Being humble is a great way to go about tackling a new challenge.
Humble keeps you grounded (the word actually comes from latin humus, that means earth), and it frees you from the need of having all the answers. When you are humble, you have time to explore, to audit, to find out, and eventually to make up your mind with a new set of information you wouldn’t have otherwise had.
Ideally, relationships are established in good times.
It is more challenging to do that when the crisis hits, when everyone is occupied saving their neck, when nobody knows what tomorrow will bring. There’s a sense of individualism that grows in dire times, preventing the reciprocity needed to build and cultivate relationships.
The only thing that can be done now then, in this moment of unprecedented unknowns, is forget about the reciprocity and just give. Is there anything you own that could be useful out there? Do you have anything to say that could lift the spirit of those most distressed? Is the message you have to deliver looking at a positive future, or is it dilating stress and urgency beyond the here and now?
Marketers should be careful out there these days, the risk in terms of reputation is really high.
Two things about leadership I got reminded about in the past week.
First, if you want to start a conversation on a challenging problem, do not put your idea forward. Not in the beginning, not in the middle, not at the end. Sit down and listen instead, and see if some elements of your idea can support somebody else’s idea.
Second, if somebody comes to you with a question, a problem, something to share, listen to them. Saying that you are busy, that it’s not important, that you don’t care (right now) is equivalent to breaking the relationship. If you really cannot listen now, apologise and go back to it later. It will be worth it.
Leadership is tough job. Hope you are getting the support you need.
Discussing a plan, an idea, a project, a strategy with somebody who’s on a different agenda is challenging.
To push it through, you might be tempted to do one or more of the following.
Make it about the lack of alternatives – i.e. if we don’t do this, we will do nothing.
Make it about the very reason why the group exists – i.e. if we don’t do this, we will disappear.
Make it about something that is happening right here, right now – i.e. if we don’t do this, we will lose the opportunity.
Make it about the will of somebody in power – i.e. if we don’t do this, they will be disappointed.
These are shortcuts. Their main effect is to plant the seed of resistance in those listening. Depending on the circumstance, you might get the desired outcome (the plan, the idea, the project, the strategy will be executed). Yet eventually it will be a bare minimum outcome, something you yourself will be unwilling to put forward.
An alternative approach would be the following: here is what we want to achieve, how do we go about it? When you give people a problem instead of a thing to do, you’ll unlock their creativity and expertise. And they will be committed to delivering their best work, something you yourself will be proud to put forward.
It makes all the difference.
Asking others to do better, to be better is missing perspective.
A more productive approach would be enquiring about what you can do to enable them to do better, to be better. And follow up with what is needed.
An even more productive approach would be to figure out how you can do better, be better. And by simply doing that, make those around you shine brighter, achieve more, reach higher.
Finally, we could take it on our own to change the environment and the rules of the game so that what others are doing or the way they are would already be better.
When we ask others to do better, to be better we sort of take our own responsibility out of the picture. Yet, it feels to me there’s quite a lot we can do to achieve exactly the better we want others to achieve.
You've got this 