In times of crisis such as we are currently experiencing, your role as leader is even more important as you bring hope to your people. Whilst we must first acknowledge the terrible consequences for people’s lives, families and businesses during what we are going through, we must also be the ones to guide and lead people forward to the future and the opportunities that are waiting there for us to take.

Your mindset may become your biggest limiting factor or the greatest enabler to propel you and your business forward.

We are seeing incredible acts of bravery and courage, selfless dedication to duty of our carers and NHS workers. We are also seeing the leaders of our business world who are already seizing opportunities and making the best of the new normal that is coming.

This short You Tube of futurist Mike Walsh talks of the possibilities of the coming transformation:

So, when you reflect on your own view of the current crisis, I wonder which of the following statements seems most true to you.

• Covid 19 is the greatest disaster ever to hit us
• Covid 19 is a Chinese / USA hoax or scam
• Covid 19 represents Danger + Opportunity
• Covid 19 is a conspiracy
• Covid 19 is the best thing to ever happen to our planet
• Covid 19 is the greatest challenge to our leadership
• Covid 19 is the greatest chance we ever had to connect more deeply with our family
• Covid 19 is the beginning of the next renaissance / transformation

More importantly if someone had followed you around for the last month and recorded everything you say about it; what would they have heard most frequently?

What would you prefer from now onwards?

What I am getting at here is how your mindset may influence your thinking and that of those around you who take their lead from you in so many ways. They notice what you say now more than ever before as they look to their leader for guidance, reassurance and inspiration. In fact, right now your people are more receptive to all your messaging than they have ever been before. You must be aware that they are now even more influenced by your behaviour and have great sensitivity to any inauthentic, insincere communication. 

Your body language gives away the true meaning of your messages.

Now is the time to work on your skills as a communicator, to make sure all your messaging is coherent and on point and that you are being honest and yet also positive about how you are responding to the new normal that is emerging.

When you move towards communicating the great transformation that is underway, you open your mind and theirs to the possibilities of growth and change. 

When you fully engage and share ideas with your people, they will unreservedly engage their hearts and minds to finding new ways to collaborate, innovate and thrive in the post Covid 19 era.

Whilst others stay locked in the old paradigm of trying to get back to where we were, you may lift your sights higher and become an emerging leader in your newly defined field of opportunity.

So now is the time to empathise with suffering, admire those that serve us all and to reset our mindset on the goal of becoming part of the transformation and lead our businesses into the emerging future with confidence.