Leadership Legacy - It All Starts With A Rocking Chair Test

Imagine you are sitting on your rocking chair, in your late seventies or eighties, reflecting on your past personal and professional life.?Your memories are flooding you and what pops into your mind is an interaction with a young employee??at your retirement gathering, “I heard you were someone staff rely on and that you especially supported them during that time called COVID-19,” she said. What did you do for the staff in our organization that has created such a legacy here and made everyone speak so well of you??I heard your leadership style helped others grow both personally and professionally.”

You can recall the young woman’s words?but you are having difficulties remembering your answer.?Thoughts of regrets start to enter your mind of different conflicts, adversities, and past traumas that occurred within the organization prior to COVID-19 and how you dealt with them.?And yet, COVID-19 was the pivotal point in your career that led to your leadership style becoming a positive legacy. In fact, still to this day you act as a consultant to assist your?previous employer in managing various conflicts in the workplace and providing insight into what is required to create and maintain a psychologically healthy and safe workplace.

Resources such as the Personal and Environmental Protective Resiliency Factors and The Canadian National Standards of Psychological Health & Safety were not well known prior to COVID-19.?Living through the first few years of COVID-19 was the impetus for you to develop?a style of communication that was not as well known or practiced?before the pandemic.?You always had an innate desire to support and help people and organizations, and, in fact, you still possess it, which?is why you have never truly retired.

As you think back, you recall how when dealing with COVID-19, you became more curious about conflicts within the workplace. You remember attending a workshop that helped you identify how you successfully adapted and strengthened your mindset during the first few years of the pandemic, and that you were able to transfer this skill set to your employees and other leaders within the organization.?You created a paradigm shift on how conflict was perceived and recognized that not all conflict is negative. You highlighted employees’ innate strengths, which helped them resolve conflicts when they arose and cope with stressors, adversity, or trauma, all while maintaining everyone’s dignity and adhering to the organization’s strategic plan and priorities.?

As you drift off to sleep in your rocking chair, your last thoughts about your own personal leadership legacy come as a question. “Imagine the conflict or trauma resolved – what would you do differently? How did you get through that last conflict or trauma?”?As you name your innate resiliency traits that helped you create your leadership legacy and your motivation to adapt to change during COVID-19, you find yourself smiling with contentment.

Treena Reilkoff?is an ADR practitioner and Certified Resiliency Trainer?with experience in trauma informed practices inclusive of promoting strategies and optimizing resiliency.?She brings more than 25 years experience with a professional background that is diverse and includes working in the fields of mental health, behavioural analysis, corrections, disability case management, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and social work. Treena has served organizations across Canada, including government, correctional facilities, Veteran Affairs, schools, hospitals, sporting and nonprofit organizations as well as working with various Indigenous communities. Treena brings her knowledge and expertise with an anti-oppressive lens and a collaborative approach to assist employers to participate in recognizing and addressing systematic and personal areas of conflicts within their identified organizations/workplace.