Maintaining true balance in the face of relentless change
Lorraine Flower
Conscious Leader (aspiring), Experienced Leadership Development/OD Consultant; Executive Coach; Facilitator
Elections create change. Organisations are in constant change.? Family life with its ups and downs can be destabilising.??
If you are a lover of change you may take all this in your stride though this tends not to be the case for most of us even if we don't always admit it to ourselves or others.?
As positional leaders, we have an additional responsibility to absorb the impact of change quickly so that we can lead our teams well through the uncertainty. The temptation may be to straighten our backbone, employ the proverbial and very British stiff upper lip and power through.??
The massive upheaval going on in our world today demands more from leadership than that. It demands a level of awareness and connection that is almost alchemical.??
If we are to lead ourselves and others we need to explore our level of inner balance. Imagine an equilateral cross within your consciousness.? The horizontal axis of the cross is about how we are engaging with the day to day aspects of life. Our mature, considered and wise responses to the curved balls and the uncertainty.???
The vertical axis is our connection with that higher wisdom that is accessed through a deep, reflective inner life in which we are able to contemplate in the context of higher meaning and have a broader perspective on the horizontal factors.?
Higher meaning might seem a bit obscure but in reality if we are able to consider a bigger plan in action, a deeper sense of cause and effect, and from that connect to a wider perspective, it can bring a calm, peaceful, yet vitalised energy that elevates our human responses.?
Let's return to the equilateral cross. Holding it in our mind's eye enables us to sense our current position on the cross. We can see the manner in which we are engaging with our leadership function.??
Overly focused on the horizontal and we become all action and practical solutions often with only a 'past experience' mindset for company. Overly focused on the vertical we become mystical and ungrounded...missing the point that we are leading in a very real and practical world. Our aim, much like the experienced archer, is to find the middle point. A point of balance and wisdom that engages the full spectrum of our faculties as a human being. The concrete mental plus the higher consciousness. Or in other words our own alchemy that adds a very different type of value.?
Through this powerful and deeply magnetic point of balance we can enter the fray and lead with a confidence that is deep seated and real. Exactly what's needed in these uncertain times.?