People ask their leaders for certainty, even when the evidence is that certainty is a rarity.
Think of the experts who predicted that Trump couldn’t win.
It is likely that most of our predictions will be wrong in some way, sometimes significantly.
How then can we as leaders move forward into an unknown, unreliable future, and keep our people engaged, positive and courageous?
I assert that we must model the way ourselves, with the clarity that there are no guarantees of certainty, and that we can overcome whatever unexpected challenge we may face.
Telling people what they desperately want to hear, if the reality is uncertain, will rapidly erode trust and respect. This is the disease many of our politicians suffer from.
We can prepare our people for uncertainty by helping them to develop their self-confidence, self-esteem, flexibility and continuous learning.
We can earn trust and respect by consistently showing we care, that we are competent and courageous.
We can show our people that we must plan realistically, that we must be agile, alert and decisive.
We can include them in our thinking, encourage them to embrace change and that these days, change has morphed into disruption.
Most of all we can encourage them to practice self-disruption, not be stuck in their past, yet bring the relevant best of it with us.
All this requires us to be fully engaged with our people, understand where they are right now in their thinking and help them to move forward with courage and confidence into future that they can influence – no matter what prevails.
What do you think?
Image courtesy of Ranggi Manggala
