Observations from the Balcony – Themes affecting clients’ potential this week.

In focus this week: Muscles for Leading and Living in Uncertainty

A question that keeps raising its head, is “how to live and lead in these uncertain times?”  This question was mightily amplified by CV19 as it shone a giant spotlight on pretty much everything that isn’t in order within ourselves and the world around us.

My observations are merely a perspective and not scientific fact; as a means to begin to distil which leadership and life muscles will be needed in order to remain relevant in the uncertain, emergent and quantum future; having been forcibly ejected out of our more certain, logical, sequential and rational Newtonian world view into the Quantum Field.

Leadership and Life Muscles required in uncertain times:

Observation 1: Spending time building TRUST in relationships. Trusting ourselves allows for us to be in relationship without losing ourselves and creates space for co-regulation and cohesion. In Brene’ Brown’s Anatomy of Trust she unpacks BRAVING as the basis for forging deep trust. The need to have Boundaries, be Reliable, Accountable, honour the Vault (hold confidences), have Integrity, be Non-judgmental and Generous (assume the best in people) establishes a beautiful blue print for a word we bandy about and rely on the passing of time to establish. We need to be more deliberate in establishing trust and trustworthiness.

Observation 2: Ability to DEAL with the current reality and make decisions from the here and NOW. Having the courage to be fully present, unknowing and transparent is not comfortable territory for most of us; and yet it becomes imperative for improved decision-making based on the information on hand. The ability to co-create and collaborate for shared outcomes, and then remaining flexible and agile as to HOW you get there becomes an art.

Essential skills and competencies to deal with the here and NOW:

• Bring the quality of unguarded soft PRESENCE that is full of healthy BOUNDARIES
• Focus on RESILIENCE & RESOLVE – myself and others
• CO-CREATE to find solutions
• CURIOSITY & CO-SENSING to uncover possibilities
• EMPATHY, Compassion & Understanding
• Focus on what is ESSENTIAL
• PEOPLE empowerment and excellence over tasks obsession
• Translating KNOWING into WISDOM, which is KNOWING in ACTION
• Attitude of GRATITUDE for what is present in the field of relation

Observation 3: Consider what allows our THRIVING as opposed to SURVIVING. The levels of  fear, anxiety and overwhelm have escalated in proportion to the chaos and uncertainty. This has shifted many into survival mode, which is never useful from a pure neuro-biological perspective, because it means that people are not able to access an optimal state for creativity, innovation, logic, knowledge, and problem-solving. They are basically primed for fight, flight or freeze. All of this leads to burn-out, low resilience and reduced EQ. The best of people’s potential is not available and it’s the job of leadership and individuals to create environments conducive to unleashing potential. The future sustainability of systems and organisations requires that people realise their potential so that they can reimagine and reinvent in the face of uncertainty.

So, what to do:

1. Consider the degree to which you trust yourself and the relationships/stakeholders around you and rank them based on the level of trust you feel is present. Trust level 1 would be LOW Trust and trust level 10 would be HIGH Trust. Where relationships feel like they are lacking trust, take responsibility for looking at what your contribution might be and take steps to redeem yourself and build trust more intentionally. (Below is The Trust Equation from Charles Green’s book The Trusted Advisor, which is useful for determining where the trust breaches may reside – both within us and others.)
2. Reflect on practices that bring you to full presence with yourself and others. Two of my favourite presencing activities are meditation and a 3-Sync practice to determine what is present in my physical, emotional, and mental experience at any given point in time. Really useful to allow yourself to slow down, connect with your experience and then connect more fully with the situation you find yourself in.
3. Tune in to how deeply you are listening – are you listening to merely respond, or are you listening and sensing in an effort to understand what is present in the field of consciousness?

If you are serious about understanding yourself more deeply and you recognise that something within you has to change, you can reach me at [email protected] or book a free session at www.thepotentialityco.com/meetings/.