Five Leader “Must-Do’s”

In a recent Linked-In post, I shared Sharon Richmond’s World’s Simplest Leadership Model; Set Direction, Engage and Enable!

Here is my synopsis of her latest thinking on Leading When Times Are Tough.  

So much is written about advice for leaders, but Sharon’s Five Leader “Must-Do’s”, also presented at the MBTI User Conference this year, blew me away.  At last!… there was a model for leadership that took account of something we’ve all known about for some time but hardly ever hear acknowledged or built on.   The simple fact is that in difficult times leaders feel vulnerable and are pulled by their emotions, just like anyone else.   So, leaders need to listen to themselves, what their bodies and minds are telling them and adopt 5 simple mantras to negotiate troubled waters.

Firstly, Quell the Fear – start here and do whatever it takes to manage your own and others fear of the unknown and maintain your composure, be brave, bold and courageous.  Then try to Find Opportunity – be inquisitive and try to move from “I just need to survive this” to “creating and building opportunity”.   As opportunity emerges, don’t panic, instead Focus – try to be calm and point out what IS and IS NOT changing, embrace and play with these two things until everyone is comfortable. Zoom In on the details and Zoom Out to give the vision, and do both and at the right times.   You’ll then be tempted to try and get back some control: don’t.  Move from Control to Inclusion – create agency in your teams to take things forward and allow them to be involved – show you care about what they have to say and their ideas for change.  And lastly Cultivate Hope – move amongst your team members dispersing the stress, being realistic and building confidence in the future.

“What people need is often different to what the leader wants to do”, and so it takes courage to step out and tackle the change.  Then, Sharon says, you can go back to the simplest leadership model in the world!