Transformational leadership
During the last period I was writing about the change itself and many elements that are necessary to manage and learn in order to carry out the changes that are happening around us in a simpler, easier and less stressful way. I have shared many tools that I personally use to cope with it, such as breathing and meditation techniques that I have been practicing for some time and it has been a pleasure to receive feedback from my readers and colleagues who have told me that they have put some of these techniques into practice.
But managing change will not be enough for us to truly modify, adapt and create value from the situation we are facing around the world today. If we do not consciously, firmly and quickly adapt to this Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) reality, it will only become more difficult, confusing and overwhelming for us, for people and for the planet.
Yes, VUCA seems to be the new normal where we can see more and more weather disasters. Just look at what recently happened to my beloved Italy (the country where my daughter was born and where my career developed substantially) with the floods. As a result of what happened in the Emilia Romagna region, in addition to material goods, thousands of hopes have been destroyed and lost that will take years to return to normality. Just as Global Warming continues to increase or what is happening with the war in Ukraine, instead of beginning to see the light and reach a moment of peace, it seems that the situation is only intensifying. As well as many other geopolitical situations that occur constantly by the minute around the world and that are sowing uncertainty in our socioeconomic development, our companies, our teams but also to use as individuals and leaders.
There are some big threats in front of us such as the famous digitization, millennial behaviors and the damage to global systems with which we must be more aware than ever about how to proactively promote them. We cannot continue to do the same things that we have done in recent decades and assume that we will be able to deal with these realities and threats so that we can proactively not only adapt but modify and take advantage of these situations.
The traditional management style that was learned in the last 40 years or transactional leadership will help us maintain its foundations today but we also need to add a different and disruptive type of leadership that can go against the status quo to boost opportunities, threats and different crises that the VUCA world is giving us.
In order to do this we need a new type of leadership known as Transformational Leadership. We've been talking a lot about transformation lately, but during my next series of posts I'd like to focus more and more on this topic because it touches me deeply. I don't know everything, of course, but I am experiencing letting myself go as I go both in work and in life to understand more and more what is needed, and I would like to share this with you.
Transformational Leaders are those who are capable of driving the VUCA world to their benefit in some way. It is clear that we cannot completely change what is happening to this world on our own, but something that we can definitely change is to start with ourselves by mastering the way we perceive, feel, think and act and inspire others to do the same. to be able to discover opportunities and threats and transform them into elements of added value that will benefit not only people, but also companies and the planet. It requires a great level of awareness, a great level of mindfulness, and this is where my two worlds that I am passionate about come together.
Before we go any further, let's stop here and practice our awareness through a little mindful practice. And why do I propose this? because it is the way to practice our mind to be more alert and more present. As a consequence, it will help us to be more aware, more flexible, more compassionate with the external things that happen around us without making us react in the wrong way, but instead embracing newcomers with patience, gratitude and a humble approach. It will help me transform my way of feeling, feeling, thinking and acting.
1. Sit on the floor with your legs in a lotus shape or simply on a chair, with your hands on your legs or on the floor without crossing them. You can also do it lying on the bed but it is better to be sitting.
2. Close your eyes. Inhale deeply and then exhale completely two or three times.
3. Focus on the sensations in your body parts one at a time: head, shoulders, arms, hands, chest, abdomen, legs, and feet. Observe the sensations of the hot zones and the cold zones, the dry zones and the humid ones, the soft and hard zones, always observe the opposite sensation, and try to do this for all the parts of the body.
4. Choose your anchor, it could be the breath for example concentrating on the sensations of the breath.
5. Just stay watching your interior for 5/10 minutes or more, as you want. It is good to put a sound that alerts you in the different steps of minutes to understand where you are.
6. If your mind wonders, go back to your anchor.
7. Before closing, wish for something positive, something that you would like to add to this VUCA world today. It could be compassion, happiness, a donation, being kind to others, it could be practicing empowering others.
8. Open your eyes and see where you are, openly say thank you and believe that you are taking a big step towards your transformation.
As I mentioned before, I am not a Transformation expert, but I want to become a better Transformational Leader. It would be great if you want to share your Transformational journey, thinking, what do you think about it, how do you act and how do you feel about it?
As a global tribe here we can share, learn and be better. I wait for your comments!