Presence
Grounding the team with pure attention.
It can be waring. Being the person called in to clean up the mess. The one to sort out problems. To make good of the messy.
But, that is the job of a leader (or at least a portion of it). Unfortunately, a lot of the time our colleagues and those senior to us are rarely there to back us up or be there to do at least some of the doing. I learnt a long time ago the cavalry rarely arrives, and if they do they are too late with too little. Or, more often they were never a possible option of support from the very beginning. As a leader of a team or a project, the quicker we get to grips with this reality, the quicker we can get to solving the problems and friction cycles at hand.
In a world of disruption and unending change, this may seem demoralising. Yet if we are able to cut through those devious swings in mood and mindset we can remove a whole raft of complications to our plight. One key step towards this is to ground ourselves and others around us with presence.
Being present is one of the driving values behind mindfulness. A practice the ancients of most cultures were wise to and our modern day science is now catching up on. In one stage of my career, and in the face of doubts and uncertainty, a mentor of mine, Stephen Scott Johnson, once told me, "Being present is enough". This makes more and more sense to me everyday I live it. Especially when considering the opposite - being absent:
Mental Absence - there in body but not there in mind. Poor concentration, poor attention to detail, poor decisions.
Physical Absence - there in theory but not there in person. Team, Clients and Peers are left to fend for themselves.
Absent leadership is possibly one of the most unsustainable states and will drive irrelevance and even harm to business, relationships and reputations.
Absent leadership is driven by self-protection and self-interest. As humans we are built to think like this, which is why WIIFM (Whats In It For Me) is one of the first principals of negotiation. Retraining our mind into that of service, and therefore leadership is one of the key chasms to cross for all of us to be able to lead our family, community, business or team.
It looks something like this:
Absence vs Presence. Being aware of the traps can help us prepare beforehand, manage ourselves during and reflect on after, to increase our ability to be present for our team and those we serve.
Preparation, in all it's forms is generally critical to being more present (ie. how we start our day, start our role, walk into a room). This forms a part of our competence and helps us to have some sort of confidence to approach a challenging scenario. Focusing on the factors driving our own absence in a scenario creates awareness of our mindset and our listening position as a leader. This creates a grounded approach for us to be more present and therefore more powerful.
Some helpful thoughts to ponder:
What scenarios push you into one of the above quadrants?
Which quadrant is your default trap?
What can you do before/during/after interactions to avoid these traps?
Being present is one of the simplest yet most difficult attributes a leader can instill to support their team to a better future. It sends a powerful message saying, "I am here for you. I will be here no matter how tough things get. You are safe with me". Respect, trust, and inspiration all thrive in a team when leader's role model presence. Having a strategy around this can liberate oneself from years of baggage while empowering ourselves and others to take on challenges. Add in a form of mindfulness practice and a strong foundation has been set for leading people through the toughest, muddiest and messiest situations.
