Storms of life and leadership

Storm éowyn got me thinking about lots of things: our reliance on electricity and broadband; the kindness and resilience of local communities when things get really tough; and the utility of sending a government emergency alert message at 3.30am when most of us were already huddling together at home, and those of us with young children were trying to convince them there was no need to be scared! We lost power around 6am on Friday at our house, so had a candlelit breakfast and huddled around a solid fire we are fortunate enough to have, wearing our fleecy jumpers and trying to explain why microwaves and TVs can’t run on AA batteries to our three year old. When it was safe enough to do so, we left home to stay with my parents, and it would be Sunday afternoon before we would be back up and running at our house. And we were among the luckiest ones, as many local people are still using the showers in the local high school, collecting bottled water in the car park and getting hot food from the local hotel.

But one of the things I had intended to do over the weekend was finish my assignment, which included developing a sustainable leadership development plan [thanks to all of you who provided feedback, which was incredibly insightful for me]. So as I surveyed the destruction around our house (bye bye treehouse) and village (bye bye Christmas tree) I was also thinking about trees, and what we can learn about leadership from them.

Some tall trees are weak, and some are strong, and much of that depends on the depth of their roots. Those trees that grew quickly often did so without sufficient depth to their roots, so while we may have been impressed at the speed of their escalation it simply wasn’t sustainable.

The strongest tall trees are the ones that can bend in the wind and return to their original positions afterwards. The weakest are those that have been smothered in ivy that has weakened their insides so while they look the same as their neighbours, once the strong winds come they can’t withstand the pressure and topple over.

Most small trees are stronger than they look. We often think that size is an indicator of strength, but in the case of the trees in my garden at least, the smaller ones were much more resilient and the larger ones took the brunt.

The trees with the most foliage can find themselves weighed down. Evergreens look great all year round, but the additional weight of their leaves caused many to falter, while the bare birch trees may have lost the odd branch, but remained largely steadfast.

Trees that are not well maintained will die, and bring others down with them. In the forest behind our house, there are thousands of trees that have been planted tightly together and allowed to grow so high without proper maintenance that when the storm hit, many fell like dominoes, taking critical overhead powerline infrastructure with them. ?

As a result, I’ve added some more questions to my self-reflection section of my leadership plan:

-??????????? How deep are my roots? Do I need to spread them wider or deeper to increase my strength?

-??????????? How much pressure can I withstand? When the storms of life come, do I have the balance right between flexibility and standing firm?

-??????????? What can I learn from the smaller trees in my house – my children? And am I getting the balance right between bearing the brunt and helping them to grow in resilience?

-??????????? What additional foliage am I carrying? Is it weighing me down? Can I cut any of it back?

-??????????? Am I doing enough to look after myself? What impact will it have on others if I fall down?

If you’re still recovering from the aftermath of the storm, then I wish you the very best (and speedy reconnections!), and I hope my musings resonate with you when you have chance to reflect on your own growth and development too.