Your Leadership Presence

?Leaders bring the weather.” For me, this is one of the many valuable learnings from the book “Scaling Leadership” by Bob Anderson and Bill Adams. 

The weather stands for the leaders’ mood, focus, and behaviour; it stands for their presence. It is the way leaders show up to their people. As the book says, it is how leaders “tend to respond to certain situations or crises, what is and is not permissible to discuss, and much more.” 

How much are you aware of the weather you bring to your people? What about now - how have you been responding to the current circumstances and what is the impact you’ve made on the people around you? 

Working with my clients in the past two months, more than ever before I’ve realised the importance of the weather leaders bring. In my understanding, the importance of their leadership presence. 

I’ve worked with leaders who, before showing up to their people, need to make sure they know every single answer in the uncertainty. They seem to be feeling too much out of control to lead.

I’ve also worked with those who are largely missing the presence of their own leaders. At the same time they are being hesitant in taking the leadership role themselves to speak up courageously to what they see around them. They seem to be feeling too small to lead without a permission. 

And I’ve worked with those who, in spite of their own concerns and limitations, are accepting themselves and taking responsibility for the impact they have on their people and therefore on their organisation. It seems to me these leaders understand that, when it comes to true leadership, opting out of what feels uncomfortable is not really a choice they have.

Knowing, safety, control and perfectionism are all comfortable illusions. Leaders simply need to learn how to recover from them as quickly as possible. Now, probably more than ever before. Once recovered, they can influence so many important elements with their presence: opening topics that matter in the workplace and nurturing effective relationships with their people, to start with. In the current circumstances, how important would that be and what would that bring to your team? 

Speaking of that, you’ll also discover in the book that the weather leaders bring defines to a large degree what can and can’t happen in the organisations. What’s important to see happen in your organisation right now? How is your leadership presence instrumental in enabling that?

From almost all the coaching sessions I’ve had since the lockdown, I’ve learnt that the leadership presence (or absence for that matter) is noticed and essential. It leaves people feeling empowered and optimistic or simply worried and alone. 

“As leaders, we bring the weather, and the people around us can actually describe the weather we bring.” If your people were asked to describe the weather you’ve been bringing, what would they say today? 

If you are a leader, it may be essential not to miss the opportunity to ask yourself that question.