A call for leaders to re-examine their resilience and their attunement to others’
“Distort nothing, manipulate no-one” ….said John Barry in relation to trust in leadership during the Great Influenza of 1918.
We seem to be living in an era of spin and managed messages and it is hard to place trust in leadership when we see (no pun intended Dominic) inconsistencies, disingenuous behaviour, fatuous slogans etc. We all understand the importance of trust – much of our lives hinge on it……and yet we’re living in tough, worry-filled times. It is perhaps understandable therefore that exhausted, anxious leaders lunge for some easy-to-grasp sentiments in an effort to soothe and add value. However, never has the effectiveness (or otherwise) of leaders been more visible; superficial attempts to convey anxiety-reducing messages just aren’t cutting it.
Our individual basket of worries and stressors leaves us all in a constant state of psychological tension on the spectrum of anxiety somewhere between denial and panic - both extremes equally maladaptive forms of defence against anxiety. The very process of holding steady between the two is exhausting and creates its own cycle of distress and fatigue. As we start to get a sense of the next phase of our ‘new normal’, the nature of our stresses and worries might change, but its absolute quantum probably doesn’t. If anything it might actually make our worry harder to spot and/or leave us feeling more self-conscious as to whether it’s OK for us to show our vulnerabilities.
Whilst part of leadership is cognitive; strategy, bold decisions and clear plans, an equally important part is the engagement with those we are leading; leadership without the led is nothing, and so leadership is at least partly about relationships. A leader who is unable to tune in to their team’s needs and worries is unlikely to be able to respond appropriately. Their efforts to encourage, enthuse, support, challenge etc. are all more likely to be discordant or clumsy rather than positive and impactful. A leader who is ‘a stranger to themselves’, and in this context who is unaware of their own anxiety state, is very likely to be poorly connected to others…and broadly ineffective as a leader as a result.
In addition to the relational risks linked to leader anxiety, there are equally concerning cognitive risks and consequences, for both the led and leaders. Being in a state of anxiety (worrying, racing & un-bidden thoughts, wakefulness, forgetfulness, distractibility, despondency) means that we are relying on a more primal, deep limbic part of our brain. This part keeps things simple in order to rapidly deploy resources for dealing with perceived threats. It is razor sharp in its focus on the here and now and makes use of all manner of cognitive shortcuts (or heuristics) to speed up decision-making. This narrowing of focus is incredibly helpful in an evolutionary sense, but less so in a more developed world, and certainly less so as we shift from an acute to a chronic crisis. In practice it can interfere with our ability to perceive reality accurately and to make more sophisticated judgements. Even in business with strong governance and compliance procedures in place it is easy to imagine how this could affect immediate judgements, and broader strategic business thinking.
For business leaders there is already an existing sense of worry and fragility in their commercial roles; with margins getting ever more squeezed there is a rush to commoditisation; there are new markets and game-changing new market entrants; there are pricing squeezes and so on. This is the backdrop against which the current pandemic is landing and serves to heighten the anxiety risk. Denial or caving-in are not viable or sustainable responses; recognising and addressing their own anxieties is crucial. If ever there was a time for leaders to seek support to dig deep and cast a bright light within, now is the time.