How Do I Lead Now?

“How Do I Lead Now?” is our new weekly Video Coaching Series that offers insight into coaching-based leadership approaches. Tune in each week to use your own coaching skills to reflect upon how best to lead now. Watch Episode 1 with this link.

Do you find yourself wondering: How do I lead when so much has changed, so much is still unknown, and so much is at stake? You are not alone. Many of the leadership approaches that we relied upon before the pandemic do not serve us well in the new sea of uncertainty that we find ourselves swimming in.

Our traditional approach to leadership is founded on the assumptions that there are right answers, leaders know what those answers are, and it’s their job to tell people what they need to do to fix problems. To be honest, that “direct and correct” approach to leadership hasn’t worked that well for some time now, as the ever-increasing pace of change and complexity of our world has made it more and more challenging for leaders to meet the expectation of being all knowing about all things.

The chaos caused by the pandemic has made the gulf between what expert-based leadership can deliver and the current needs of our tumultuous environment painfully obvious. It has also created an amazing opportunity to reimagine what it means to be a good and effective leader, now.

What We Need from Leaders Now

So, what do we need from leaders in this sea of uncertainty that we find ourselves in? No single person is going to have “the answer” to any of the increasingly complex, ever-evolving issues we now face. That means that people have to feel safe working creatively with each other to co-create what comes next (even if they are not in the same place—in every sense of that word). They may not be physically together, intellectually look at situations the same way, or have much else in common.

Our shared future depends upon people with that kind of diversity to pool their collective creativity and reimagine what’s possible. That is our new reality. We need leaders to create a space where this kind of work can quickly and easily happen. People will only dare to play full out with each other in that way if they feel safe doing so. We need leaders who can reduce the fear in our cultures, so people feel safe revealing what truly makes them unique. That means accepting people for who they are and meeting them where they are.

That’s where coaching-based leadership comes in. When leaders take a coaching approach to leadership, they don’t ask “what’s wrong,” they get curious about what’s possible. They don’t tell people what to do, they engage them in exploring different perspectives. They expect that learning will be iterative, so they ask thought-provoking questions that encourage people to learn with and from each other. Leaders then support people to use the insights they gain from those thoughtful exchanges to try their ideas again and again until they discover new angles and approaches. That’s what leadership needs to look like now, which is why it is essential that every leader feel comfortable taking a coaching-based approach to leadership.

How Do I Lead Now? Video Series 

I’ve created a new video series entitled, “How Do I Lead Now?” Every week I will offer a short video highlighting some aspect or element of coaching-based leadership, and I will invite viewers to reflect upon what I shared so they can evolve their own leadership style to meet the needs of our new world. Watch Episode 1 by clicking on this link. Feel free to share this video series with others.

You can stay updated on this video series by coming back to our blog every Thursday, or visit our YouTube channel to view the playlist in full. The videos will also be posted on all of our social media channels.

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