Leadership in Unprecedented Times

What kind of qualities can we expect from Edgewalkers who are exceptional leaders in unprecedented times? The picture I have chosen to reflect such a leader is one that I took in July 2014 of the lighthouse at Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia.

September 2, 1998 saw the crash of Swissair 111 just off the coast, and Peggy’s Cove was transformed into a massive search and rescue, and recovery operation centre. In the month that followed the crash, it is estimated that approximately 250-500 people worked in the operation centre, which was led by The Canadian Red Cross, government, and members of the small, quiet coastal community. Although there were obvious organizational leaders whose job it was to run the centre, every person involved was living in and through an unprecedented time.

I ask you – who among them was a leader? Who among them was dependent upon each other? They all rallied together towards a common goal – to help as best as they could during this tragedy. I wonder what kind of qualities they demonstrated in those days and weeks?

I had the pleasure of meeting with a group of Edgewalkers from my larger corporation last month. The virtual room was full of culture champions, each one seeking to support positive engagement and leadership at all levels, and intent on coming together to share promising practices during these unprecedented times of COVID-19.

I will admit that I was skeptical of the people who would show up there. My experience of such groups is that they often consist of senior leaders who are disengaged from the process, and other designates who are assigned to fill the role. However, I was thrilled to find that this group consisted of leaders from all levels of the organization. Not only that, but they were there because they wanted to be, and were passionate about building and supporting positive corporate culture even to the point of trying anything even to the point of failing.

They were Edgewalkers, alright. And they were the best kind – they were unbridled, set free by senior leaders into the corporate gobbly-gook to run and frolic in new ways, with the instruction to report back on any life out there. In Gordon McKenzie’s words, they were orbiting the giant hairball and instigating positive change. If the senior leaders were not present on this day, their approval certainly was.

… they were unbridled, set free by senior leaders into the corporate gobbly-gook to run and frolic in new ways, with the instruction to report back on any life out there. …they were orbiting the giant hairball and instigating positive change.

Before the session even began, someone started posting riddles into the chat. Others immediately began trying to guess the riddles. One “chat-er” exclaimed: “We start all of our team huddles with mindbenders of some sort. Riddles, puzzles, trivia, anything to get people talking.” Others started sharing how they have team competitions in virtual settings. I was being sucked down a vortex of engagement and loved every minute of it!

On this particular day, several senior leaders had been asked to participate in a virtual armchair discussion (remember, we are in a virtual COVID-19 Response world right now – otherwise this would have surely been an in-person, mingly, shoulder-rubby kind of an event. We may have even gotten cookies). The questions placed before these leaders were a strategic hodgepodge that squished out their ideas about what they are doing, or would like to do, to increase connection and engagement in their organizations.

As they were sharing their ideas in a very casual conversation, the “chat” was lighting up with comments and suggestions from those listening. We were all friends here, comrades fighting against the stresses and anxieties brought on by almost one year of isolation in the workplace or working from home.

The solutions that the senior leaders brought forward were somewhat predictable:

• Lots of communication;
• Be present in virtual settings and encourage the same in others;
• Be flexible, supportive, empathetic, and patient;
• Support innovation and creativity – try new things, solicit new ideas; and,
• Be authentic; be human.

The chat lit up again. Participants started sharing how they celebrated the holidays with co-workers. One “chat-er” told of a group of people entering a virtual room to watch Christmas cartoons together on their lunch breaks. Virtual games of all sorts, challenges, light-hearted conversations and check-ins seemed to be a normal anecdote to help people feel a little less alone and isolated as they spent their days in makeshift workstations in dining rooms, basements, and laundry rooms.

As I was participating in this beautiful carnage, it suddenly struck me. The anecdotes we were sharing with each other were not earth-shattering new ideas. Yet these leaders from all levels of the corporation were reporting to each other the success that they were experiencing, coping with higher levels of stress and anxiety, and collectively succeeding. The secret ingredient that we all had in common was practice. We had already been practicing these things long before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in early 2020.

Taking a closer look at some of these key qualities, I can testify to how leadership practice shows up when times get tough.

Communication

Since the global new normal began to roll out, I have experienced an increase in communication within my corporation. Within my little “subsection” of approximately 250 employees, communicators at all levels are connecting more with partners, stakeholders and clients. Those who work internally and serve “the system” are connecting more with teams and co-workers. Communication is slightly different, with more intention around checking-in with each other. Most people, even dedicated introverts, are more welcoming of personal conversations and checking on each other’s wellness.

