Like many of you, my home and work lives are now completely conflated. This pause imposed by COVID-19 has proven one can indeed run a company, a multi-level grade school, cook, clean, and work out in the same space and on a non-stop basis. Certainly, there have been moments of near insanity, but I also find myself becoming more grounded in my faith and my health. As a leader, these are the times when our resolve becomes most critical. In my case, my team and my family are taking their cues from me, so It is important that I do what is necessary to give them what they need to survive and thrive.
Holding Up Your Arms
You might be thinking, “I’m in the middle of a GLOBAL pandemic! I am barely keeping it together myself.” Believe me, I get it. Yet, your charge or burden as a leader, doesn’t change with challenge. In fact, I believe getting through the tough times is what makes us and our teams better. In the bible, Moses demonstrated the importance of a leader’s countenance in relationship to the victory of his team. For Joshua, Moses holding up his arms empowered him to believe in his ability and see the victory through.
11 As long as Moses held up his arms, the Israelites won, but when he put his arms down, the Amalekites started winning. 12 When Moses' arms grew tired, Aaron and Hur brought a stone for him to sit on, while they stood beside him and held up his arms, holding them steady until the sun went down. 13 In this way Joshua totally defeated the Amalekites. 14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write an account of this victory, so that it will be remembered.
-Exodus 17 GNT
Yet for Moses, Aaron’s role was most critical. Leaders are human, we can grow weary in spiritual and physical strength; however, if we can acknowledge this appropriately and accept support, we can still win. The key is to remain committed to the battle and to leverage the collective strength of your team. Whether your team is at home or working remotely, your job as the leader is to develop a resolve that expresses we are in this and will get through this together.
We have been home for about three weeks now, and one of my first objectives was revisiting our strategic focus to navigate this critical period. None of us saw this coming, but it’s here. “What is most important right now?” seemed to change in the blink of an eye. As tragic and unfortunate as these circumstances are, taking my team through the exercise of deciding what we would be focused on to both survive and thrive through this period created an opportunity to engage and invest them in our collective strength all over again.
A New Mission
Flight’s leadership in Apollo 13 is my favorite example of leading through challenging times and circumstances. “Flight”, Ed Harris, brings the team together to ground them in a new mission. This is leadership at its finest, and since it is based on a true story, it strengthens my resolve all the more. Granted, I am not dealing with anything as delicate or complicated, but that just makes his example all the more powerful.
As the leader, Flight makes three things clear:
We have to give up what we had in mind, “Okay people, listen up! I want you all to forget the flight plan…”. I can only imagine the heartbreak and disappointment they all felt around the failure of the mission. There were endless hours of preparation, training, sacrifices, and resources devoted and tied to the success of this mission. That said, it was important for him to name that it was now over to prepare his team to shift.
We have a new focus, “From this moment on we are improvising a new mission.” He is clear and direct and in response, his team gets on board immediately. I love that he doesn’t tell them how, instead he asks them, “How do we get our people home?” It told them hey we are about to go up against what could be considered an impossible thing, but I believe the people on my team are capable of overcoming and getting it done. He is expressing his resolve and his faith in a positive outcome.
We are going to accomplish this together. Right away his team engages. They offer solutions and they challenge and push one another, and the leader facilitates healthy problem-solving. He does it in a way that respects their input and leverages it to provide clear direction and focus on the path forward.
Your Finest Hour
This scene is near the end of the movie. The astronauts and the team back at home have worked through a number of incredible obstacles. As they prepare to finalize their new mission and bring them back into the earth’s atmosphere, someone is there to remind them of the limitations and the things that could go wrong. Are they real? They always are. Do they shake the leader? They can’t.
As they listed all of the things that could make this the worst disaster NASA had ever seen, Flight responds confidently, “With all due respect sir, I believe this will be our finest hour.”
As leaders, we have a choice, and I often remind those I coach and mentor, “You can’t be pitiful and powerful at the same time.” It’s that simple. Think about it, if you were those astronauts, what would you want from the person taking command on the ground? If you were a patient with a surgeon operating on your body, which mindset would you want the doctors to have? What kind of leadership do you want from the person flying your plane? I don’t know about you, but I want Flight. I want the leader who has his face set like flint to bring me home. It’s time to boss up like never before.
Is it hard? Hell yeah. Is it scary? For sure. Do you have faith? Then stand in it. You can’t serve two masters. Let these moments teach you and bring out the best in your leadership and in the synergy of your team. Whatever your plight. Determine in your heart that “Failure is not an option”, and then think and operate from a position of power.
According to your faith, be it unto you.
-Matthew 9:29
Keeping it real, true, and free,
Garland Darling
