Young professionals and leaders are all facing a common yet unique challenge of coping with the health risks caused by a global pandemic, while also navigating interruptions to their personal and professional lives. This challenge has presented itself at a very crucial point in a career cycle and many are asking themselves similar questions as a result: (1) What impact will this new norm have on my career progression? (2) How will I effectively continue to learn my trade in isolation? (3) How can I ensure I am still building broader skills needed to succeed in the future with such disruption?
In today’s world, these questions are likely prioritized below our concern for each other’s well-being, however future leaders should not feel guilty about analyzing the impact this is having on their career goals. Most of us have been displaced from our physical place of work, which is structured to help you thrive. The office is where we interact and socialize with peers, meet clients, receive in-person coaching from managers, travel, and where our competences are typically nurtured in order to reach new heights. There are several strategies that can be implemented to tackle current career challenges, however as I personally learn new ways to operate within the current environment, one particular theory continues to come to mind. I believe this theory or frame of mind is something all of us can adopt and implement in order to develop a set of skills which will be unique to having worked during this period of time and ultimately emerge as stronger professionals. I call it Being Real!
More than ever before, we are put in situations where difficult conversations are frequently being held with varying stakeholders including clients, direct reports, colleagues, managers etc. It is therefore imperative that we are realistic and factual when communicating, and provide advice built on the principles of honesty and integrity. It is even more important that you maintain a high level of positivity and hope when the message or result is difficult. This does not simply refer to your tone, but through the tactics you are committing to engage in to achieve the best possible outcome. This is based directly on the theory of “Disciplined Thought” (from Jim Collins’ book Good to Great, 2001) where he highlights the need to be brutally honest when facing a tough situation, but to also never lose hope. Further, Collins advises that living in a world where bad things don’t happen is not beneficial, no matter how difficult the message is –being realistic and honest will ultimately present itself as obvious and logical to those involved. You must manage expectations and also provide an avenue for optimism.
To provide some personal context and insight, I wanted to share some of the challenges which I have been experiencing over the past 3-4 months while working from home:
- The company I work for is going through a large and high profiled merger – the organizational structure and my future role is unknown.
- I manage a small team who are all facing their own individual challenges and stress levels working in this new environment – I have to support them from a distance.
- I have a new employee who is learning about the business and our organization’s systems/process – I have to assist and coach them virtually.
- The Insurance market is extremely difficult at the current time and one that most of us have never experienced – I have never worked in an extreme hard market, let alone one coupled with a Pandemic.
- Clients of mine are generally distressed due to the economic impacts of COVID, and are operating at high stress levels – companies are losing money while also dealing with insurance premiums that have gone up 3-4X in some instances.
- My leadership and organization still expects stellar top and bottom line results for the practice that I oversee – shareholders don’t have time for any excuses when their investment is in play.
- Last but definitely not least, I have a four year old daughter running around the house and another one on the way – some of you youngsters might say that’s WAY harder than a hard market!
During the early days of isolation, I was finding it extremely difficult to deliver grim news to very supportive clients. “Hey Mr. CFO, I know your company is almost bankrupt but you need to pay $1M more for your D&O premium in case you get sued”. No easy task. However, I started to learn that as a broker the more honest I was about market factors, claims trends, the impact of COVID, and pre-existing challenges to a company’s risk profile, the easier it was to map out an optimistic roadmap which would not avoid, but potentially minimize the financial impact to our clients. I always kept it real and backed it up with evidence, yet presented varying strategies to combat the problem – one of the key factors of this theory is not to provide false hope.
No matter who the stakeholder is, combining a frank yet hopeful message allows them to get prepared and focus on a logical plan of action. In the client centric example which was used above, clients have appreciated the realistic advice when it is supported by an elevated effort level to support them. Your actions alone can provide hope. The same principles should apply when dealing with a direct report who may be finding it difficult to complete deliverables while working from home due to competing priorities. In this situation it’s important to be upfront about the expectations you have of them, but also to help them develop and implement tailored coping mechanisms specific to their situation i.e. pre-scheduled days off, altered work hours, blocking off personal time during the day for a workout/nap/watching recorded Jersey Shore episodes (I hear it’s still on) etc.
Further to the Disciplined Thought theory, the following are a few tips from Jim Collins’ book:
- As a leader, engage your workers with questions instead of answers.
- Use debate and conversation as the first tools, never coercion.
- Never place blame, you can deconstruct a problem without throwing someone under the bus.
- Don’t give people false hope, this only demotivates people.
Although we don’t know what is in store for us with respect to our working environments, I truly believe that all of our future leaders will be better equipped to face personal and professional challenges by having worked through this Pandemic. Consistently incorporating the principles of honesty, integrity, perseverance, maximum effort, empathy, and hope within your tool chest will undoubtedly lay the foundation for great leadership.
Written by Imran Pira
