There are many skills and attributes proclaimed to be "it". The one thing that if mastered, or at least practiced with diligence, will help you succeed no matter what the situation. To find a good list of these sort of "it factors" just review the covers of Harvard Business Review or the titles of the last 50 books by John Maxwell. Both, among others, seem to have created a cottage industry out of surfing the latest leadership/management/supervision/self-help fad word.
That is not to say that some of it is not helpful. But it can also be exhausting. If every trip to the bookstore non-fiction section or skim of virtual magazine articles reveals another area we need to absolutely focus on lest our career, personal lives, relationships, and utter being collapse into a burning hulk of irrelevance, that can be more than a touch overwhelming.
When you pile on the challenges associated with the pandemic and economic upheaval, is it any wonder that leaders wake up each day feeling more exhausted than they did when they went to bed?
I think it may be better, easier, and more realistic, to focus on a few key abilities that if we understand and practice will (potentially) make everything else much easier to manage.
My nominee for the first on this list is the ability to transition effectively. Somewhere back in the day I read a few articles on the topic, but it never seemed to achieve the prominence in mind, thought, and Ted Talk Agenda that it should have. Further, it is this ability, or lack thereof, which has caused me most of greatest challenges in my working life and personal life and from random observation, the lives of many of my friends and colleagues as well.
The stat I recall from a long ago article was that the average person goes through 14 professional transitions in their career. Lord only knows how many we go through in our non work life. Each time we change a career, job title, role, shift, working location, or anything else there is something significant demanded of us.
We may be working with different people, or the same people but now we are the boss. We may be working from home for the first time, or working in an office for the first time. However we approached our situation before does not fit our new situation the same way.
Each of these transitions demands we slow down, assess our surroundings, and adapt to whatever the new situation is. If nothing else, the last two years have been one global and continuous Sherman March to the Sea through endless fields of transition.
But how to do it well? I do not know the full and complete answer. But I know it starts with carefully assessing the new place we find ourselves. Like any good novelist-- understand the scene.
Until that is determined, the only wise and safe play is to making sure that we are on solid ground with basic needs met. Values come into play here as well, especially those which form our core. What about our approach to the world stays the same, no matter where we are? How do those values related to where we now find ourselves? There is a reason why a compass is such a valued tool for those at sea and why the metaphor of a compass is so effective for humans, it offers the starting point for wherever we go. Likewise, they are one reason why establishing your core values is such an essential part of being a successful leader. If you don't have a solid core or foundation that you can always touch, then you will never have a safe, secure, and solid position from which to understand or grow.
Once we have that initial position established, we can begin to figure out who else is on the journey with us. Are we alone? Are we following others (who have hopefully charted the course) or are others following behind us? Those expecting us to be the lighthouse on roller-skates in the fog? How many are on either side? Those right next to us also inching forward.
Once we have an idea of the scene and the people and starting position, we can start to think about where we are going. Again, best to move slow and steady, especially when blanketed in the fog of a stressful time, uncertain situation, or, perhaps, a pandemic. Remember at all times though, that many others are in the same position as you, in the fog, clamoring for a light, and likely reaching for something or someone else to hold on to in the uncertain fog of the situation. The best leaders understand this. The worst use to fog to write their own horror novel with you as the victim, but we will save that for another post.
To be able to transition well is to be able to find your place and your position each time you are deposited in that unfamiliar place. To be able to figure out who is around you and envision those first tentative steps in what may be the pitch black of uncertainty. To offer some comfort and support to those around you and to be able to position you and those you lead to take advantage of the clarity and opportunity to move forward when they come, or react to the threats which demand you move when they arrive. Most likely, it will be both scenarios that appear, too often at the same time.
And then the real journeys will begin and the compass needle will spin, but that, my friend, is just the start of another transition.
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