Change happens every day.
Our work is not static.
We have to stop believing that things should stay the same.
We have to stop expecting things to be consistent.
A vital role as leaders today, is to move our teams, effectively through change.
When we join our team in commiserating, complaining and moaning about change; we aren’t leading.
It feels good in the moment.
But it doesn’t SOLVE anything.
Leaders create environments that host solutions and innovation.
Ambiguity is the status quo of today’s workplace, not the exception.
The folks who can learn to embrace ambiguity will thrive.
We can all learn something by leaning into uncertainty and exploring it, rather than resisting it.
Thomas Sterner of ‘The Practicing Mind’ says, “Analyze, don’t judge.”
Instead of judging what’s happening around us, what if we analyzed? We studied? We learned?
Ambiguity is an opportunity, rather than a threat.
As he says, judgement invites emotion. And usually, the emotion it invites doesn’t feel so good.
When we don’t feel good, we don’t lead well.
Signing up to be the boss, means signing up for ongoing, inconsistent, unplanned, erratic and ambiguous moments.
To think otherwise, is resisting the world of work we exist in today.
Take a moment.
Look at what you’re resisting.
Ask yourself, “who is the leader who manages this with ease?”
“How would they lead their team through this moment?”
“What can I do today to become more aligned with that kind of leadership?”
Dealing with change and ambiguity isn’t an outlier to our work, it IS our work.
The sooner we can all come to accept this, the more effective and successful we can be at leading high performing, engaged teams, through our ever-changing, always fluid environment.