Increased communication does not necessarily come naturally, especially in times of crisis. Edgewalkers and leaders in my organization had a plan and committed to executing it daily. In the span of the past year, they have continued their commitment to increase and optimize communication. Although there may be a temptation to focus more on connecting with partners, stakeholders, and clients, the senior leaders have focused on promoting and practicing increased internal communication to reassure employees they are still integral to the organization’s success. Without this internal connection, personal wellness of individual employees could be at higher risk. A healthy organization will see a collective increase in communication across the board. This is the case in my organization.

Visibility

Organizations report increased “screen-time,” and on-line meetings are leading to screen fatigue. In my own organization, we have increased our use of virtual meeting spaces since Public Health officials announced work-from-home initiatives. There are scientific explanations to the fatigue that people are experiencing, which we will not get into right now.

Throughout the past year, I have marvelled at how leaders at all levels are stepping up to take control during virtual meetings, inviting senior leaders to attend, providing updates, and engaging in discussions. They are present, making themselves visible like the orchestra conductor, parade master, or ship’s captain. They are a beacon for others, providing direction and a sense of hope.

Creativity

There is nothing like a crisis of pandemic proportion to break us out of our comfort zones. It is as though the entire earth shook, and everything had to change. Patterns that we thought worked for years had to be disrupted in order to keep relative forward mobility. The result was unblazed trails across the landscape, like rivulets that had been shaken from the riverbed, forced to forge a new path.

When I imagine what it takes to break out of old ways of doing things, I am reminded of El Ancon at La Ventolera, Bolivia, along the highway between Tarija and Bermejo. Over thousands of years, the canyon has been cut because the water has always taken the same path. The movement of the water was predictable, and the environment supported that movement. People have come to depend on the river for their source of water. They walk to the river each day. But what happens if that source is no longer there, or changes so substantially that the old way of doing things just will not work anymore?

They show others the way, and are not afraid to forge ahead to blaze the new trails to success.

I have observed Edgewalkers at all levels stepping out, assessing the edges of the new normal, and finding creative ways to respond that will continue to sustain themselves, those around them, and the new environment in which they find themselves. They are innovators in every sense of the term. They are creating something from nothing, based upon trial and error, and educated guesses. They show others the way, and are not afraid to forge ahead to blaze the new trails to success.

Compassion

I have always looked for authenticity in my leaders. When I find a leader who is authentic, you will hear me say, “This is a leader I will follow into battle”. I was once part of a large organization that was experiencing significant downsizing. Thousands of employees who were passionate about serving their customers were losing their jobs. Lives were being impacted. I had the opportunity to be part of a facilitation team for a small regional gathering of employees. Part of this event was an “armchair discussion” in which one particular senior leader from the head office chose to participate with other regional leaders. During the “open mic,” an employee asked this senior leader, “What keeps you up at night?” The room, full of hundreds of his employees, became eerily quiet. All eyes and ears were on this leader. We could hear his breath through the wireless lapel mic. He was having an emotional, transparent, heart-shattering moment. Finally, through tears, he responded, “Knowing how you are all being affected by this downsizing and not being able to do anything about it”.

If there has ever been a time in our recent history to be more human, compassionate, empathetic, patient, kind, and flexible, now is the time. This leader demonstrated authenticity and compassion. But he could have kept going to instil hope in his people.

So, here is where I will continue this leader’s response for him.

Yes, we saw what was happening to those in our care. And, yes, we knew the grotesque details of the reduction plan before the announcements were made. We were tasked with preparing a support mechanism for middle managers who were required to have difficult conversations with members of their teams. We were all affected, some more directly than others. But, we were not victims.

As the coordinator of the support system for managers in my province, I gathered the team to decide what the mechanism would look like, knowing full well that even those around the planning table would be taken from us by the preverbal swing of the corporate knife. It was here that I began using the term Edgewalker.

We were unbridled, set free into the gobbly-gook of the corporate mess and come up with a plan we could follow and share with others. We were taking a stand against corporate policies that were incapable of being compassionate, and placing humanity into the process. The humanity looked like us – middle managers who were hurting for those who had been entrusted into our care.

We chose to define the change instead of letting the change define us. We chose to embody hope, courage, compassion, creativity, flexibility, and all the other qualities that people read about in those leadership books. But, we were not doing it because we read about it; we were doing it because it was who we were at our very core.

We chose to define the change instead of letting the change define us.

Did we stop the machine from rocking the worlds of thousands of employees? Did we stop the earth from quaking so the river we counted on for generations would not be shaken from its riverbed? No, we could not stop the change from happening.

But, we forged ahead. And we blazed a new trail for those who needed to follow. We created a space for their potential to emerge, and new possibilities to be realized. We were leaders in an unprecedented time. We were leaders that people could follow into battle. We were Edgewalkers.

Donovan Mutschler, MA

For more information on the content or processes included in this article contact Donovan Mutschler at donovan@edgewalkers.ca.