Post BREXIT Leadership focus
With the BREXIT vote these are uncertain times, but with uncertainty there can also be opportunity as well. This blog looks at how leaders might prepare in order to be in a strong position to take advantage of any opportunities that might arise as the new Prime Minister, Theresa May and her new cabinet make sense of what it means to UK leaving the EU.
There has never been a more crucial time for strong leadership, be that at government level or at organisational level. Your employees will look at you for strategic direction across the choppy waters ahead. So have you given some thought as to how you will lead in unchartered waters?
Are you thinking of what could be the consequences of BREXIT, and how it might impact on your business? How are you showing your leadership during uncertain times?
Here are some of the attributes you will need to help you:
- You will provide strong leadership and clear vision
If you don’t know where the company is going, how can you expect your staff know? This is about you having a clear vision and communicating that well to your staff. Ensure that your vision is underpinned by clear values that are understood at all levels of the organisation, and staff can own and live them. The vision and values are the bedrock of your culture.
- Being accountable and responsible
You need to be held accountable, but you also need to hold your staff accountable. You need to take responsibility for the companies successes and failures.
- Avoid micro-managing
You need to trust your staff to manage the day to day processes. You will need to delegate not micro-manage your staff. Support your staff to do their jobs but don’t interfere in the day to day details. Work on encouraging and motivating them to perform well. Now more than ever is the time to motivate your staff.
- Show your problem-solving skills
Spot the problems and solve the problems by brainstorming successful and innovative ways to solve them.
- Make effective decisions
Make effective decisions, and make them quickly and decisively without procrastination. Once you have made the decision take responsibility for the outcome.
“One of the most important skills any leader can learn is when to be decisive, and when to take a step back and look at the wider picture.” – Richard Branson.
- Support your staff
Your major asset is the staff that work for you. Look after your staff and they will look after you. Show your appreciation and recognise your staffs’ contributions. Ensure they are trained and developed and take their own continuous professional development seriously. Also don’t lose focus on your own continuous professional development. Listen to what they have to say and hear their issues and address them. Do this and you will have a dedicated and committed work force.
- Be transparent
Don’t say one thing and do another; you will damage your reputation. Be honest and open with your staff and they will trust you through turbulent times. Keep to your word at all times.
“Any leader is only as good as his word when it comes to communicating beliefs and ideas, a leaders word is not only an emblem of trust but a crucial device to spread the message.” – Rudolph Guiliani (ex-mayor of New York City).
8.Communicate, communicate, communicate
During uncertain times communicate even more than usual, otherwise staff will think you don’t know what you are doing and start to lose trust in your abilities. Communicate even if you are saying there is no news at the present. Worried staff have a habit of filling blank spaces with the worst case scenarios.
Post- BREXIT won’t be easy for any leader or company with so many unknowns about the future, but a leader who can demonstrate the eight points above will remain ahead of the game, however that game is played out in the future. Maybe now is the time more than ever to challenge conventional boundaries and normal solutions. Work on understanding future landscapes and reacting quickly to new opportunities.
“The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious.” – John Scully.
Remember; leadership is the ability to hide your panic from others!
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Paul Buckley
leadershipthinkingblog 