Inspirational Leadership 2020

Don't let your To-Do list get in the way of your real impact

In all likelihood you got promoted to a leadership position because you are good at getting stuff done. And right now, it is probable your to-do list is overflowing. But being caught up in your to-do list, without a vision is a sure-fire way to cripple your business and your people. Sure you still have to get 'stuff' done - that's Bottom-Line and it is important.

What's more crucial right now is leading and inspiring your people. 

You must focus as much on the first two B's: Believing and Belonging as you do Bottom-line. If you get this balance right, you'll shift from being a good leader to being a remarkable leader.

For decades, Gallup research has been telling us: what people want from their leaders is stability, compassion, trust, and hope.  

And now more than ever, they absolutely need that from you, their leader.

And yes, I'm including those of you who have just had to lay people off. The people you've been leading over recent months and years, need you as much as they did when you were paying their salary.

Your ability to visualise the future and create hope and action out of chaos is your greatest asset. Use them.

Regardless of whether your business is imploding or not. You've got to hold space for hope and inspiration for the people around you. To give considered, and future-focused leadership that prioritises the wellbeing of yourself and your people into our future. 

Getting through Covid19, isn't just about physical survival. It's also about quality of life after the event.

Whether we like it or not, our world runs on commerce. Knowing that you can put a roof over your head and food in the bellies of yourself and your loved ones has a massive impact on wellbeing. As well, people get much of their sense of self-worth from work. With that in mind ...

Giving your people their best possible chance to stay employed and/or get re-hired fast is something great leaders do. 

There are four ways people are reacting at the moment.

People are either feeling that the world is at an end and it is helpless. Or, they are feeling  this is a time of reset. Huge opportunities are available. 

Some people are thinking: while this is going on we need to press pause and wait it out. Others are thinking: this is the time to press play and set ourselves up for massive success now and into the future.

What you do today predicts your tomorrow

If you are a remarkable high-performance leader, you need to be sitting above the line. In the top right-hand corner. And, as an inspiring leader, making a positive dent in the universe, you're going to get as many people as possible into that quadrant with you.

Press Play not Pause on People's Careers

Turbulent times these are. However, you'll provide inspirational leadership if you focus more on play than pause.

You've got the opportunity right now, even if you're working from home or you're out of work to press play on your personal career success and the success of the people who work with you. 

Because mark my words, even people who are working right now, they'll still be competing for work in the upcoming months. Because employers are going to have a lot of great people to choose from.

Competition for jobs in the coming months is going to be ruthless

I want you to set your people up to be in the top 2% of high-performers. So that they stand out in front of everyone else when it comes time to be applying for new jobs. Do you want that?

It's your time to step up. 

There are millions of people around the globe sitting at home right now. Some are watching Netflix and the News.  Either switched off or wringing their hands. Others are preparing for the future.  

Be the leader who is preparing yourself and your people.

Our world will get through this time. Gosh, we've had lots of other things come and go over the years: Wars, Plagues, the Great Depression. The world has always gone on. So prepare yourself and your people for the world going on.

Secure people's careers

These are the people that are going to thrive in the future

The future of work may well change. But what won't change is that the people who get hired or who get kept on in organizations, are the people who make or save massive amounts of money for the company.

If you’ve got to choose between two people, who are you going to choose?

Pretty obvious right?

So, even if you have had to stand down or lay off people, or you've been stood down/laid off yourself, the best thing you can do is to get people's mindset into a new space. 

Get people thinking like business owners/partners

The reality is every person who works is self-employed. They work for ("Their Name" Inc e.g Jane Smith Inc). Jane just happens to sell her skills, capabilities, and mindset to one customer … her employer.

Every business owner knows that you must provide a service or product that your customer wants, or you go out of business.

So with that mindset, you ask yourself two exceptionally important questions:

1. What does my customer (employer) want?

2. How do I ensure that my customer (employer) is a raving fan of me?

Being an employee will keep you average ...

behaving like a business partner will set you apart

Thinking like a business owner is what is going to separate yourself and your people from most others. When you take on this mindset, you are now going to do things and think differently from the average employee. 

Someone with an employee mindset comes in and does what they're employed to do. Produce the service or product.

