When I’m uncertain about a decision, what do you think my reaction is? I’m paralysed. My brain doesn’t connect with my gut instinct and I can’t make a decision. Not something I recommend, especially while driving in traffic!
That’s right, I connect with my gut instinct or intuition to make most of my decisions. This is the way I’m hardwired.
What about you? What happens when you’re operating in an uncertain business environment, such as the current pandemic? What impact has uncertainty had on your ability to make decisions?
For many people, they disengage and are not able to perform to their highest ability. This certainly has been my reality for the past few months. Not knowing what to do or how to react in a new reality has caused me to disengage from the work I normally love to do.
Yesterday, I started a new Speakers mentoring program called Show-Up Circles led by Winston Liew. It was so inspiring and motivating, here I am, writing again, to share a personal learning I believe everyone can benefit from in these uncertain times.
When we are feeling uncertain, confidence in ourselves can make a huge difference. With confidence in ourselves and our abilities, the uncertainty does not reduce our ability to perform.
This makes me remember how I felt when I moved to Singapore. There were so many uncertainties:
Where would we live?
How would we survive? We didn’t have jobs, I would be relying on my consulting, facilitation, and speaking expertise to earn an income.
How would we develop new business relationships with CEOs and HR Management teams, our main clients?
How would I build my credibility in a new land?
Would we have enough savings to live on for a few years until business came in?
What would we do if we got sick?
What about our 2 sons we were leaving back in Canada?
Would they be ok without us?
What about all the friends and family we’d be leaving behind? A lifetime of memories.
Talk about stepping out of one’s comfort zone. My husband and I had so many fears and uncertainties to face. When I think back on it, it took an incredible amount of courage and confidence to move to the other side of the world, into a brand new, completely different culture. It’s not a wonder most of our friends and family thought we were crazy.
At the time, I decided I wasn’t going to let our fears deter us. I created a plan of action that I was determined would be successful. The first step was to write a book, which I did. It’s called Conscious Culture. On page 38, I write about the courage it takes for leaders to start a journey of cultural transformation.
Courage implies the willingness to try new things and deal with the challenges that will be discovered along the way. Having courage brings with it the energy to learn new things and try out new behaviours. It also gives people the confidence to face their fears.
Having courage and confidence to try new things, we achieved all our dreams and so much more!!! It was an incredible learning experience in how to adapt in different cultures. Here’s what happened. The more we pushed our boundaries, and stretched our comfort zone, the more our self-esteem grew, and the more confidence we had. As well, the more we stretched our comfort zone, the more positive life force energy we experienced which resulted in higher performance and productivity.
Conscious leadership in uncertain times takes confidence. How confident do you feel when leading outside your comfort zone? This is a key question to ask yourself as a leader.
In our Collaborative Connections with Horses program, we offer leaders and their teams an opportunity to build their confidence while working outside their comfort zone. This learning experience enables them to lead more confidently in times of uncertainty.