“The course has already started me thinking about my actions as a leader. How can I be more intentional in what I do for both myself and my team. It has made me consider recognising performance as well as outcomes!”
At the time of writing, I’m (Katherine) spending some time in Ireland, working and holidaying. Ireland has handled the Covid crisis relatively well, with the Government receiving plaudits for its swift and decisive action and clarity of its communication through the first four months of the crisis. At the end of June, however, there was a change in government, and with it a change in leadership approach and style – and this new approach has come in for plenty of criticism in recent weeks.
As businesses are navigating a return to the workplace, safety is foremost in everyone’s minds. And while the focus is necessarily on creating a physically safe, bio-secure environment, paying attention to creating psychological safety is critical AND maintain (or even re-establish) an emphasis on productivity and performance.
We remain in curious times, despite the welcome easing of UK lockdown restrictions. This marks a gradual return to activity for many business sectors, although it is too soon to tell what this really means, and we will continue to face an uncertain, ambiguous and potentially volatile future.
As business leaders plan to come out of lock-down, they face the daunting challenge of taking their people with them into uncharted territory. The pressure on leaders is enormous, with many facing threats to business survival and the need to rapidly reimagine the steps to re-opening.
Few business leaders have ever faced a situation as overwhelming, unpredictable and serious as the current COVID pandemic. The leaders and businesses that will thrive in the future will be the ones that re-imagine themselves into the new, emerging future, taking the best of the past but also leaving much behind.
We’re in the ultimate VUCA environment, and it’s one that most of us are neither experienced nor equipped to lead in. We’re in uncharted territory, we’ve got little in terms of a map, and we’ve been given the daunting task of navigating our business and our people our way through it.
Coronavirus is sweeping the world, moving fast in some regions, and in a more contained way in others. We’ll share our insight here on understanding and responding to threat, with some practical suggestions on leading in threatening and challenging times.
It’s a deliberate choice to spend time investing in relationships. It’s not a ‘given’ that your relationships will benefit from spending time together socially or engaged in a collaborative venture. It takes focused effort to build, sustain and nurture high quality relationships.
The world is changing faster and more unpredictably than ever before. We are in the midst of major disruption, brought about by social, environmental and political forces that we struggle to fully understand.
Too often we see leaders in business and sport striving to win at all costs: try harder, work longer, go faster. Push every limit. Test every boundary. Do more with less.
What can we learn from Britain’s sporting success?
