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Here in England we’re just about to head into a second national lockdown that’s expected to last for the month of November.
Whilst many things are beyond our control, we can always choose our response.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
Viktor E Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
For some people, their immediate and natural reaction may be: “Oh God. Here we go again, this is going to be really tough.”
For others it may be: “Right, let’s go again. It’s going to be challenging, but let’s apply what we learned last time and get through this in a good state.”
Regardless of our initial reaction, if we’re in any sort of leadership position we need to quickly get ourselves into the latter headspace. Because that’s what our people need from us and that’s the only mindset from which we can effectively lead.
In April I wrote an article about the importance of pausing to reflect on all the lessons we were learning about leading during lockdown. What was working well, what wasn’t working so well, what should we keep post lock-down… and what would we use if we ever faced this situation again?
I don’t have a crystal ball. I just know that reflection and growth are critical for success in life and in leadership.
Well, now is the time to dig out those notes and put those reflections to good use.
And if you didn’t capture those learnings at the time, it’s not too late.
If you’re in this situation, then I strongly suggest that you schedule a 90-minute meeting with your leadership team to reflect on the first lockdown, build an effective plan for the next four weeks and establish some simple rules or engagement for the team you’re a member of and the team you lead.
This might just be the most important meeting you have this month.
Some resources to help…
To help get you on the right track and get the conversation with your team started, I’ve curated some of my most relevant articles for you below (you may want to circulate these as pre-reads):
Balanced Leadership
14 Strategies for Leading in Lockdown
Communication Empathy
And finally, I’m here to support you as a coach, mentor, on an ongoing basis or simply for a one-off session. Whether you need an impartial sounding board, support making difficult decisions or tips on managing your own energy and focus, book a 15-minute chat here or drop me a line on chat@ben-morton.com and we can take it from there.
Stay strong.
#LeadOn
Image by Matt Seymour on Unsplash
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