An individual with the mindset of "I'm in business for myself," comes at their job from a different perspective. They focus on providing exceptional customer service, so their customer (employer) becomes a raving fan. Because their business - "Their Name Inc." needs to do that to keep their customer paying them.

Here's a quick example, to illustrate the difference in behaviours of employee and a business partner. 

Focus on Deep Work

Now you and your people are likely in one of 3 groups:

1. Attending work like normal(ish)
2. Working from home
3. Out of work

No matter which category you and your team members fall into, now could be a time of golden opportunity.

Once you've worked out your crisis plans for keeping the business going and stabilizing for the now, turn your attention to the future. Or, if you're out of work, and you've come out of the shock, turn your attention to how you can come out of this stronger than ever. 

Now is the very best time to do the deep work that you would normally never do.

What do I mean by deep work?

It's the stuff that you know you should get to, but you don't because of the craziness of everyday work. If your industry and company isn't snowed under with work because of the pandemic, then now is the time for you as a leader to refocus your attention.

It's the work that transforms how your company produces its product or service. Transforms how your people work. Transforms how you are seen in your industry.

Deep work is also working on your personal Vision and Mission. Building new skills and mindsets. 

Get your people focused on Deep Work even if they are laid off or at home without pay

Now this may seem crazy, but bear with me for a moment.

When you are looking to rehire people, who are you going to hire? 

Because even if you're in an industry where job cuts have happened and your team members are looking for a new employer, they might put themselves at the head of the 'hired' queue, if they do take on this challenge. 

Because when they're out looking for work in the new world, they can say something like: "You know, we got laid off. In between looking for work and getting some new skills. And I kept thinking about work. I kept thinking about how I could help our company improve when/if we got back into operation. Here's some of the ideas I came up with. I'd sure like to do that for your company."

Would you employ that person, or the person who says: "Hey, I'm really good at ... e.g. customer service. I spent my time looking for work and getting some new skills." 

Certainly, it may be difficult, if not impossible for people to access the information to cost out real savings. Particularly if the company is closed. But if you're creative enough, together you should be able to assemble a fairly good analysis and project plan. 

Challenging your people to do this, means they become the individuals who stepped above the line. They didn't stay below the line in Futility and Rescue Me mode.

And imagine if you are looking for a job in the new world and you said something like: "Even though I was laid off/working reduced hours, I kept in touch with my team. In fact I did a whole bunch of stuff with them that would help the business improve. My thinking was this work would help the company if we got back into operation. And if not, it would help my team members get work. Because prospective employers would be able to see the commitment and initiative they have."

Wouldn't that quality of conversation help secure your career.

And for those of you who are in companies that are still in operation. You too must hit PLAY not PAUSE on this.

If you're working from home, use your commute time to set yourself apart

The thing I've been saying to most of my clients who are in the 'working from home category', is use what is normally your commute time to do Deep Work. To be thinking about how you can improve the business. Or improve your own skill set. 

Most of my clients have between 30 minutes and one hour of commute time available to them at each end of the day.

So, I've been saying to them, (and encourage your team members to do this as well) ... Don't take a leisurely breakfast. Instead, use this time to work on the stuff that will set you apart from the other people who are going to want your job (if it still exists). Or whom you will be competing with for a new job.

Because the reality is many of you will go back to offices where there were once 50 people, there are now only 30.

Now is not the time to press Pause. It is the time to press play on your career, and you have a whole lot of control over how this plays out in the coming months.

The people who freeze and press pause - they are likely to be in a world of pain in the future. So, for yourself and your people you've got to get on to this. Get them Believing in their future. Believing they've got some control.  Which is important in times of chaos like this.

Share This Exercise With Your People

Here is a pdf that you can give to people, The purpose of it is to help them think about their personal impact and how they can value-add to the company. It's extracted from a program that we run called Zodiak.

Zodiac is a simulated board game where people run a $40 million business and try to run this company profitably making decisions as if they were CEO.

After the simulation is over we get participants thinking about their business and how they can reduce costs or increase revenues. The exercise I've extracted is one of several that participants complete.

But for now use this extract to get your people thinking. Regardless of whether your company is going to exist into the future. This piece of work could secure them employment in the future. Showing they have initiative and have shifted to a business partner mindset.