• Our comfort zone – jobs we know well, things we’ve done before, relationships which are easy and well established;
• Our stretch zone – this is where the learning happens, we are learning new things, stretching and challenging ourselves a bit, making new connections, achieving new things;
• And then there’s the panic zone - this is where we are in fight or flight mode, it’s all quite overwhelming, and our performance starts to dip as we are stressed. Right now everyone is probably oscillating between stretch and panic. And that is not sustainable.

Do what you can to find space to sit in your comfort zone every day. Even if it’s checking in with a trusted colleague for a chat, or ticking off something straightforward on your list. Step out of the panic zone when you can. See point 3 for one way of doing this.

2. Everyone is dealing with this change at a different pace.

You’ll have heard of the change curve – the journey we all go on when there is change in our home or work. It’s often talked about when departments go through restructures or when we may experience bereavement. Right now, we are going through change on a very grand scale and the change is happening very quickly. Every day there are new guidelines, guidelines which often it is us who stayed up through the night to write!

Everyone goes through change at a different rate, and crucially not in a linear fashion. You may feel you’ve assimilated the new way of being quite well, and then another set of guidelines comes up and suddenly you feel angry or depressed again. This is normal. And everyone is going through it. Be kind to those who finding today difficult. Don’t expect everyone in your team to get with the programme straight away. For team members who are struggling – buddy them up with someone they can talk to. Signpost to other support available (employee assistance programme?).

3. Focus on what you can influence or control.

Stephen Covey, in ‘7 habits of highly effective people’ talks about the circles of influence. He talks of three concentric circles:

1. The smallest is our circle of control – the stuff in there we can do something about.
2. Slightly bigger and around the first circle is our circle of influence – things go in there which are not directly within our control but certainly something we could influence if we worked out how.
3. The final circle represents that which we can as individuals neither directly control nor influence, like a global pandemic for example. It’s called the circle of concern. The more time we spend in that circle of concern, thinking about things which we cannot control or influence the more stressful it is, and the less agency we feel we have.

However, the good news is that the more time we spend on what we can influence or control the more resourceful we feel. And, crucially, the more our circle of influence expands. (Fraud angle – focus on tightening up processes in YOUR area, don’t worry about what other teams are doing over there. Be in your sphere of influence by making sure everyone in your team are aware of what to look out for to mitigate fraud, etc.)

4. Find moments for wellbeing amid the high performance.

Some definitions of resilience talk about it being a balance between high performance and wellbeing. However, if we think about elite athletes, they have moments of very high performance and long stretches where they are focusing on wellbeing. That focus on wellbeing gives them the resources to be able to perform when they need to. You cannot consistently expect high performance from yourself without putting something back into your tank.

What can you do each day to focus on your wellbeing? Whether it’s a chat with a friend over Zoom, a nice food delivery, cuddles with your kids, a yoga workout, don’t expect you can run on empty.

5. Boundaries.

Just because now we are all connected via Zoom, Teams, Skype, WhatsApp, Slack etc., etc., doesn’t mean we should be 24/7. Create boundaries for you that work for you. Talk to your team about who is able to cover what and when, and when it’s not your turn, put your work phone away, shut your laptop and do something else. No one has their most creative ideas staring at a blank Word document. You’ll feel better and be more creative for getting away from your inbox. And creativity is what we all need right now!

What could you to do get out of your circle of concern and into your circle of influence, so you can have impact in the world? (Interestingly, spending time in our circle of concern is very likely to tip us into our panic zone.) What boundaries can you put in place to safeguard your wellbeing? What conversations do you need to have to check in on those you work with?

Stay safe and well and be the change you want to see.
Jen

You can follow Jen on Linkedin (Jennifer McCanna PCC), Twitter @jenthecoach and on Facebook at McCanna Coaching. Visit Jen's website for more information and useful articles: https://mccannacoaching.co.uk/

We all lead such “Helter-Skelter” lifestyles sometimes you just feel that life is passing you by at an alarming rate and you never have time to just stop and reflect on what’s actually going on! Today I was temporarily brought to halt after being asked to chat to British Council’s European Diversity Team at their annual meet-up in Belfast about my leadership journey and what I considered are the traits of “Inclusive Leadership”.

When preparing for my session, and as a recent Clore Social Fellow, my first port of call was to re-look at what underpins the whole Fellowship, their Leadership Development Framework and Social Leaders’ Capabilities Framework. In principle I agree that these are all critical to being an effective leader, but what other traits are needed to be an inclusive leader?

I believe that there are eight key traits, some that overlap with Clore Social, so here are mine;

1. Awareness: Being aware of what is going on around you is essential. But being aware of the people around you is more important. How can you lead if you are not in tune with your colleagues, partners and appreciating the diversity of thinking as well as life?
2. Curiosity: Michael Dell stated that curiosity is the most important trait of inclusive leaders, and a few years ago I read a book by Alan Greenspan the former Head of the US Treasury who set aside one hour every day to read. I’ve tried to follow his lead by setting aside time early in the morning or at night to read, monitor websites and trawl Twitter – yes, my email inbox is overloaded with links to fascinating articles on literally everything, you never know where that next big idea can and will come from.
3. Passion: All I have to say here is – if you’re not passionate about what you do, why do it. I’ve sat on numerous panels and listened to pitches when the presenter is just going through the motions and you just want to scream in a Jerry Maguire voice “PLEASE SHOW ME THE PASSION!” Recently I had the honor of being on the selection panel to interview the next wave of Ashoka Fellows for the UK and Ireland. One of the interviewees was an outstanding guy called Mark Swift with an unbelievable back-story who runs his own social enterprise called Wellbeing Enterprises CIC – truly inspirational and oozing passion!
4. Courage: Without courage, you won’t be able to move forward. It’s not all about being able to take a risk, it’s also about having the courage to defend your colleagues, defending your values admitting when you’re wrong.
5. Collaboration: Here I mean true collaboration and not “glorified cooperation” when organisations pay lip service to each other just to download information and use it for their own means. Trust me over many years of observing our esteemed third sector, and from painful personal experience, I’ve fallen for the “lets collaborate” routine only to find out a few days later that they’ve set up meetings with your partners; what I term death by a thousand cuts culture. Coming from a private sector background you know who your competitors are and you’re always on guard, in the third sector it’s more difficult to work out who your competitors are. A sad reflection on the third sector and if we want to create a truly collaborative environment we need a mix of transparency, trust and inclusive leadership.
6. Values: Don’t think I have to say much more here, to me these are most important traits to becoming an inclusive leader: honesty, trust and a militant transparency. Enough said.
7. Perseverance/Commitment (Never Quit): If values are the most important trait of a highly inclusive leader then perseverance comes a close second. Highly inclusive leaders are fully committed to diversity and inclusion because they align their values to their objectives and persevere no matter what. But like values, perseverance comes from the core - as a boy from the country and a family steeped in traditional farming values, the foundation blocks to everything I do are honesty and integrity, passed down by my parents and grandparents, and with that a determination to not quit come what may. In the world that many of us live in working in social enterprise and social innovation, quitting is not option. As Douglas McArthur once said, “Age wrinkles the body, quitting wrinkles the soul.”
8. Authenticity: Along the same lines as passion, if you can’t be yourself and come across as authentic, other people will see through you.
   

So, thank-you British Council for allowing me to reflect on inclusive leadership and tell my story. On a final action point, never stop learning and set aside that one hour a day to take a breath, find new interesting articles to read and as Clore Social taught me, know yourself, be yourself and look after yourself.