Leading with Certainty

Living in the past gets you no closer to achieving your success than constantly worrying about the future.??Of all the uncertainties of these past two years, one thing is certain: you can’t lead out of a crisis the same way you went into it. And as the world continues to feel the impact of the pandemic, the reverberations of racial tension, and the onset of a recession, business leaders are bracing for what comes next and how they will move forward. To lead with more certainty, focus on making an impact in the present moment, and motivate yourself to constantly learn and adapt to become more resilient to change.

We are all experiencing unprecedented transformation right now. Governments, businesses, communities and even families are behaving in one of two ways, they are either reacting to the circumstances, improvising and learning as they go along, or they are facing the change head-on because they have been well-prepared to respond with thoughtful intention. The question is: how are you dealing with this change?

As a leader, you have a responsibility to lead by example, to find shelter when necessary and brave the storm if you don’t find a respite from its onslaught. Successful leaders recognize that when it comes to braving any storm, they need to be well-prepared. They realize that there is strength in numbers and involve their team to make decisions. They use their influence to encourage creativity by listening, learning, leading with compassion and enabling others to weigh in so they can get their buy-in.?

In this very timely book about embracing the conflicting demands of today’s workplace, Tim Elmore outlines how uncommon leaders need to combine seemingly contradictory qualities to influence and inspire others. The Eight Paradoxes of Great Leadership provides a roadmap to help you lead with the emotional and social intelligence required to achieve collaborative results in today’s uncertain times.

Such a resilient leader understands how to exhibit confidence yet remain humble, leverage their vision and learn from their blind spots, and at once be the teacher who is continuously learning themselves. By bringing paradoxes together, uncommon leaders can lead through uncertainty while navigating the complexities of today’s demanding workplaces.

When it comes to organizational culture, it’s no different. The more impactful leaders recognize that cultivating a winning culture can’t be left to chance, they commit themselves to contribute to designing inclusive and engaging cultures by involving others intentionally and with deliberation. In Trust and Inspire, Stephen M. R. Covey explains how “a top-down hierarchal command and control model doesn’t develop widespread competency throughout the organization, we need to ensure that competency is spread everywhere, and even the people at the bottom are involved significantly in discussing key business decisions.”

This can be difficult for organizations where transparency and trust are lacking. And because culture impacts our values and systems, as well as how we make decisions, how we govern ourselves, how we treat others, and how we get things done, we can therefore understand that cultivating a winning culture means we start by permeating trust in everything we do and delegating responsibly so we don't have power over others but instead empower them by inviting their input and building on their ideas.??

To start cultivating such a winning culture, leaders need to:

1.?????Constantly strive to get better

2.?????Be intentional and ask questions

3.?????Understand the next step while keeping the end in mind

4.?????Remained governed by values and behaviours that foster, not erode trust

5.?????Constantly reflect on what is working well, what can be improved, what behaviours they need to stop and which ones they need to start?

When leaders are intentional about becoming an organization for the customer, the team, the community, and the employee, they can close the gap between what they want to be known for and what they are known for, they can harness a free salesforce, maintain a high level of employee engagement, and build strong client relationships.

Designing a winning culture may not offer us a crystal ball to see what the future holds, but it can get us through any crisis because we are well-prepared and have realized that together, we will always be stronger and can do the right thing.

Schedule a 20-minute free consultation to learn more you can develop a culture of leaders with high emotional intelligence.

And to learn more about how I simplify EQ, make sure you subscribe to the CLARITY newsletter here https://www.mohamedhammoud.com/newsletter/?

#emotionalintelligence #clarity #culture