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When strategy is unclear or in flux

You might recognise a scenario in which an organisation’s strategy is unclear, incomplete, patchily communicated or in constant flux. This can happen in a variety of contexts – for example in restructuring, mergers, takeovers, or the preparatory or recovery stages of restructuring, merger or takeover.

In this context, the role and place of any individual in the organisation (and especially a new recruit) can be equivocal or uncertain. The criteria by which his or her performance is evaluated are, in this situation, also likely to be unclear or in flux, or even more unsettling, implicitly in flux. They may have a sense of being adrift at sea, swimming furiously but not knowing which is the right direction. As a result, their confidence, their sense of who they are – their very identity – and sometimes even confidence in their survival, take a knock because they have few or no reference points – and losing your sense of identity is profoundly destabilising. It’s also exhausting, depleting and dispiriting, and can feel deeply unsafe. None of this is good news for performance or growth or development.

The need to belong

Arguably, the greatest human need is the need to belong (and indeed in times gone by, belonging to the tribe significantly improved the chances of survival: being out on your own could pose a very real threat to your very existence).

You belong when you know your place and you know who you are, and when you’re able to authentically respect and live those frequently unwritten rules of behaviour which define what it takes to be part of a particular culture. When the parameters of your role are clear and consistent, when where you fit is clear, and when the expectations are also clear, then your footing is clear too: you can literally walk sure-footedly.

When you don’t feel you belong

Conversely, when you don’t feel you belong, or when you don’t know if you belong, and particularly when there’s pressure to perform but what is expected or how it will be evaluated hasn’t been articulated, you can begin to doubt or question who you are: in other words, you question your identity.

Reverberations

Consider the unfortunate employee in this situation: the more senior their role, the greater are the reverberations beyond themselves – in the first instance on their team, who will – implicitly or explicitly – experience this insecurity, lack of stability, lack of consistency and lack of clarity. The team can lose both cohesion and a grasp of both purpose and engagement. If you’re a leader presiding over this kind of situation, you’ll be in dangerous territory, as the lack of confidence is likely to impact effectiveness in a variety of respects, including engagement, retention, creativity and collaboration.

The lack of psychological safety can spread into many areas and can take considerable awareness, time, effort and insightful intervention to become psychological safety.

What can be done?

The beginning of any change is awareness. Leaders can therefore begin to turn things round by being curious about what they could usefully be more aware of, by enquiring into their reports’ experience, and by listening, especially to messages that make them feel uncomfortable, because these can be amongst the most illuminating. It can be risky to take anything for granted.

Leaders can also usefully build on and communicate what is clear, what is defined, and what is consistent. In particular they can acknowledge their reports’ contributions, and take responsibility for clarifying expectations and making them explicit, especially in situations of flux. They can reinforce where their reports’ roles fit in the overall process and their contribution to the organisation’s end results.

And the employee who is experiencing uncertainty, change, a drop in confidence and a questioning of their identity can usefully review their personal purpose and the purpose of their team, review and make more of those relationships that are most meaningful to them, their strengths, their personal qualities and their achievements. They can also engage in more searching work (perhaps with a coach) to explore where they fit in their systems, the assumptions and beliefs that unconsciously influence their judgments and decisions, and the loyalties they preserve to people and ideas which might now be outdated.

Much can be changed with an openness of mind, curiosity, and a readiness to enquire.

^{Photo by: Katie Moum via Unsplash}

Belonging, identity and confidence in uncertainty

You might recognise a situation where an organisation’s strategy is unclear, poorly-defined, poorly communicated or in constant flux. In this context, the role and place of any individual in the organisation (and especially a new recruit) can be unclear. The criteria by which his or her performance is evaluated are also likely to be unclear or in flux, or even more unsettling, implicitly in flux. As a result his or her confidence, their sense of identity, and sometimes even confidence in their survival, take a knock. None of this is good news for performance or growth or development. Leaders can therefore begin to turn things round by being curious about what they could be more aware of, by enquiring into their reports’ experience, and by listening.

Fear and courage

Fear and courage are intertwined when it comes to leadership of self and others. Fear is inevitable and - if unchecked - inhibits and erodes performance, versatility and the creativity that can be crucial to address the challenge, complexity and uncertainty that are constants in the life of leaders. Courage isn’t inevitable, but it’s an invaluable resource when fear is present. Learn, experiment again with a small change in courage, keep learning, and keep experimenting.

