Leading in today’s world often feels overwhelming, but it may be easier than you think to embrace uncertainty, turn anxiety into confidence, make better decisions under pressure, and unlock the full potential of yourself and your people.
BREAKING NEWS: The world is an uncertain place!
Just over thirty years ago, Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus introduced the acronym “VUCA” to describe a world that, in their view, had become Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous.
The US Army War College adopted the concept to help address emerging military challenges brought about by the major geopolitical changes following the demise of the Soviet Union.
So, suddenly leaders everywhere were faced with new, unpredictable, existential threats that could strike at any moment. The world felt different, unstable, hostile.
STOP PRESS! Nothing had really changed!
Whilst not especially renowned as a philosopher, the former world heavyweight boxing champion, Mike Tyson once said,
And therein lies the eternal truth for all leaders. They have often had a clear vision and a well-thought-out strategy, but no leader ever had a crystal ball.
Throughout my thirty-year career as a CEO, I spent much of the time anxious or afraid of making bad decisions. With the benefit of hindsight, I could have worried a lot less if I’d learned sooner that:
- Nothing was EVER as bad as I thought it was;
- Anxiety only replaced excitement when I began to fear failure; and
- Trusting other people is the only true foundation for long-term success.
In this brief article, I will share some of what I learned about how (and how not) to have a positive impact as a leader when things don’t go quite according to your carefully-laid plans.
Lesson 1 – Vision
Don’t have carefully-laid plans.
By all means, have a really big, bold, crystal clear, inspirational VISION.
This is essential to act as a compass to stay on track when the route gets foggy. Less is more. The fewer words the better to avoid confusion. An excellent example of such a vision belongs to the charity, The Alzheimer’s Society. They simply aspire to “A world without Alzheimer’s”.
Whatever your organisation’s vision statement, the important thing is that it engenders a common sense of purpose and leaves no room for different interpretations.
Lesson 2 – Understanding and Trust
Even the best leaders rarely come up with the best solutions to problems on their own.
I once heard the President of a highly successful, worldwide company say that the secret to the organisation’s success was “making it up as they went along”. I thought he was joking until he explained that this really was the approach. Too many things changed too often for there to be a definitive route to the destination.
If plans are overly-detailed and granular, they will become irrelevant too quickly, and every change will feel like a failure rather than just another step on the journey.
I don’t mind admitting that there was a time when I wanted every strategy written-out in full so that progress could be constantly measured.
If things were not on track, it wasn’t unknown for me to act like a control freak.
I would have done well to listen to the words of John Lennon who said, “Everything will be OK in the end. If it’s not OK, it’s not the end”.
The key for a leader to find the right answers to any challenge is to facilitate, support, and empower others to do it in real time.
Returning to Mike Tyson’s point, if you get punched in the face and continue to walk into the next flurry of shots, you will quickly get concussion and become disorientated. That’s when you get knocked out.
Instead, it’s vital to seek to UNDERSTAND what’s going on by placing TRUST in others who almost certainly have the answer. Question your own long-held views and encourage others to challenge you. Ask and listen to lots of people (not just the ones you feel comfortable with). Embrace diversity in all its forms. Stay calm and be a low-reactor especially when things fail.
In short, it is vital that you and your people clear your heads quickly in the face of set-backs.
As a leader you enable this by ensuring psychological safety so that news of failure reaches you early and is welcomed as part of the learning process. This reduces anxiety in yourself and others and creates a space for excitement and engagement to flourish. There should be no room for negative emotions, as they drain energy. If you stay positive, others will follow your lead.
Things are never as bad as you think.
Lesson 3 – Collaboration and Trust
COLLABORATION is not the same as teamwork.
Working together in a functional team is often rewarding, but there is no substitute for collaborating with others across a whole organisation to craft innovative ways of working, share information more broadly, build strong relationships, and encourage the combination of wild, creative ideas that challenge the status quo.
There is some fascinating work by Paul J Zak, an American Neuroeconomist at Claremont Graduate University, California that focuses on the positive impact of improved trust in creating high-performance environments The Neuroscience of Trust (hbr.org)
Whilst this research covers a wider topic, by fostering collaboration leaders can help their organisations to enhance trust, and according to Zak, create up to:
Lesson 4 – Agility and Trust
As we have all experienced at some time in our lives, the wrong answer on time is better than the right answer too late.
That’s why AGILITY is a vital tool for an organisation, which stems from a leader’s willingness to iterate relentlessly, thus preventing the pursuit of perfection from becoming the enemy of great.
I have certainly been guilty in the past of deferring a decision until I had “all the facts”.
There’s an awful lot of talking and reading involved in getting “all the facts”; and actions are far better than words when faced with ambiguity.
If I knew then what I know now, I would have talked less, acted more, trusted others to be more autonomous, and done it faster.
A final thought
On reflection, there’s arguably a bit too much advice in this article, so I thought I’d end it by paraphrasing the lyrics of a 1998 song called Sunscreen by Baz Luhrmann. If you haven’t heard it, click this link when you’ve finished reading.
Luhrman said –
