The hero leader does not exist
The leader is not a hero who can do everything, has all the answers, and always flies ahead. The hero leader does not exist. Nor does the hero board, the hero executive team, or the hero management team. When we let go of this illusion, there is room for a different narrative. Room for courage, willingness to change, and adaptability.
Someone with great adaptability seemingly navigates smoothly between, on the one hand, continuing to move and showing sufficient decisiveness and, on the other, easing off for a moment to build capacity.
In this, I see 10 developmental challenges for people who take on leadership in organizations in these turbulent times.
10 developmental challenges for leaders in turbulent times
- Keep moving in the fog. Show sufficient decisiveness even if you do not always have all the answers. Be able to remain in not knowing without coming to a standstill. Stagnation leads to decline. The courage to make that decision anyway, even if you still feel doubt. Dare to leap. And be there for one another during that leap into the fog.
- Let go of what is not serving. Consciously choose to stop when a collaboration, a project, a department,… has reached its destination.
- Trust in yourself. Continue to validate yourself in the face of failure or rejection. Your sometimes bold choices will trigger resistance in others. Your actions will sometimes be the wrong ones. Being both critical and gentle—how do you do that?
- Trust in people. People and groups are naturally caring, creative, and focused. But they are simply confronted with so many challenges that their ability to remain engaged and focused decreases.
- Keep focusing in foggy conditions. Choose acupuncture points. What is the difference (in strategy, in the structures, in the culture) that can make the difference, and focus on that. As a person, team, and organization, you also do not have an unlimited pot of time and energy. Focus wise.
- Invest in personal leadership. Find your own voice. Speak and act from a centered place within yourself. Your personal impact will increase and you will waste less energy because you operate from flow. Help others do the same. Leaders scale leadership.
- Invest in group cohesion. A strong foundation of support and team strength is needed to keep facing continuous change. Invest in the relational fabric, so the group helps the group over the thresholds of transition each time. It is often also easier to navigate the well-known leadership polarities such as connection and loneliness, or responsibility and letting go, or power and powerlessness when there is a strong group that can carry this with you.
- Expose harmful patterns and invest in healing. Mission-driven organizations are often more vulnerable, and these fragile areas are often also self-created. Such as the tension between ambition and capacity: we set the bar high and often do not have enough people and resources. Such as overidentification with the mission: passion becomes obsession. Having enough obviously has a great deal to do with that, but the fragile areas are sometimes also self-created. Pay focused attention to these vulnerable areas in the team and organization, while continuing to connect with your own vulnerable areas. Because it is in the relationship with yourself that the key lies to how you relate to a turbulent environment.
- Ease off and resist the sense of urgency. More than ever, it is of great importance to ease off now and then and resist the sense of urgency. The courage to choose joy and relaxation, even if other things feel more urgent. Because slowing down brings warmth. And warmth loosens things that get stuck when it all becomes too much. Warmth releases energy and creativity. Much needed in turbulent times.
- Truly feel and show vulnerability. We all sometimes feel doubt, anger, sadness, powerlessness, and paralysis. Those who truly dare to feel more often encounter deeper wisdom about what we truly find important and want to stand for. Encourage it in others too. Mutual vulnerability makes relationships stronger. Together, you can better withstand knocks.
Which developmental challenges are the 3 most important for you right now?
Taking on leadership means choosing a kind of journey where you do not fully know what you will encounter along the way. What makes the big difference is whether you undertake this journey alone or together with others. Allow yourself to be supported. Look for people who are embarking on a similar journey together. Although everyone’s path is unique, walking part of that journey together often brings enormous enrichment and support.
Be inspired and register now for our leadership program that starts on 20 October.
This program brings you together with people with similar developmental challenges. It is not about standard management theories and the typical, often familiar tips and tricks; instead, we truly focus on you as a person. There are simply so many challenges you are confronted with. It is okay for it to be all about you for once. Our trainers have extensive experience in coaching, so you are in good hands if, during the program, you run into things you would rather explore in a personal context. Join in and enrich your leadership journey!
