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Challenging leadership

barbara bates • Mar 23, 2020
Sooner or later, especially if you are any sort of manager or leader, formally or informally, you're going to come up against a challenge, large or small, that demands a response of you, and you have to be really clear about this. Not everyone will like it, whatever you do, so it can be uncomfortable at best.
 
Maybe you have found something wrong, or that just feels not quite right, in the actions of your organisation or even of individual colleagues. Or you've got to call out the unacceptable behaviour of someone in your team. You will get to a point where if you fail to act in accordance with your values, you have this feeling of letting yourself down.
 
So how best to do this and still come up smelling of roses? The ILM suggests that to honour your value of Authenticity, you could consider the following, 
  • Be as ready to challenge yourself as you are to challenge others. After all, it might be you!!
  • Be really clear on your facts and get the best information you can before acting, and then be decisive
  • Try to see how the situation might feel for others, whom you may suspect of acting wrongly
  • Think how you can anticipate and manage potential risks and benefits
Sometimes we just have to act brave, even if we don't feel it. (I'm sure there is a Winnie the Pooh meme in here somewhere!)

As I write this, in the early days of the Covid 19 pandemic, I'm thinking how this may feel for our leaders. Politics has gone by the board and we need courageous leadership more than ever. I'm really thankful for how everyone is pulling together to get through this. 
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