Are You Leading?
All of us have been affected by Covid-19 and, if you haven’t, you will within days, maybe a few weeks. No one will escape being un-affected.
If you are in a position of Leadership, now is the time to Lead. Your time treading water has well and truly passed.
We are at war. At war with a virulent and invisible virus that knows no boundaries nor borders. It does not discriminate, nor favour. It is a virus without a vaccine.
In every corner of the globe is an Employee, Contractor, New Hire & loyal, life long, worker looking to you for your Leadership. People are over the ‘business as usual’ because we all know, it’s anything but business as usual.
Most of us are hanging on to any glimmer of hope, anything that gives us direction toward a guiding light and, importantly, someone we can walk in that direction with and within that guiding light to the other side.
Please, stop the generic ‘we care’. Speak to people and speak directly. It’s now urgent you do this.
For all his flaws, for all his failings, his arrogance and his lack of patience, Winston Churchill could communicate. He spoke directly to people. He spoke with urgency, and he spoke with a clear goal in mind that people could understand and act on.
‘Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there can be no survival’
It’s 13th May 1940, and the United Kingdom is under attack – like never before. Churchill stands, for the first time as Prime Minister in the House of Commons, and lays it all on the line…without victory, there can be no survival.
Do you think this is different? Covid-19 not affecting you? Someone you know will catch this virus, and you will be affected, the chances are also strong, you will know of someone who will die. So, what now? What do you do now?
If you are in a position of Leadership, you must now earn your stripes. We’re not treading water any longer.
1) Communicate – Silence is not golden. It’s for the timid, the mild and cautious
2) Direction – Let people know what they need to do, when, how, with whom & why
3) Re-assure – We’re all in this together, and each of us must play our role and play it well
4) Promote the basics – Health, Wellbeing, Routine & Network (yes, contact people, now)
5) Accept – This is the new norm. Develop habits to allow you to function and thrive
Yes, there are many more things we can do and need to do. But as a Leader, you’re leading people and they need not your ‘fluff’. They need to know you are with them.
You are always thinking about what may be around the corner and how ‘we’ will face it and you are preparing and supporting, people for this.
So, back to Churchill. Can we take on board the reality we face together and recognise that it is only when we are together that we will, and can, win.
‘now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning’.