Don't Let Crises and Change Inhibit Your Leadership Vision
Posted on July 19, 2022 by Donna Coles, One of Thousands of Leadership Coaches on Noomii.
Dealing with crises and change? Create a meaningful post-crisis vision and commit to it; and sustain your commitments despite instability. Here’s how.
I believe there are two leadership skills to rely on during crises and change:
A. the ability to create a meaningful post-crisis vision and commit to it
B. the ability to sustain commitments despite instability
Vision board. Vision work. Vision statement. Vision coaching. Know that somewhere within you there’s a vision for your organization and for you. And that your well-constructed visions are greater than your current ability to see – especially when crises and change prompt you to lose focus.
Clarity
Even in the throes of crisis and change, growth is available. Constructing a clear vision means considering the areas that are important for sustainability and legacy. This also includes setting achievable long-term and short-term goals in those important areas, and conscientiously maintaining the motivation to accomplish them. Don’t grow stale while waiting for critical situations to abate. Remain dynamic, forward thinking, and optimistic for the future.
Envision
a. Project into your future. For now, assume unwavering commitments from others.
b. Acknowledge that your journey may be a little scary and cause self-doubt; use your supports wisely; and fake it until you make it.
c, In detail, describe your vision’s probable successes that would make life better.
d. Create a designated space for planning.
e. Do one thing immediately that will start you on your way to success.
The Steps
M.W. Johnson and J. Suskewicz, Harvard Business Review, April 17, 2020, suggest steps to visioning for a post-crisis future. I’ve modified those steps.
1. Spend ample time dedicated to identifying the possibilities for your post-crisis vision
2. Develop a full understanding of your vision for the future, enlist input from others
3. Identify the differences between you vision and your current state
4. As if you’ve already successfully taken the journey, mentally walk back the path and close the gap between your vision state and today’s situation.
5. During your walk back, identify the objectives that were fulfilled and their timelines for completion. You now have the beginnings of your action plan.
6. Prepare to incorporate new information, to pivot, and to remain agile as you follow the path that you’ve mapped.
7. Include your stakeholders along the way to develop a robust, multidisciplinary plan that will help to lead you, or your organization, out of the crisis and into the envisioned future.
Would you like more information about this topic? Or how about a brief, confidential, no-judgement discussion of your current situation?
Contact me and we’ll schedule a time to discuss your leadership dilemma and identify some options that will help.
Until then…
