I was invited to speak to business leaders recently and was asked to share a leadership thought. I had shared on leadership many times before. As a pastor, I am always calling people up to lead in our church. I am serving leaders in our community and caring for people who carry responsibility within our church.
But this season felt different. What could I share with these business leaders that would help them? When I prepare to speak to a group of people, I first seek to know my audience. This group is living in uncertain times. We have just come out of a riveting year, 2020 where the pandemic, politics, and racism have shaken our world. No one knows when Covid cases will decline. House prices soar as does the stock market, but people watch in fear with a picture of another 2006 crash soon on the horizon.
Nothing that we once believed in business seems believable. What used to work may no longer work. We live in a world that has been catapulted forward into a new digital and global age leaving the working man not sure how to navigate in this new normal. Where does he invest? Where should he focus?
Suddenly, subjects like vision seemed unhelpful. Strategy, though important did not seem inspiring. All of the aspects of leadership that I would normally teach felt as if they would fall upon deaf ears. These business leaders needed to be encouraged. They needed to be fortified. What would be the one quality that would help them stand back up and lead through this unknown chapter?
Before I reveal what I shared, I think it is logical to first define what makes a leader. When we think of leaders, we usually start with qualities like vision. We move next to their ability to communicate and to inspire. We think of their authenticity so that we can relate to them. People love caring leaders and sacrificial leaders. We could make a long list of qualities that people love in a leader.
However…
the definition of a leader is simply that others are following
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It is not a quality, it is an outcome. There are a lot of people that cast great visions. Other leaders are inspiring when they speak. Others show brilliance in developing systems and strategies. But, my question still remained, what is the one quality that leaders possess that others will follow? When the going gets rough and the way forward is unclear, what do leaders need that will move people forward?
Certainty
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People follow leaders who lead with certainty. Right or wrong, people eventually move in the direction of the leaders who move with a strong belief. They follow commitment.
We can lead in uncertain times.
You may not think of yourself as a leader, but people are following you.
On social media, they are following.
At home, they are listening.
At work, they are watching.
You may lead many at work or just a few who care about you. Don't diminish your leadership because of what you can't do well. You may not be a visionary. You may struggle to build systems. You may not be a public speaker. But, you can lead with certainty.
I define certainty like this:
Hopeful potential for an intended outcome
Leading with certainty is not making guarantees that it will go well. It is saying that you are committed to getting there, no matter what it takes. Leaders see the potential and live with hope.
There are three dynamics that happen in others when you lead with certainty:
1. Your Certainty Creates Certainty
Confidence breeds confidence. When you say it will happen, your team will believe it will happen as well. Really? You know otherwise...
You must understand that people need time to process. They will not be easily convinced. I have learned that people need to hear my vision and plan at least seven times in seven different ways before they feel certain.
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I call this the process of seven:
1. Resistance - most people are late adopters, not early adopters. Don't give up when you bump up against their no's.
2. Doubt - they are critical and doubtful that you will ever achieve the dream. Push past the noise and share it again.
3. Apathy - your team will trudge along because you are asking, but they are still unwilling. Pull them behind you and lead forward.
4. Curiosity - this is where they begin to turn. They still don't believe you, but they have not left you. They want to stay to see what happens next.
5. Testing – They are willing to try. They will participate in order to experiment.
6. Acceptance - your insistence has led to their acceptance. You have proved your plan is working gradually. Keep challenging them to stay committed.
7. Buy-in - now that they have experienced growth, they have become believers. They will market your message and multiplication will begin.
Your certainty will take inviting and explaining seven times to help people process from skeptics to sellers. Be patient but stay persistent as you lead.
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2. Your Certainty Creates Space
When you cast your vision to people, you create a gap that their minds must fill. They are trying to figure out how that vision could be realized?
What now?
What if?
Understand that most people hear your bigger dream and ask what now? They begin picking apart the ten reasons why the vision will not work. Your team will complain that you are adding more work to their already full plate.
What you need are what if? people on your team. What if? people don't complain, they create. They hear your vision and create their vision within the vision.
What if? people begin to dream:
- What if we created a fresh strategy?
- What if we invited some new talent to our team?
- What if we raised more capital so we could add resources?
- What if we stopped doing current tasks so we could embrace new tasks?
Your certainty in pursuing a hopeful potential will create space for your team. Be patient with your what now? people, but embrace your what if? people. Your what if? people will fill your space with new possibilities.
3. Your Certainty Creates Motion
Leaders do not have to have the best idea. They do not have to be the most creative. They do not need to be the smartest person in the room.
Leaders just have to go first
Your action causes others to take action. They follow movement, not messages.
The challenge with motion is that you will cause commotion. Change creates chaos.
Let it be chaotic. In the beginning, let it be broken and imperfect. While others are slowly dying by paralysis through analysis, you are moving forward. There will be time later to bring clarity, to organize lanes, and systemize a plan. But, at least you are moving forward, leaving a dusty trail that others can follow.
Conclusion:
The one quality that people will follow in uncertain times is certainty. Your certainty creates certainty. It creates space for others to fill. And, it creates motion that catalyzes action in others to move with you.
Lead with certainty
You may not know if it will work, but you are committed to making it work.
You may not know how it will work, but you will find a way to make it work.
Your certainty with your consistency will allow others to follow
