The Thermostat Season 2 Ep 14 – Leading Change: lessons from the Covid-19 process of mobilizing people
Our hearts and thoughts are with all who are struggling with the coronavirus or are on the front lines supporting those in need. And, as we step back and look at the daunting task of unifying people to act, what can be learned from the process of trying to mobilize people to lead change? What lessons can we learn from the process of leading people and shaping a culture?
SHOW NOTES
0:49 – Jason shares a COVID announcement, this podcast was recorded April 1st, 2020 but the messages ring true today to flatten the curve to make it through and leading change.
3:22 – The Thermostat is not about saying who is doing a good or bad job during this pandemic at leadership but instead is interested in what can we learn as an organization, teams, and businesses from this process of leading people through this change.
4:03 – What is to be learned from the response in this process in dealing with the Coronavirus? Step back and look at the response and the process that was laid out by others. Why was it that Germany had different results than other countries? How did they make the decisions in their leadership to save lives? A low 0.4% of people diagnosed in Germany passed away, that’s much lower than the percentage of other countries.
7:20 – How is it that we actually get them the move? The 6 A’s which are: accessing, aligning, aspiring, articulate, act, and anchor. Those are the process that whether we know it or not that everyone goes through to lead change.
9:05 – Going through what Germany did they followed the 6 A’s. Starting by accessing that there was a problem. Then they contained these infected people. Then they aligned their leadership team of why this was significant. Germany knew they had to get going which lead to the process of aspire. By painting a vision on what they want to be different and then get to work to articulate that vision to the masses. The next step is to articulate this vision to others, many countries got held up in one of these steps.
13:25 – Jason shares detail on articulate and some of the key steps that leaders fumble over when dealing with a crisis. Many even have issues articulating the language to others and miss the idea of what needs to be accessed and then acted upon.
15:45 – The language has to be clear, compelling, and connected to the vision. In Jason’s home state of Ohio, the leadership has been clear thanks to daily updates at 2pm from the Governor and the leadership team and doctors so that everything is clear, compelling, and connected.
17:45 – If we can’t describe it, then we can’t be surprised when it doesn’t exist. The next step is to act. Hopefully, our actions and behaviors will prove that we will be successful in the lasting change and to anchor these actions. Anchoring is about habits to change over time. It is how we anchor our actions that help anchor the vision. These are the things that once we get clear on the values we then tie them in action and behavior by anchoring in our culture.
21:45 – If we are trying to learn something from this process to shape culture and generate leaders, it will be the teams and leaders that are aligned that will come out better prepared and better to thrive in the days ahead.
22:50 – Questions to ponder, step back and ask during these times:
- What change do you want to lead?
- How will you access, align, aspire, articulate, act, and anchor the change?
Those who navigate the change in front of us will come through it better positioned, aligned, and prepared to thrive Dive into the process!
If you like the podcast, have a question, or just want to share your thoughts for about daring to begin please leave a comment below.
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ABOUT THE THERMOSTAT
Conversations and micro-thoughts to engage your mind and heart.
A thermostat is proactive. It sets the temperature in a room. Controls the temperature. Regulates the temperature. But in today’s distracted, fast-paced and digital world, it’s easy for individuals and organizations to act more like thermometers, slipping into reactionary thinking, becoming scattered and inconsistent. The most compelling leaders, teams, organizations, families or collection of humans of any kind operate in thermostat mode. They calibrate their mind and heart to set the temperature for the vision and culture they want to create. Jason Barger, globally celebrated author, keynote speaker and founder of Step Back Leadership Consulting, is the host of The Thermostat, a podcast journey to discover authentic leadership, create compelling cultures and find clarity of mission, vision, and values.