During Uncertain Times: How Well are you Leading?

If you are currently leading a business or team of any size, you face three major challenges:

-       What can you do to best support the mental and physical well-being of your people?

-       What can you do to keep your own energy, outlook and behavior positive and productive?

-       How do you create a future when you just can’t see what’s ahead?

Each of us has a leadership style that has been forged by our temperament, early childhood experiences, values and beliefs, and the types of mentors and training we’ve had. Chances are, this style has worked well, or reasonably well for you in “normal” times when the environment was stable and you had most of the answers.

However, the leadership style that served you and your people pre-Covid may not be ideal for times of stress and uncertainty.

Deja Vu

In 2002, a Covid virus known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS, hit the US and Canada. During this time, many people became ill, the economy hit the skids. There were massive layoffs. Uncertainty prevailed. Sound deja-vuishly familiar? During this era, I was conducting resilience and leadership training for organizations of all types and sizes.

I wrote a book and developed a training program along with Harry Woodward, PhD., entitled Leadership in Times of Stress and Change. We trained thousands of influencers around five key concepts.

The Big Five

1.     Understand Your Current Leadership Style. There are attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors that are currently serving you well; you want to maintain these. Chances are, you’ve gone through other very difficult periods in your life, the understanding of which could inform some of your actions today.

Upon introspection, each of us also can identify the attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors that contributed to needless worry, sleepless nights, and precious time wasted. Each of us brings our mental recordings to our work as leaders. This is an important time to reexamine self-dialog and identify what you can control or influence, and what you need to let go of. 

2.     Distinguish Between “Wanna” and “Hafta.” As a leader, when you are under stress do you wanna or hafta:

…be in control

…be right

…be admired or loved?

Stress can bring out the best—or the worst in leaders. This can push leaders into the “hafta” category.

It’s great and right to want to be in control of your team, but if you “hafta” be in control, there’s the tendency to micromanage, to stifle innovation, to cut off dialog in favor of “your way or the highway.”

We all “wanna” be right, but under pressure, do you “hafta” be right? If so, you’ll waste time and energy letting everyone else know that you are correct. Afterall, as boss, you are de facto the smartest person in the room. In the process, if you focus more on burnishing your image and justifying your actions, you will make others “wrong.” Leading a group of people who feel wronged just makes your job more difficult!  

I’ve always thought it important to be liked and grudgingly admired by my subordinates. But I also know there are leaders who, when times are tough, make bad decisions because they “hafta” be admired or loved at all costs.

3.     Project Openness. Studies show that people who disclose information—and get others to share—are perceived as trustworthy. Openness allows communication to proceed in two directions. It gives permission for people to approach you not only with feelings, but also with the information and suggestions that you need to become a more effective leader.

A key element of being open is the ability and willingness to self-disclose. But many things can get in the way. Disclosure may run counter to your personality, you may be more of an introvert, or the workplace culture may not support this practice. You may also struggle with knowing what to say and when to say it.

4.     Tailor Messages to be Better Received by the Recipient. Those of us who have more than one child (or who have siblings) are acutely aware of how differently we must communicate with each of them to get our messages across. Temperament is an aspect of personality that crystallizes between 3 and 5 years of age around two variables. 1. How a person prefers to bring information into their consciousness, and 2.  How they prefer to process that information. These preferences—a combination of heredity and early childhood upbringing-- determine much of what stresses people. It’s the reason why one stressor seems to upset one of your kids, and the same one doesn’t both another.

By better understanding temperament and combining this with a willingness to be flexible in your leadership style, you’ll be better able deliver a message that resonates with different types of recipients. You’ll help lower their stress levels and at the same time be perceived as more trustworthy. 

5.     Get New Ideas from Your Team. Where are you when you get a great idea that seems to come “out of the blue.” Let me tell you where you are not: at work in your office. Great new ideas and solutions to problems come to mind when you are working out, commuting to work, just retiring for the night or just waking up, or when you are in the bathroom doing your morning routine. This is when the brain can freshly address a problem and draw out the opportunities to solve it. Recognizing this, we use a three-part approach, known as the 3 D’s: Data Dump, Deliberate, and Draw Out. 

Leaders need to realize that they don’t have all the answers; in fact, the people closest to the problem are also closest to the solution. With the 3 D’s the group simply puts everything out on the table without feeling any pressure to come up with the solution. Then everyone goes their way and gently allows the ideas to gestate. Folks go about their routines: doing hair and makeup, shaving, working out, walking, gardening etc. The best ideas will rise to the surface of their consciousness. The leader can then draw out these new solutions.

If you are running a small or a major company, an aesthetic or healthcare practice, guiding a team, restructuring your organization—or, if you’re just trying to be a better communicator for those you love and care about, you know that your leadership abilities are being put to the test.

Mastering these five critical skills is a great place to start the process of building resilience in yourself and your team. 

Please join me for a free webinar on Leadership in Times of Stress & Change, July 22, 2020, noon Pacific.

Register here: https://event.webinarjam.com/register/9/v9v1yal

ABOUT THE AUTHOR/WEBINAR LEADER

Mark J. Tager, MD Physician Entrepreneur

As a physician entrepreneur Mark has built companies, led high performance teams, and guided people through challenging times. Out of those experiences, Mark created a system that he’s taught to thousands of leaders in businesses large and small. He brings a laser-like focus to his training programs: no fluff, no pontification, just usable skills that are needed now more than ever.

 Mark J Tager, MD is Chief Enhancement Officer (CEO) of ChangeWell, Inc., (changewell.com) a San Diego organization that trains and coaches professionals to enhance their presence in person, on camera and online. A veteran of more than 1,000 presentations, Mark shares his skills and passion to empower those who attend his trainings.

 As a physician, he is well grounded in lifestyle, regenerative, integrative and aesthetic medicine. Mark began his human resource work in the early 1980s as Director of Health Promotion for Kaiser Permanente NW Region. He founded several companies in the publishing, medical device, and training industries which went on to successful exits.

He is well known in the aesthetic industry as the founding CMO of Reliant Technologies (Fraxel?), CMO of Syneron, developer of the Certified Aesthetic Consultant Training Program, and Director of Practice Management for both Miami and Vegas Cosmetic Surgery. He is on the faculty of Duke Integrative Medicine and has been active in the major functional/anti-aging medicine groups.

 Among the ten books he has authored or co-authored, three describe learning systems for dealing with stress and change. These include: Leadership in Times of Stress and Change (with Dr. Harry Woodward), Transforming Stress into Power, and Working Well (with Dr. Marjorie Blanchard). Dr. Tager obtained his medical degree from Duke University and trained in Family Practice at the University of Oregon Health Science Center.