PRACTICE - Exercising that leadership muscle

What kind of a leader would you be -- if you are thrust into chaos or crisis? We are all living through a truly historic challenge of epic proportion. New and situational leaders are emerging, and the leadership capacity of many is being tested. Very often, the unpredictable nature of such events can put one’s decision-making process and skills to test. Given that, it is always good to experience situations where one has to make decisions or recommendations under pressure, with limitations such as a stringent timeline or minimal resources and even with no clear authority. These experiences, often outside the comfort-zone, make for good practice. I feel fortunate to have had opportunity to exercise that leadership muscle, recently, upon being selected as a 'game-changer' to participate in 3M’s prestigious Catalyst Leadership Development program.

This 3M program includes classroom activities, 360 assessments, 1-1 coaching, engaging with thought-leaders, CEOs and board members, and experiential learning through expertise-based projects in communities around the world. The goal is to make a positive impact for 3M and the global communities where we – 3Mers – work and live. To this end, over the past five years, 3M game-changers have partnered with non-profit organizations and social enterprises in communities in USA, India, China, Morocco, and Costa Rica, to tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges related to climate, circular economy, healthcare, and education. I had the unique opportunity to be part of the contingent working with non-profits in Ghana, while others in our cohort 3M game-changers partnered with local organizations in Ukraine and Peru. 

Game-changers

Our team of four, comprising a marketing leader, a business leader, an R&D managemnt leader and myself as a technical leader, were partnered with Safe Water Network (SWN), a non-profit engaged in providing safe, affordable, and reliable water to rural and peri-urban under-served communities in Ghana. It was incredibly inspiring to interact with the SWN folks who were so committed to their mission and passionate about their organization’s goals. Their involvement and effort made our visit educational and meaningful. Working with constrained resources forced us to think creatively and challenge the return on investment on every idea as we developed our recommendation.

In looking back, it was a unique opportunity to not only hone leadership skills, but also develop a broader perspective, exercise creative thinking, and build network, all while positively contributing to global issues and sustainable development goals. Personally, volunteering time and talent to make a difference and contributing to a larger purpose was very rewarding. It also allowed me to learn from my peers and use skills that I don’t use often to contribute to ideas that are not relevant to my functional background, expertise or roles. 

Perfecting the game

It was very rewarding to see the positive response to our team’s recommendations for addressing some key challenges faced by SWN. In looking back, I believe there were several elements, outlined below, that made for a successful partnership and well-received final outcome. These included the pre-work, field work and teamwork.

All in all, I feel honored, grateful and glad to have had this leadership PRACTICE!

Problem-to-solve: It was critical to collectively agree on what problem(s) we would focus on as a team during our time in Ghana and frame the statement of work around this primary priority. We had incredible partnership with SWN and facilitation by 3M and Pyxera Global coaches to get us to this crucial point via phone-calls and emails.

Research: Since all of us on the team had limited understanding and exposure to water related business and technology, we all took some time to augment our knowledge with secondary research, including discussions with 3M and other global experts in the area. This helped in getting a baseline of understanding as we prepared for primary research.

Analytics: When in Ghana we went through a process of inquiry to further our understanding after meeting with key stakeholders in the partner organization. The pre-work helped in asking the right questions of the right people and examining all the data available to start forming the hypothesis based on our preliminary assessment.

Comprehensive view: As is the case with any challenge, it is imperative to get a 360 view of the challenge at hand. In this case it came from the field-visits, meeting personnel on the frontlines, the rural and peri-urban customers as well as other stakeholders in the process. This helped with logistical as well as holistic understanding.

Team-time: Throughout the process we were formulating our thoughts individually and it was critical to have several team downloads where we all talked about our observations, and key takeaways, including from a functional expertise standpoint. This was very valuable to form the backdrop for our evolving recommendations and consensus around the same.

Ideation: The process towards development of our final recommendations followed quite organically given the ongoing discussions, hard data, gut instinct, and, intuition. At a high level, we followed a methodology I have devised, and use often to consolidate thoughts into categories: “The now, the new, the wow, and the how” (more on that in a separate article).

Communication: Once we gelled on our recommendations, effort was dedicated to frame them with adequate context and deliver with credibility. This was important since a few of our recommendations were bound to stretch SWN - we needed to paint a vision, and a path to get there. Given that, we used data, examples, analogies and drew parallels. 

Empathy: A critical motivation behind our effort and the ever-present element in the entire process – empathy went a long way in building trust within the team, with our partner organization, and in the field. Our leadership coaches also reminded us to have empathy towards ourselves as we worked well outside of our comfort zone.  

I feel blessed to have had this opportunity, on many counts. I am grateful for the intense practice in crystallizing a problem, researching a new area, analyzing data, interacting with stakeholders, and formulating ideas with the team that could be communicated with the desired impact. These two weeks were also a great practice for the ability to empathize, which certainly is a hallmark of leadership.

The more we train, the more we practice, the stronger the muscle gets so it can take command, with consistency and confidence, in times of chaos and crisis. Perfection, in leadership or anything else for that matter, is not a destination, it’s a journey, and practice can be a trusted companion.

I look forward to hearing what you think works well for leadership PRACTICE?