Less is Better in Leadership Effectiveness
Short and sweet, I’m here to listen and help you navigate challenges with confidence. Whether you’re a C-Suite Leader navigating business challenges or a C-Suite Leader of tomorrow seeking greater impact, I’m here to provide you insights, inspiration and resources.
During this season of reflection I’ve realized that many in my community are highly aware and open to learning new things. Many of you have prioritized time & energy so you can balance career, family & community. That is why I will simply share only my best insight with you so you can consume, reflect and apply what is relevant to your situation.
Insight: Having clarity amidst chaos gives you wisdom to guide your teams through challenges.
Context: Missing an operations objective, an irate customer, loss of business, new opportunities, resource shortages; all can cause teams to go into chaos. While it is easy to be pulled into the situation, you need to find a “pause” button for which you can take in data, listen to the information and from your experience formulate a path forward. When you do this, you give yourself time to process data, formulate a problem statement or summary and when you speak your team will know they’re understood and respected.
Impact: When you listen more and speak less, your leadership comes through. When you take a moment to respond vs. react, you pull yourself out of the chaos and become the strong voice of reason to pull your team forward. When there is a future crisis, people will either pull you in for your leadership and / or emulate your behavior so others can navigate challenges with confidence.
In real life: I worked with a client that was having challenges and we created a strategy to move beyond the challenge. However, when we slowed things down and tried to get to the root cause of the challenge, a different strategy was revealed for which the challenge was turned into an opportunity. It came from asking questions, organizing their thoughts and finding a new solution that calmed the chaos. Does this sound like something you’ve experienced?
Potential Actions:
- Was there a recent crisis that you didn’t handle well for which you can regroup and move forward differently? Convene the players to get back on track
- Is there a situation for which you’re going into to practice listening more or asking questions of others to give you time to respond with more input from others? Take notes, listen more and look at the words written down to see a theme and reframe what you heard.
- Think about your role as a facilitator to ask people to share their perspectives in a constructive manner? Sometimes when there are email chains that go on too long. Convene the interested parties and ask well placed questions to gain clarity and get everyone on the same page to create constructive conversations.
Need more help?
- Send me a note with your situation and let’s talk through how to evolve your approach.
- Want to connect as part of a collective, consider The Drop In Collective offered on October 24 & October 25th where a team can help you navigate your unique situations with confidence. See below for more details.
… and here are some more resources for you:
A previous client and The Drop In Collective Community asked me about a set of favorite leadership books that have helped me and I would recommend. While I’ve read many, here is a collection published recently that may be a source of inspiration. Coaching Teams and Influence
The Drop In CEO podcast, my blog and my book, The CEO’s Compass can be great resources for you to navigate challenges with confidence
If you just want to connect with me and see how I can support you in a business or personal setback, let’s have a conversation.
Wishing you well and continued success!
-Deb