I was struck with this notion on leading others this week during a series of week long meetings I was participating in. It had to do with the role of leaders in stewarding the 'story' of the organization's contributions. In the day to day work of a team, often the shifts, impact, and improvements can seem to be overlooked, or even ignored. Being so caught up in the work on the interface of projects and tasks, teams can begin to become victims, or view their work through a deficit lens - that is in comparing themselves to other teams or previous projects and experiences. Often, undervaluing the subtle shifts, ripples of improvement, and larger impact to the organization perhaps beyond the immediate focal point team members are paying attention to.
Leaders (at any level) can and should be stewards of the larger conversation to help team members connect with and realign with the strategy, purpose, and mission they are working toward. I thought of both my current manager, and the previous President I was working for. Both are exemplars of the necessity to remind and reengage the individual/team/workforce/organization of where they have come and where they are going. I thought of my previous President who both reminded his executives and this workforce continually, that despite the current challenges of the economy and market, the organization had taken great strides in project execution and organizational effectiveness. Yes, others may be ahead of us in certain areas and to not lose sight of the journey of continuous improvement, but to remind ourselves that externally the work we were conducting was highly valued.
In the global team meeting this week, my Manager time and time again played a pivotal role in re-aligning the team in circular discussion on strategy and resources (perceived lack of) on how we we meeting and addressing expectations and demands already. Her contributions were extremely valuable to a team, demanding excellence, in not beating themselves up too badly. After a while I realized what she was doing. She was translating the obvious (things we were ignoring and undervaluing) and helping us connect with our own story, collectively. To notice all the contributions and impact we are having as a team. She helped us in connecting the dots.
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