Archive for August 2020
When Leaders Listen, Employees Engage
What are the most important skills that enhance leadership in these times? I absolutely believe that good communication skills are crucially important. Too often, however, we tend to think that communication is all about what we say, but listening is a very important part of good communication. From my experience, when leaders listen employees engage. They feel valued and feel that what they have to say has value for the leader and the organisation.
Read MoreWe Make The Road While Walking
There has never been another time in my life where I have seen leaders so challenged from so many sides. They are being called upon to lead in the most unpredictable and uncertain times and, of course, unprecedented times.
They are having to make decisions quickly without all the facts. They have to trust their judgement and draw on their inner resources, acting courageously and without fear or favour.
While they are being advised by experts in every relevant field, there are no guarantees that the decisions they make will take us where they want to go.
They have no idea what the road ahead looks like because they can’t see very far ahead at all. They can’t see around the corner.
I recall what Paulo Freire said decades ago when we don’t know what is ahead of us: We make the road while walking. That’s what our leaders need to do in leading through this crisis.
Read MoreEmpowered Adults Take Back The Control COVID-19 Has Taken From Us.
This was an article I sent out as part of my Self-Care newsletters early in this pandemic. Given we are about to go into very demanding restrictions and lockdowns here in Victoria, Australia, I thought it was worth re-visiting it. What kind of people do we want to BE in these next six weeks? And what skills, strategies and inner resources are we going to need to BE that kind of person? We need to believe that we can be empowered adults and take back the control that COVID-19 has taken from us. In a very real sense only we can do it.
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