and the accompanying political turmoil, social division, anger, distress, and growing uncertainty. People on all sides of the debate are digging into entrenched positions and engaging in increasingly tribal behaviour, none of which is helpful.
Leaders are aware that, for their organizations, a Brexit ‘no deal’ is a significant threat, and this makes resilience in leadership an absolute key to surviving - and even flourishing - in a new and challenging environment. But, unfortunately, there is a paucity of advice because nobody has a clue as to the outcome.
Leaders must become fearless in a moment of crisis or challenge and recognize what’s coming at them rather than remain in denial or tempted to put the matter to one side. Once the issue is accepted, they must work out how to deal with it within its parameters. Then they must search for hidden opportunities of which there may be many, some or none. Let’s remember that leaders get paid to lead, and they get paid to grasp the nettle of fear and deal with it on behalf of those they lead.
It is human nature to fear change, but influential leaders have the flexibility to grasp not just the nettle but the moment. It may be an opportunity for the organization to thrive. Or to change totally and become a positive disruptive agent for change.
Emotional stability is a crucial leadership skill and even more so in difficult times. Leaders need to strike the right balance between over-optimism and overt excitement at one end of the scale and pessimism or doom-laden prophesy at the other. Leaders who show insecurity and doubt can swing between optimism and pessimism and, in the process, lose confidence among employees - and other stakeholders.
Stress and change within and outside an organization can also create a loss of confidence and negative culture that undermines trust and performance. In such conditions, employees are highly likely to play the blame game, and that’s when large numbers pretend to be or are victims, claim that the pressure is causing illness, develop bias where none existed before, and treat everything as unfair. Blame eats people up and can spread like wildfire.
That tenacity and ability to dig in and survive adversity is essential in leadership, but employees also need to see a leader as decent and human. The use of language is vital – ensuring that nothing said can be regarded as acerbic. Storytelling is helpful in presentations to illustrate how a leader overcomes challenges and, importantly, reveals that process. Leaders build on their communication, actions, and trust; anything that constructs a bank of trust makes collaboration easier within the organization and more robust in facing whatever the world throws the leader’s way.
Vince Stevenson - Founder College of Public Speaking 2006 Ltd.
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