The impact of kindness and compassion

The news emerged that Dame Clare Marx, Chair of the General Medical Council, was stepping down from her post, having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She reflects on her career that ‘in my happiest moments, I felt respected, valued and listened to. I felt I belonged’. Her wish is that ‘every doctor and every patient experiences the compassion that defines first-class care’. It’s the humanity between colleagues and by leaders that can evoke either distress or joy, isolation or feeling part of something bigger. How would it be if all of us, as leaders, spent just a couple of minutes each day being aware and conscious of compassion, kindness and listening? Awareness is the crucial starting point for change.

Power and the leader

One of the most striking features of power is, it seems to me, how multi-faceted the topic is – and how richly the facets interrelate and intersect and interdepend. There are many and varied implications for the exercise of leadership, and leaders can benefit from reflecting on these. For instance, a variety of perspectives are afforded by looking at ‘my’ power, ‘your’ power, ‘our’ power, and the power in and of the system. Further, within each of these comes the contrast between personal power, the power afforded by title or status, and the nuances of the perception of power that arise in the presence or absence of fear or shame. power can be ‘power over’ or ‘power with’ – and the latter implies more sustainability through relationship and connection. Power, courage and compassion can go hand in hand.

Integrity and power

The client’s terms of engagement transgressed my own deepest values, including integrity. This kind of behaviour on the part of consultancies seems widespread. Further, the attendant disservice to the ultimate end user stems from the enforced compromise of professional integrity, and the imbalance of power is experienced by many of their associates to be abusive. As professionals, are we prepared to tolerate this kind of attitude, behaviour and lack of integrity inherent in the contracting from so many perspectives? Are we really powerless or can we find ways to bring our power respectfully to a rebalancing that will be in all our interests?

Peace, ease and fulfilment

I accept that it may make no sense to juxtapose a street sweeper's relatively simple situation with my clients’ complex roles and environments. On the other hand, I’m very curious about how leaders conceive of their responsibility (and opportunity) to design and embed working lives for themselves, their peers and their reports which release greater peace, trust, ease and fulfilment - and thus greater effectiveness. More than that, I worry about their health, their wellbeing and their longevity if leaders don't take that responsibility.

Integrity, safety and wellbeing

I’ve just done something I’ve never done before: I’ve handed back a 4-year contract. At the heart of my decision was an inability to tolerate a client’s terms of engagement – both the formal, explicit terms, and the informal, implicit terms. My deepest values (integrity, professionalism, honesty, care for the coachee experience, respect, acknowledgment, being heard) were compromised. I felt deeply unsafe: my trust in the client was entirely absent. What was happening was moral injury, and the experience was threatening my wellbeing by demanding that I don’t behave in integrity – and I can only maintain my wellbeing if I’m behaving in integrity. I’ve learnt too that doing what matters deeply to me is a significant enabler of tough decisions and tough actions.

'I' or 'we' as a model for leadership?

What happens when a leader or a nation sees the future not through a lens of relationship, action and impact, but through a lens of isolation, cutting off supply routes of collaboration and support? Is this the model of leadership that we really need? ‘You’ and ‘yours’ can actually be the route to ‘me’ and ‘mine’ if only we choose to look through a broader lens. As a coach, I may enquire with a coaching client more explicitly into the implications of ‘I and we’ in contrast with ‘I or we’, at individual level, team level, organisation level and beyond. Putting ‘I’ before ‘we’ risks shutting off not only precious resources but also risks shutting off precious rewards. ‘We’ before ‘I’ might lead to rewards we hadn’t dreamed of.

Coaching through COVID and BMJ Leader

I'm privileged to have had a blog published in BMJ Leader, published in BMJ Leader, one of the publications in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) stable. The blog focuses on the very particular leadership style that characterises Coaching through COVID, the pro bono coaching programme for NHS and care sector staff who are directly impacted by COVID, and particularly those who don't nomally have access to coaching, from doctors and nurses to porters, cleaners, pharmacists, physiotherapists and many others, who are experiencing anxiety, uncertainty, threats to their personal safety and that of their families from contracting COVID-19, distress, trauma, exhaustion and much else.

2020: a year of learning

They say the toughest experiences are also the richest sources of learning. As 2020 closes, I look back indeed on the richest and most intense year of learning I can remember. As the hidden has erupted into the obvious in the most striking of ways, and when some of what we previously took for granted has been completely overturned, it is beyond any doubt that all of us need to beware of claiming that this or that is impossible. Being a co-founder of Coaching through COVID has meant for me the most nourishing, safe, innovative and energising team that I have ever been part of - and we have achieved extraordinary results. And working from home has shown in stark relief the extent to which health and wellbeing fall squarely into the manager’s and the leader’s responsibilities.

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