Bravery, Imagination and Humility: A Zebra Leadership Conversation
During our recent virtual event ‘Bravery, Imagination & Humility: A Leadership Conversation’, we explored the leadership challenges and learnings of the past 12 months and the qualities leaders will need to capitalise on now to successfully build back better.
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EVENT SUMMARY
The past 12 months have presented unique challenges for individuals and businesses across the globe. With alibis for change having been stripped away in the face of rapid innovation, democratisation and increased accountability, we have seen those leaders who chose to respond to these challenges with bravery, imagination and humility thrive.
We now need to work collectively as a community to create a positive future coming out of the pandemic. The art of the possible has been shown to us, with collaboration and innovation at a speed and scale never before imagined, and we’ve been given the space, time and freedom to imagine a different and positive future.
So how can we, as leaders, embrace this progress within our organisations to build back better?
Vulnerability has become a defining characteristic of modern leadership – as leaders, we must now grant ourselves the strength to accept and own it; nurturing the exceptional qualities that come with this. A return to servant leadership has magnified the importance of leaders allowing themselves to simply ‘be’ within an organisation. Having the space and time to understand and reflect on events – removing pressures and becoming comfortable with ambiguity to accept that in such uncertain times, we must celebrate how adaptable and capable those within our organisations have been and not force ourselves to make decisions before we’re ready.
Building psychological safety into our working culture is going to be pivotal to future success – giving individuals the security to be themselves and working through failure collectively to promote growth, nurture wellbeing and drive purpose. Empowering those across our organisations to sense and create actionable change strategies – having the humility to accept that we alone cannot be responsible for this and decentralising this capability will become central to our ability to emerge from the pandemic future-ready.
Crucial to all future scenarios, and running across all leadership themes is the understanding that we need both data and human leadership to sense and respond appropriately for post-COVID wellbeing in the workplace.
As we, the Zebra Collective, identified and resonated with these leadership challenges and opportunities, Kevin Pojasek of Enara Bio posed the very poignant question:
“How do we, who believe in these new views of leadership, human behaviours and motivations – now bring this out to the rest of the world and try to convince others and instil this in the rest of humanity?”
The Zebra Project will continue to challenge, question and drive the conversation around this as we explore the future of work and leadership.
Thank you to all that attended our first virtual event, and special thanks to our key contributors - Celia Hannon, Nancy Hey and Kevin Pojasek - it was a spirited and positive conversation full of useful insight and a great first event back.
If you would like to take a deep dive into the discussion from our event ‘Bravery, Imagination and Humility: A Leadership Conversation’ below is a collection of resources.
KEY THEMES
HUMILITY
Leadership is fundamentally about service.
It was discussed that leaders who chose to serve their organisations – engaging with and understanding their teams, getting to know them and the motivation behind their work – outperformed those that stayed within the boundaries of more conventional leadership styles. The power of sensing within and outside of an organisation was highlighted, but also that this cannot be fulfilled by any one person alone – highlighting the importance of decentralising sensing capacities and the ability to listen from all edges of an organisation – empowering employees to sense for change and translate this into tangible action.
The topic of transparency was heavily discussed – fostering trust within an organisation and society.
With everyone having been stripped back in the workplace during the past 12 months, it has exposed those that are good leaders and those that aren’t in a way that has been quite unforgiving. With many that haven’t previously understood the role of humility as a leader having had it thrust upon them during the pandemic – the walls they previously hid behind were taken away overnight, and those that successfully used their sensing capacity to understand and act authentically have thrived, leaving those that previously relied upon theatre and control, behind.
SUPPORTING RESOURCES
BRAVERY
The past 12 months have brought to the fore the fragility of our normal day-to-day existence.
It has, however, given us the space to think about how the world could be different, if collectively we have the bravery to make it a reality.
People and organisations have proven themselves to be extremely adaptable and resilient, and our understanding of individuals within organisations and how their personal circumstances will have affected their experience of the pandemic is vital to our navigating a new future positively – providing purpose and promoting an environment in which people can thrive.
Quoting Sadie Smith and her view on the pandemic as a ‘global humbling’ – recognising that, globally, we’ve been forced to stand face-to-face with our weaknesses as a society – thrown into a state of uncertainty and ambiguity that now presents us with the opportunity to question and challenge the status quo.
As leaders, how do we bring psychological safety into the workplace in a seemingly vulnerable time, to facilitate this discussion around possible futures? How do we build and nurture an environment that is comfortable with ambiguity?
Taking learnings from Kevin Pojasek of Enara Bio, for whom ambiguity is in their DNA, we discussed the need to accept that ambiguity exists within every aspect of our individual lives. Organisations need to embrace this, align the working environment with external factors and build a collective desire to grow and improve into their culture. Creating and open culture and transparency will improve overall wellbeing, supporting individuals to thrive and succeed personally in all aspects of their lives. Crucial within this is promoting the need to experiment – to try and fail – understanding, normalising and supporting the role of mistakes in a journey of growth.
Thinking of leadership, not as having power over somebody, but having power with, power to and power within is where, collectively we need to get to. But the question posed by Kevin was: ‘how do we – all of us who believe in these new views of leadership, human behaviours and motivations – bring this out to the rest of the world and try to convince others and instil this in the rest of humanity?’
SUPPORTING RESOURCES
AGENCY
Have we lost our sense of agency as individuals or organisations during this period of uncertainty?
In the past 12 months, we have seen initiatives and campaigns seizing the moment and making possible endeavours that would have otherwise seemed impossible. We have re-nationalised the railways, introduced a basic form of universal credit, temporarily housed the homeless and transformed vaccine manufacture. To have achieved these accomplishments at such scale in such a short period of time has shown us the art of the possible. This sense of agency, collaboration and ability to take action is also essential for hope and optimism in the future.
Having switched to an introvert world overnight, the inclusiveness and connection that comes from online events and communication – creating wider networks of talent and collaboration – linking up teams in a way that previously saw numerous hurdles for success – is a positive step that has provided a monumental leap in the future world of work.
SUPPORTING RESOURCES
LEADERSHIP SKILLS
In a broader sense, what have the past 12 months taught us as leaders? What learning should we take from past experiences and now pay forward to achieve change?
Be human and transparent
The role of data in leadership is undeniable, but what will set leaders apart now is to retain their humanity – lead with empathy and understanding. Build trust through transparency – walk the talk – mistakes and failures are inevitable, trust is vital in building acceptance and understanding of the role these mistakes play in the growth of individuals, organisations and society.
Prioritise sensing
De-centralise your organisation’s sensing capacity – facilitate successful sensing at all edges of your business – empower your team to sense and create tangible actions for change.
Understand scenaric leadership
Be aware of multiple different possibilities and be able to adapt in the eventuality they unfold.
Don’t revert back
Now is the time to question those things we did automatically, old ways of working, old infrastructure, old processes – don’t simply revert when possible – question and improve.
Prioritise wellbeing strategy
Bring performance and wellbeing improvements into the same conversations and prioritise your wellbeing strategy to safeguard your future-ready workforce. The workplace plays an important role in individuals’ wellbeing – understand this and how to make it a positive environment to thrive.
Storytelling
We need leaders who can tell us a story about how we coped in the pandemic and how we can apply those strategies to the next challenges.
Community management
Understand your communities of stakeholders and how their views will vary and their acceptance of new ways of working will differ. All stakeholders are humans experiencing the same emotions, how can you understand their individual situations and work with them to find a way forward?
SUPPORTING RESOURCES
