Putting a Band-Aid on a Bullet Hole
3 min read
Updated: Dec 24, 2020
I worked for the founder of a social media SaaS product which was built on the premise of slotting social content into windows of consumer attention. We were targeting ads into social feeds based on certain algorithms. No attention given to authenticity or brand voice. We repeatedly changed our marketing materials to sell a different angle with little success. That was like putting a Band-Aid on a bullet hole. You earn attention based on your connection with your consumers. I was there for less than six months.
The new future needs leaders who are:
Rewriting policies for the hybrid workplace
Hiring for new positions: ‘Head of Remote’
Instilling culture based on organizational values and not on location
Implementing technology to foster new kinds of connections with the ground rules to support it
Embracing diversity, inclusion and belonging
Leveraging the language of emotional agility to ignite, support, and inspire others to take the lead in this new future
Communicating all of it with consistency and predictability
This mean re-architecting every element of how we now work.
“The most successful management paradigm of the future is going to be less about pay-for-performance, the organizational structure, or business strategy and far more about the daily felt experience of people when they come to work every day.” Don Rheem, Thrive by Design
The number one question every future-focused leader should be asking:
How does it feel to work here?
Today’s workforce is no longer bound by the traditions of the workplace. What matters most is not the location but consistency and predictability with connection and communication in the new workplace.
We can’t do it alone. A Washington Post article this week shared that companies are hiring executives to lead the virtual work experience. C.O.R — Chief of Remote. H.O.V. — Head of Virtual. These new roles will lead teams of cross-functional leaders to help in this transition to the future workplace.
This all requires LASER communication skills. Successful communicators use the language of emotional intelligence to connect, teach, inspire and lead. It’s how you will get full teams and organizations to embrace these fundamental changes.
New policies for the hybrid workplace are needed right now, but to get people to embrace them requires leaders who can inspire, motivate, teach, influence and role model the new behavior.
Today's future-focused leader may be a subject matter expert, but also must expertly understand and know how to use emotional agility to effect change and influence behavior. Emotional agility is at its core being compassionate and curious with our thoughts, feelings, and emotions to create this new future.
A rethink of the future is not about space. It’s about understanding the people and their connection to their work. It’s about bring safety, connection and predictability in the workplace -- wherever that may be -- through the new types of communication exchanges that are woven with the language of emotional intelligence.
Putting a Band-Aid over a bullet hole will not work.
We can’t simply move the deck chairs around on the Titanic.
My Coach Karen Sullivan
If you want to build winning teams and level-up your leadership and become a forward-thinking future leader, please reach out to me.
If you are reading this, you are the new future leader.
If you want to learn more about your emotional agility and how to use it to level up your leadership, take the EQi-20 assessment. The report and debrief will be a GAME-CHANGER for YOU – whether you are leading yourself, a team or an organization.
You will walk away with a defined understanding of how to bring the language of emotional agility to ignite your influence and inspire your people. The debrief will blow you away!
The new future needs leaders who are YOU.