In times of uncertainty, remember the three C's: Conviction, Character and Community

Well – here we are! Staring down the end of 2020 – thank goodness. Finally into the 4th quarter of a year that’s been – well, a year!

One that we’ll all remember for so many reasons: some positive and some devastating. In the United States, we’re headed into an election and none of us know the outcome. Business and economic forecasts change daily. Some companies are bringing people back, others are asking employees to pack up their desks because working from home will continue indefinitely. And some are making the challenging decisions that come with significant reductions of team members.

In the midst of this uncertainty, here are three things that we remind our clients to do:

CONVICTION

Find your voice: take a stand.
Your opinion matters. No one has quite the world view that you do, and you can make the world a better place by bringing your voice in. In our Executive Presence workshop, two of the qualities that we talk about are speaking truth to power and decisiveness. Speaking truth to power is about finding your inner strength and conviction, and standing firm in front of your superiors, or those who hold the power. There are SO many examples right now of women and men who are standing in their conviction and using their voice to drive change. It’s inspiring! Decisiveness is about making a decisions and taking a stand. It’s about operating with conviction and resolve when a decision is required.

CHARACTER

Live your values: they are core to your true character.
Our values shape who we are and how we interact with others. In the work we do leveraging Hogan Leadership Assessments, we often start with values. Hogan tells us that “values are an essential part of your identity—they describe who you are, what you stand for… values powerfully shape the choices that you will make about work, play, and relationships…” Hogan further outlines how values shape our careers: the choices we make; the environments in which we’ll flourish, and how our own unconscious biases influence the decisions we make regarding people, projects, plans and strategy. In a recent leadership team assessment, we had a surprising and encouraging revelation: the number one shared value among the leadership team: altruism: a desire to help people; to selflessly extend help to others. Now, you might expect this in a nonprofit or mission-based organization, but this was a for profit (and profitable!) company. With a driven and accomplished leadership team. How fabulous for their employees, partners, and customers that altruism is a core value! They translated this to a desire to keep the customer front and center, and to help others, especially in this chaotic year.

Talk to us about a leadership assessment for your team.

COMMUNITY

Connect with your people: if we’ve learned one thing in 2020, it’s that we are a people who need community.
Our social isolation and reliance on technology to keep us connected makes it clear that we’re meant to be together. We’re so grateful to the women who were registered for our 2020 Immersion Retreats in Santa Fe and Italy – and look forward to the days when we can travel and reconvene safely. In the meantime, we’re excited to launch new ways to stay connected and will be announcing more details soon.

Watch the video below for a sneak peak.

And for those of you counting, we still have 77 days left in 2020. Go make an impact – you have plenty of time! Stay safe. Stay well.