In a fast-changing world, you don’t know all the answers – and you’re not expected to know them. Instead of dragging people along or expecting them to simply follow you, meet them where they are, walk alongside them, and turn the journey into a shared experience.
https://swiy.co/go-dont-lead-from-the-front
As a leader, what are you doing to inspire the people in your team?
Yesterday, I took our cocker spaniel, Jasper, for his regular 20-minute walk – around the block, through a local park, then back home. Even though this is the same walk Jasper takes every day, he treats every walk like a new experience. He doesn’t walk in a straight line, and is always straying off the “straight and narrow”, sniffing around, stopping to examine something new he’s “discovered”, and so on.
That walk reminded me of Back to Back Theatre, a theatre group in Geelong that has won international prizes for their performances. What makes them different is they only employ actors with disabilities or who are neurodivergent. These performers see, perceive, and act in the world differently – and that creates unique experiences for them, the organisation, and their audiences.
When director Bruce Gladwin accepted an international award for Back To Back a few years ago, he described his approach to work like this:
“I want us to walk the path while full of curiosity. It’s like going on a walk with a three-year-old child, not taking a three-year-old child on a walk.”
There’s a lesson in there for all leaders.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not comparing the people in your team to cocker spaniels or three-year-old children. But I hope you do have people with diverse perspectives, behaviours, and ways of thinking.
As a leader, are you dragging them along – like taking them on the walk – or are you going on a walk WITH them?
The best leaders know they don’t have the answers, and even the answers that worked for them in the past might no longer be fit for purpose.
To succeed in a fast-changing world full of uncertainty and change, we must all tap into the diverse perspectives, diverse thinking, diverse behaviours, and diverse experiences of people around us.
As a leader, you’ll be far more successful if you walk the journey WITH your people, not in FRONT of them.
I’ll be talking about this in my next free public online presentation, “Keep the Change”, which is about building a culture of change agents. It’s open to everybody, so register here and invites others in your team and network, too.
Register for the virtual masterclass: