Soft Skills
tHE LEADER
BY CATHERINE DIXON
This is the first of a series of articles that suggests that self-empowerment is the quintessential skill set for surviving now and thriving in the future both in business and in life.
We live in an age of global transformation that has affected all businesses and organisations from start-ups to large established entities. Change heralds transition from one phase to another whether that is in diversification, expansion or contraction. Large organisations are often the ones that find change the most difficult . Big Ships turn slowly and the administrative arm of the British Government (where much of my recent experience lies), is no exception.
The current change is driven by the pace and evolution of technologies and a shifting global eco-political restructuring of power. This creates large amounts of unpredictability and uncertainty. Not knowing, feeling out of comfort zones, control and competency level can create fatigue and stress which affects morale, performance and our health.
For most of us, this change is on-going; we won’t go back to “normal” and if there is a plan - expect it not to go to exactly to plan. Harking back to what worked before and leveraging that strategy might not work either. Jobs are no longer for life. The new normal is about portfolio careers, transferring existing skills, creating fit for purpose solutions in real time.
We cannot even lead people in the same way. Traditional styles of leadership rely on a hierarchical chain of command and control with the vision and organisational objectives cascading down the organisational chain through management controls. The new paradigm asks for teams of people able to respond as a unit and often at break neck speed.
Working in a team these days may involve a hybrid of other virtual stakeholders outside and across the organisation. Organisations need people who can lead themselves, who can get on with and communicate well with diverse groups. It calls for high levels of self -awareness, self-management and a desire to collaborate for mutual benefit.
To survive and thrive we need to learn Self-Empowerment –skills.
Self-Empowerment ultimately is about our ability to take full responsibility for our lives and to literally stand in our own power. It is our ability to make decisions that are rational and that feel right too. From this we can trust what is working for us and what we need to develop and what we need to stop doing. This stopping also means we let go of blaming others, circumstances because doing that disempowers us.
Self -Empowerment is a complete commitment to self -care. That means caring for ourselves mentally, emotional and physically. It is not up to our manager or our organisation to develop our lives or take care of our wellbeing though they can make resources and strategies available to us.
Ultimately it is up to us. We need a personal vision of what we really want from our lives : what inspires and nurtures us, what is the best use of our skills and resources.
We need to understand how we are motivated, what really interests us and how we sustain us. Self-empowerment also embraces our readiness to communicate compassionately and authentically. Caring for how we communicate with others is a natural extension of how we communicate internally.
32 | TRAINING MAGAZINE EUROPE APRIL 2015
WITHIN