Doing as we’ve always advocated – navigating through experience
The sudden and unexpected outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has undoubtedly taken us all by surprise and confronted us with immense new challenges. And if you are familiar with the work of MDV you will know that we have always stood for helping leaders and teams navigate and cope with complexity within their environment.
More than ever we stand firm by that approach. Navigating the uncertainties, as everyone is needing to do, has helped us reflectively deepen our appreciation for the tools and methods that we use; tools that help us all as individuals to find a way through such challenging times.
| Applying relevant tools and approaches to current challenges… We hope you hopped on to one or more of our webinar series ‘Virtual learning to meet the complexity before us,’ where we offered the chance to practice and apply some of these tools and approaches. We find ourselves in good company with associates and clients who really value these techniques, which draw on decades of research. Our greatest reward in creating the series was reaching out to our practitioner and client community – and indeed the wider public – making a space for creative connection and support. |
| Facing challenges and staying connected as a team… As a team, we have tried to stay connected during this time, beyond the remit of our work duties. We have shared ‘virtual coffees’ and regularly checked in with one another. We are truly grateful for our community of associates who have taken to time to generously offer their expertise, whether for the Virtual Learning series or elsewhere, such as Kate Oliver’s ‘Techniques for Turbulent Times.’ We have all been affected in different ways and we all cope differently, but sometimes it is the simple reminder that we’re all human and we’re all in this together that helps to strengthen us from within. |
| Certainty is illusional, so how will you emerge as a leader? Whilst this is a concerning time for many, it can also be a time of hope and renewal. It is fair to say that most people will not have faced such challenging times as these, although the fact we all have or will face uncertain times is pretty much the only thing we can be certain of. Those who embrace the unknown and navigate it effectively will emerge as more resilient and agile. The specific capabilities a leader needs to survive and thrive in uncertain times - as well as the underlying mental capacities required to attain these - are outlined in our article ‘Leadership in a VUCA world.’ Certainty is illusory and therefore achieving it cannot be a useful aim. Rather, the focus should be on the journey and on how we navigate it as being the true test of character; this may initially seem vague but drawing on adult (or vertical) development can bring the needed focus to achieve this (for more see our white paper from 2017, ‘What in the world is going on? Mapping Vertical and VUCA beyond the bandwagon’). |
Moving forwards together…
Times are changing at a rate, however, this for us reinforces the need to remain true to our purpose – to support people to grow to meet the complexity before them – as we continue to consult the literature and apply theory in practice to develop the capabilities set out in the adult development model. These have been key for successful leadership and are even more relevant now. We have provided links below to content and tools that have previously helped clients during times of uncertainty, some of which are also in the webinars which you can watch via the link provided.
We hope you find these useful and above all we hope you find strength and encouragement over the coming weeks as we navigate our way out of this crisis together.
Access some of our free available resources:
- Watch or download our webinar series ‘Virtual learning to meet the complexity before us’ and access associated resources.
- ‘A leader’s guide for navigating the coronavirus fallout’.
- ‘Making sense of complexity and chaos’: Interview with Wanda Wallace.
- ‘Leadership assessment for uncertain times’: Looking beyond styles, traits and intellectual capabilities.
- ‘Uncertainty, What Uncertainty?’.
- Find out more about the VUCA capabilities in relation to the Cynefin framework developed by Dave Snowden.
- You can delve into greater detail about these capabilities and many other topics related to dealing with uncertainty within our aforementioned white papers.
- And lastly, here is a brief video of Mike Vessey discussing these capabilities, which are essential for leaders to effectively navigate an uncertain future.