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Last week, the SG Partners team attended a Patrick Lencioni webinar. He discussed a wide variety of topics for how leaders can adjust, adapt and progress during these challenging times.
He mentioned from his research and meetings with business leaders he is seeing 2 different type of leaders – Selfless and Reward Centred Leaders.
He suggested in the times we find ourselves in at present, we need more selfless leaders.
Patrick discussed 3 key focuses during testing times:
Be exceedingly human – be even more vulnerable.
Be persistent in communicating with your people - (you will not be bothering them – they need and want your engagement).
Be creative when connecting - it’s not all about what have you done and what will you do today.
It made me think how easy it often is to become transactional as leader. You can easily lose self-awareness when stress is upon you.
Responsible Leadership = Selfless Leadership
Quality leadership is all about showing empathy, communicating regularly with your team and putting your people first. Engaging and understanding each person on a personal level is selfless leadership.
Here at SG Partners, we have been having conversations with leaders over the last few weeks and we can certainly relate to what Patrick discussed during the webinar.
For example, early this week I was having a conversation with a leader who was feeling under the pump and still very much in the “decrease costs” mode and not adopting a growth mentality.
During the phone call, I asked, “how often do you communicate with your sales team?” He answered simply, “Once a week.” I was intrigued so I asked a follow up question. “Why did you become a leader in the first place?” His answer was, “to make money.”
I was shocked. Did this leader display the next normal in leadership? Have they pivoted their communication style to suit their team working remotely? Do they understand their own why? I could only imagine how his team was performing, feeling neglected and loosing purpose.
This leader failed to focus on his circle of influence. This means becoming vulnerable, flexible, engaging with each salesperson as much as possible, asking open ended questions and utlising the technology they have available. That, especially in these times; must be the primary focus.
I read this from a recent combined business leaders online forum meeting:
“Thus, this Tuesday we held a brainstorming session on what we could do and since then we are bringing some of these ideas to life. For example, today we’re launching 2 product variations which had been “forgotten in the drawer” for years!!
Additionally, we found ways to engage our sales employees who have been sitting at home for three weeks (as they belong to the risk group) and they are very happy and thankful we are giving them attention and the possibility to help.
The spirit even took over to my COO, who is opening a new location next Monday which we had postponed before and did not think of opening before June or so!”
Responsible Leadership and the Next Normal
This is the perfect time to pivot your leadership. It is the time to ask your people “can we talk about this further?”, to have empathetic conversations with your people and clients, and to become the responsible leader.
This is the time for effectiveness more so than efficiency!
We need to start to move from Decision Science (transactional) to Implementation Science (sustainability).
This current climate will pass. The next normal will be upon us shortly. Don’t fall behind and lose your most important asset, your people.
