Secure Base Leadership in Action
I don’t know about you, but the amount of information overload is affecting my ability to care.
- Not another LinkedIn article about Leading in Complexity! (my head hurts).
- Not another webinar offering tips and tricks about virtual meetings! (Please stop).
- Not another “funny”video from friends and family (LOL - but not really).
- Not another meme or “guess what he said today at the briefing?” - (ok…stuck for words).
More. More. More. It’s too much. We are overcrowding ourselves with our good intentions to connect.
This poem by David Whyte captures something about this for me.
LOAVES AND FISHES by David Whyte
This is not
the age of information.This is not
the age of information.Forget the news,
and the radio,
and the blurred screen.This is the time of loaves
and fishes.People are hungry,
and one good word is bread
for a thousand.
From: The House of Belonging: poems by David Whyte (Many RiversPress). Copyright © 1996 by David Whyte. All rights reserved.
We care a lot and I fear we might have “care-fatigue”. My mother, who is 81, said to me the other day, “aren’t these video things a bit too draggy?”, referring to our Sunday Family Zoom Calls. This coming from a woman who cares deeply.
Care-fatigue is spilling into the workplace too. At the beginning of this Pandemic we got an A+ for caring connection. There were synch-ups and check-ins and one-on-ones. We got curious about what people were “feeling” and we shared our own inner states. Did I ever see the day coming where talking about feelings was normalized in a professional setting? Nope.
And now it seems we are pivoting. Leaders are looking to the future and wondering about how to run their businesses in a Return-to-Work world. I see leaders pushing ahead with strategy and PowerPoints...and more meetings, more information. The focus is on “What’s Next?”.
It feels a little reactive. Actually, no - a lot reactive. The push is on. I’ve seen referred to as “Panic-Working” – a defense mechanism that gives us the illusion of control and a hope that we can hold on to what we know. It feels like “Playing not to lose”.
“What’s Next?” is a crucial question. We have to move, organize around purpose and build a future. This is the most fundamental promise of leadership - to get us to a better future (the Promised Land). But let’s not forget the loaves and the fishes - the caring connection. The one we built at the beginning of this pandemic. The one I fear that has a half-life that we have already passed. The one that we may soon forget about.
We don’t have to sacrifice connection for strategy, or privilege task over connection. We can have both. We can learn together, build together.
One of the best frameworks for this comes from the IMD Business School and is called Secure Base Leadership (from George Kohlrieser et al). In short, they propose the Caring/Daring Matrix. The message is clear. We need both in order to create the best outcomes. It is not an either/or choice, or forget-one-for-now option.
For those of you who are not so overloaded by content (the irony is not lost on me!), this is a short overview. Click here.
I also have the thought that “Playing to Win” seems a little old-school after this pandemic experience. I’m thinking we should zoom out and widen our focus to all the players and stakeholders impacted by our work so that we create a “Win For All”. Perhaps this will lead to the transformation we crave. Yes - people are hungry.
Be well and Care to Dare.
And, yes Mom - they were getting a bit too draggy and I love you for saying that (How very dare you!). Secure Base Leadership in action.
We’ve limited our Sunday calls now to 30 minutes.