I’m not sure about you, but I’m exhausted and elated. Â Over two years of campaigning, fundraising, commercials, robo-calls, debates, discussions, predictions and outright hatred have come to a close… or have they? Â Regardless of how you voted, most agree that the real work lies ahead.
So as leaders, what lessons can we take away from the election? Â Here are five to consider:
- Your People Are Your Most Important Asset: I know, not original, but we need to translate these pedantic words into action. Â The largest grass-roots effort in history has just occurred, so start to embrace social media, localized empowerment, personalized brand extension, and other means of making your employees truly believe they are not only part of, but truly are your future success.
- Authenticity Matters: Be who you truly are and not what you think people want you to be. Â I heard a lot of talk after McCain’s concession speech regarding “the real John McCain”. Â Whether you agree or not, your employees have a keen instinct for authenticity and will disregard leaders who pretend to be something they are not.
- Break Through Conventional Wisdom: Stop falling back on the crutches of those formulas which have worked in the past by embracing innovation and rewarding thoughtful risk. Â ”That won’t work here” is a simple barrier that must be broken, but your employees must feel that they are in a safe environment in order to unleash their inner-creativity and begin to instantiate change.
- Smile and Have a Sense of Humor: In general, businesses are waaaaay too stuffy and need to lighten up a bit. Â And if you’re afraid of offending employees and thereby causing yourself irreparable legal damage, you’re being short sighted. Â The safest person to make fun of is yourself and the best situations to laugh at are your own (see my post on that here). Â SNL’s unbelievable ratings showed that people respond to laughter over fear, so give it a chance.
- Inspire Hope: For most of us, this is likely the most difficult attribute to replicate. Â But remember that hope is more than a charismatic personality and a stirring speech. Â Hope is the belief that something better is over the horizon and that attaining your goals is well within your grasp. Â When was the last time that you turned to your employees and inspired them? Â I’m certain it’s been a long time coming.
Have a wonderful day everyone, get some rest, and let’s keep the conversation going.
4 Comments
good wrap up, mark. i think #5 is so important – inspiring hope. when there’s so much talk about the need to innovate and how to cultivate innovation within US businesses and young adults… the ability for a leader to get their staff to be creative and ultimately, be innovative, i think, that starts with the ability to inspire hope.
@Jessica Lee – Thanks Jessica, and I couldn’t agree more. Your point on young adults is especially spot on!
Hopelessness is the very essence of employees giving up on achieving personal wellness. Whether it is a lack of hope to change a 25-year cycle of weight gain or despair over an unshakable addiction to nicotene, these overwhelmingly frustrating predicaments undermine corporate wellness programs that simply educate employees about what to do. A really good HR exec understands that behavioral change that will improve the bottom line will only occur if the hopeless in the workforce are motivated and inspired to break through the seemingly unbreakable barriers of behavioral change.
@Rick Lee – Sage advice here Rick. I think most execs underestimate the destructive power of frustration and negatively and the sheer power of the motivations you describe. Thanks for the comments!