“I toil deftly, circling above myself” by Pablo Neruda. During turbulent times, I commonly find senior leaders and the organisations in which they work disconnected and fatigued. Often the issue and solution lie in their relationships: with themselves, with team members and with their context and environment. Don’t discount the power of reflection, or the “don’t just do something, sit there” approach as a starting point for coping effectively in tough times.
The premise here (something that sets them apart from managers) is that leaders are primarily concerned with creativity: changing things with positive intent – within themselves and the systems in which they move. To create something of genuine value, one must be prepared to assess what’s present in these contexts, and then listen. Deeply. The first context is oneself.
Deep listening is a radical act. It requires us to be fully present and honest with ourselves, regarding opinions and beliefs that are fundamental to who we think we are and having done this inventory, to have the courage to challenge these ‘self-evident truths’ at our core. First, we need to begin with big questions: “What’s the point of me, what’s my calling, what do I really care about and why do I care?” Other key questions such as, “what does the company/my family/my culture want?” come later. This can be a scary place to explore because it’s inviting examination of our motivations, beliefs, values and emotions and our stories to date. I call this ‘below the water-line’ coaching.
Once there is an adequate level of awareness about purpose, intent and vision, then one can move with confidence to the solid ground on which one can begin to build and bring the vision to reality. This is above the water-line, and the realm of the tangible strategy, objectives and action plans.
This territory is more familiar and safer for the corporate leader and where they prefer to work. Too much focus here, though, can result in a lack of enquiry, creativity and innovation, the re-hashing of old approaches and the burnout to which the poem refers. I work with plenty of leaders who are “not afraid to get their hands dirty” on dry land, I meet fewer who are “not afraid to get their feet wet”. Leaders ignore the water and its rich sources of insight at their peril.
The effective leader is one who is willing and able to move from above to below the waterline, responding in service, to help a system evolve or move. As we’ve seen, this response begins with self, then extends to systems and relationships they are involved in leading or influencing. When leading others, the mature leader can be centred and self-aware – noticing their internal urges or responses, distinguishing when these are ‘about me and my needs’ and when ‘it’s about what I believe needs to be said/done in service of this person/issue’.
Do we need to seek dry land (clarity and traction) or get wet (explore deeper issues)? A client once described the flow of this state when working with his team as “feeling like I’m fully there and not there at the same time. Really in the moment, calm and responsive to the situation and my team”. Such effective leadership behaviour can, I believe, only be achieved consistently when personal, below-the-waterline, work has been done and is regularly re-visited.
Without courageous, disciplined introspection in turbulent times, leaders risk suffering the fate of Sisyphus in Greek mythology; condemned to an eternal cycle of pushing a boulder uphill and then watching it roll down to the bottom – the ultimate frustration. Below the waterline work can provide leaders with insight that transforms them and their actions. Where “toiling deafly, circling above myself” is replaced by “working with presence and senses alive”.
Tom Young is the first executive and leadership coach in the UAE to attain the Master Certified Coach accreditation from the International Coaching Federation. For more information, visit http://www.springcoaching.biz/ or email [email protected]