Leading with authenticity
This is me four years ago.
I was (just about) on the other side of a huge merger, six councils merging into one. In Local Government this doesn’t happen very often so it was a pretty big deal. To say I was feeling wobbly was an understatement!
After helping to form the new council, (#oneteam ✊) I'd taken a few days away to my spiritual home, the Peak District, to recharge. I remember feeling proud but the old imposter demons were in absolute overdrive and I couldn't shake them.
See, I’d just managed to secure a secondment into a leadership role - Head of Organisational Development which was really exciting (and now I know - career defining!). But I was feeling wiped out from such a huge period of change.
I was in a high profile role, I felt I owed it to everyone to show up with my most positive pants on every day. I was also straight into leading a restructure that I wanted to lead with care and respect.
The reality was, me showing up as the biggest advocate of the changes and relying on selling the changes ahead wasn't going to work.
I needed to lead with authenticity.
The lessons I learned about leading change
If you're in the depths of change right now and feeling a bit overwhelmed, try one or more of these:
👉 Find your safe space for your 'dark side'. It's going to surface at some point, so find some trusted colleagues you can lean on when the going gets tough
👉 Be clear about what's changing but also celebrate and reassure your teams of the things that you want to protect and aren't open to change. It's easy to forget that unless you say it - some people might be fretting about things that aren't even on the radar
👉 When you can, share insight into *how* decisions are being made. Even if your team don't agree with a decision, if they can see some rigour in your decision making you've got a fighting chance
👉 Share the things you're learning. Be open about the things you don’t get right - show people you're human too
If you've been through something similar, what lessons can you share?
