GPS Leadership – the new normal?

GPS Leadership – the new normal? A Global pandemic has shifted the way we do business, interact with one another, and move about the world. There is fear, doubt, uncertainty and leaders are being asked to do more while navigating historic times. There is no known way to operate a business, run a team, or even manage personal feelings as we live in a world that has a virus in it that has proven to be deadly. On top of all of this, there are lingering negative effects of social injustice and uprising from normally marginalised groups of people. 

This is the “new normal”. The question is, how do we operate in it? 

As Maverick Leaders, there may be a tendency to do it yourself and lean on your own understanding. That is a myth of leadership. Being a great leader requires resources and other people. Show me a leader who is alone and I will show you a lonely leader.   

The leader is the one who should know what the next step is for the group. Here is the present-day challenge. We’ve never been in a pandemic before. There are very few people who have ever experienced this level of uncertainty in the landscape of their leadership journey. Individually, we can all struggle with internal emotions and personal fears during uncertain times. Now, magnify it as each individual has to lead a team, a community, a county.  

The pressure to know the next decision and make the best choice is, in some cases, life or death.  

So, what do you we do?  We make a choice. This is what set’s Mavericks a part from other leaders. Mavericks chose. They are leaders who make a choice rather than waiting for time or someone else to make the choice for them.

We choose because if we can choose, we can see more options and future choices sooner.  

It’s like driving a car. The first choice is deciding to get in. Once you decide to get in the car, just being a leader, you are on the inside and therefore you must do something if you intend to get somewhere. As a leader your choice to go and if you are strategic leader, your choice is a specific destination. Somewhere isn’t good enough and leads to nowhere in the long run. So, we choice a specific definition, and start making decisions, which leads to a predetermined destination.  

The decisions a leader makes is the turn-by-turn directions on a GPS system. 

I would venture to say, that even now, in the midst of a pandemic, this analogy and leadership ability still applies. See, Mavericks, we must still choose to get in the car and set a destination. The destination within your organisation could be to finish the year in the black while maintaining (no dip in numbers) employee engagement. It could be to increase your online presence in two areas. The list of options is endless. The point is to pick a couple things and focus on them. Drive energy and resources towards achieving these goals. This is leadership and it is critical to the sustainability of your organisation. It is also how you sustain yourself during these unprecedented times.  

To be truly impactful as a leader you must take time to care for yourself.  Yes, there are others depending on you. Yes, you need to be in position or key information to flow to you and yes, you need time to recharge and take care of yourself. Why, because if you can take care of yourself, you will have more than enough to take care of others. When you sleep and rest it recharges your mind to give it capacity to think critically and to make decision, which we discussed earlier as a critical part of being a leader right now. Additionally, when you take care of yourself, you model this level of personal accountability for others.  

Remember, people tend to do what they see others doing, especially leaders. Now is a great time to model balance, focused-attention in one area and then shifting that focus to other areas of life. When you model balance, you give your team and other leaders around you an opportunity to choose balance as well. In the end this leads to more choices, more opportunities to show up for others and lead by being an example that is healthy, whole, and committed to moving forward, one choice at a time.   

GPS Leadership is the new normal?