What is your mindset about working virtually? Do you have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset? (Carole Dweck)
If you have a growth mindset, you are more likely to see working and leading virtually as an opportunity for learning and growth and continuous improvement. A space to try out new ways of doing things that might actually be better than how you used to do them. A time for reflection about the old habits that are no longer serving you or your people.
If you have a fixed mindset, you are more likely to experience this time as something to be got through until we revert to “normal”?
When the world wasn’t so ‘virtual’
But was the “old normal” good enough? Think back to nearly a year ago. Were you satisfied with the way you led your people back then? Were there no bugbears or hitches? No “I wish I could figure out how tos….”?
I’m betting that there were. And this pandemic has forced us into reviewing what went before in all sorts of areas of our lives. It’s the kind of disruption that cannot be ignored. Our leadership of self, others, our organisations and societies, should be one of those areas that we scrutinise for continuous improvement. Clearing away the dead wood, making room for new shoots to emerge.
What new shoots do you see emerging from this? What shoots do you want to encourage to grow? How will you use this as a transformative experience rather than something to be endured until we can all go back to what we had before?
Be the hero
You could be the hero in this story, rather than the victim. You can make things better, despite the obstacles – or maybe because of the obstacles. Think about any great film plot – the hero of the story has a goal and finds ways around or over or through the multitude of hurdles to get to that goal, and in the process of doing so, emerges a different person.
That could be you. If you see yourself as the hero who has agency to achieve what he/she wants. Yes, there are difficulties, the likes of which we may never have encountered before. But figuring out how to overcome those difficulties is what makes for a fulfilling story and a new you.
Maybe you don’t want to be a new you. In which case, stop reading now. Your fixed mindset does what it takes to pass exams and get good grades, does enough to get a good performance rating perhaps. And will gladly go back to the way things were. Ok. That’s your choice. So stop here.
But if you see opportunities to learn and grow and continuously improve your leadership – virtually or otherwise – stay with this series as we explore the challenges and the obstacles that you, the hero in this story, will need to grapple with, in order to come out the other more resourced and more resourcing of others.
