Leading Through Uncertainty

Jude Jennison

Description

The rapid advancement of technology has fuelled fast-paced change in business, creating a high-performance culture that requires leaders to be resilient, agile and results-focused. But the increased level of uncertainty and an ever-expanding workload often create stress, overwhelm, fear and polarization, leading to disconnection. The world never stops, and when people get caught in the same trap they risk burning out.

In Leading Through Uncertainty, leadership expert Jude Jennison explores the challenges leaders face as human beings in a technological world, the new habits and behaviours they need to adopt to re-connect on a human to human basis, and the leadership qualities they need to lead through uncertainty. This is a call to return to the core of humanity to find the natural human characteristics of communication, connection, compassion and community, drawing on the experience of working with a herd of horses to understand the impact of non-verbal communication on leadership.

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part 1: The context of uncertainty

1 My path of uncertainty

2 Human beings vs super computers

3 Emotional engagement 

Part 2: You are not a machine!

4 Stress and overwhelm 

5 Fear and polarisation

6 Pain and trauma 

Part 3: Human connection 

7 Creating the framework

8 Co-sensing and co-shaping the future

9 Listening and dialogue

10 Connection and support

11 Building trust 

12 Staying with the discomfort of uncertainty 

13 Being human 

14 Leading from the heart and soul

Epilogue 

Meet the equine team

About the author

Sujets

• Horses
• Resilience
• Résilience (physique)
• Business
• Coaching
• Horse
• Leadership

Informations

• Publié par: Practical Inspiration Publishing
• Date de parution: 17 mai 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9781788600200
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

First published in Great Britain by Practical Inspiration Publishing, 2018
© Jude Jennison, 2018
Photos © John Cleary Photography, used by kind permission
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
ISBN 978-1-78860-020-0
All rights reserved. This book, or any portion thereof, may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the author.
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologizes for any errors or omissions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.
To my sister Sue
Who provides stability and wisdom in moments of extreme uncertainty
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
No one can deny the uncertainty we each face daily. Jude’s insights, drawn from both business settings and working with horses, replace a fear of uncertainty with a sense of hope and opportunity. Her stories inspire; her insights inform; and her tips encourage change. Through her work with horses, Jude has developed an intensely human capability: to help leaders recognize their style and improve its impact on others.
Dave Ulrich
Rensis Likert Professor, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
Partner, the RBL Group
Jude Jennison’s leadership lessons show great empathy and creativity. Her ideas are fresh – and they work.
Julia Hobsbawm, OBE
Author of Fully Connected: Social Health in an Age of Overload and Hon. Visiting Professor in Workplace Social Health, Cass Business School, London
A thoroughly engaging, human and insightful book and definitely one for now!
Gina Lodge
CEO, Academy of Executive Coaching
Leaders transform complexity to clarity and uncertainty to understanding. Get Jude’s new book to move into deeper clarity and deeper understanding to navigate change with grace, authenticity, connection and presence.
Kevin Cashman
Global Head of CEO and Executive Development, Korn Ferry
Best-selling author of Leadership from the Inside Out and The Pause Principle
An uncertain landscape has become the one certainty for business and good leadership has become even more important. This book is for all those who want to ensure they can lead their organisations through these challenging times. Practical insight from those who’ve “been there, done that” and some very different approaches to the challenges of leadership.
Ian O’Donnell, MBE
Director, FSB and Head of Policy for the West Midlands Combined Authority
Wholehearted, engaging, and compassionate. Jude Jennison’s second book delivers powerful truths and insights into successful leadership in the face of uncertainty. This book positions business struggles as human struggles, allowing leaders to embrace the unknown in an embodied and authentic way in order to move through to what’s next.
Dr Veronica Lac PhD
Founder of the HERD Institute and author of the book
Equine-Facilitated Psychotherapy and Learning:
The Human-Equine Relational Development (HERD) Approach
This book is a key narrative at a time when change and the implication of change has never created more pressure on leaders and leadership.
Martin Yardley
Deputy Chief Executive (Place), Coventry City Council
Humans can think, can emotionalize, they can make good decisions, they can make bad decisions, they can be creative and innovative, they can be mean and fight each other. In short, they are what they are supposed to be and do. If they ‘find’ the link back to their natural roots, where they belong, they have a better chance of understanding themselves and moving forward. Jude Jennison gives us these ideas through her book. By reading it, your mind will be definitely challenged!!!
Prof. Alexandros Psychogios
Professor in International Human Resources Management, Birmingham City Business School
Jude Jennison understands the complexity of modern day leadership and the pressure leaders of today are under to perform at their very best. Jude’s approach, through working with her horses, places a spotlight on your skills and ability to adapt in unfamiliar surroundings. The results are powerful and empowering. A must for anyone who is serious about being the best leader they can be.
Sue Grindrod
Chief Executive, Gower Street Estates Limited t/a Albert Dock Liverpool
I was struck by Jude’s knowledge and insights on leading through uncertainty. Her warm and engaging style brings out the best of the CEOs she has interviewed to make this a valuable book.
Sue Noyes
Non-executive Director and Former CEO, East Midlands Ambulance Service
If you struggle with your emotions in business, if you don’t dare to express your feelings, if you are suppressed by what is around you – take your time and read this book! You will probably find yourself. Definitely you will get a new perspective on leadership.
Gerhard Krebs
Founder of HorseDream and the European Association of Horse Assisted Education
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction
Part 1: The context of uncertainty
1 My path of uncertainty
2 Human beings vs supercomputers
3 Emotional engagement
Part 2: You are not a machine!
4 Stress and overwhelm
5 Fear and polarisation
6 Pain and trauma
Part 3: Human connection
7 Creating the framework
8 Co-sensing and co-shaping the future
9 Listening and dialogue
10 Connection and support
11 Building trust
12 Staying with the discomfort of uncertainty
13 Being human
14 Leading from the heart and soul
Epilogue
Meet the equine team
Acknowledgements
About the author
FOREWORD
Leading Through Uncertainty , Jude Jennison’s second book, provides a powerful narrative and account of the increasingly fast-paced, ever-changing environment of leadership. It guides and challenges us to adapt our behaviour as leaders and to learn new skills – essential if organisations are to thrive and have an engaged, fulfilled and productive workforce in the future.
Jude shares her wisdom, built up from having had a significant career in a major corporation, and aligns the conquering of her lifelong fear of horses with the challenge of building a successful business.
Jude draws on her up-to-date research with CEOs and her experience of working with leaders and teams in this book. Using her masterful and engaging storytelling style, she offers a practical guide and a valuable source of learning. The additional resources and papers extend this learning.
While many CEOs acknowledge they work with, are comfortable with and expect uncertainty in their roles, uncertainty does bring stress. It overwhelms, brings fear, and polarises. We are all familiar with the leadership mantra, ‘It is lonely at the top.’
This book guides us in the elements we need as leaders to make our teams feel safe and able to be productive, and to create structure and certainty out of chaos and confusion.
Huge advances in technology can help us if we correctly harness the power of the ability to process vast amounts of data. However, we all hear the cries of despair from people trying to manage and respond to hundreds of emails each day, while attempting to make sense and meaning from facts and figures presented in spreadsheets, databases, reports and apps. Jude highlights that we are not robots or machines but human beings whose contribution could be greater if allowed to slow down in order to speed up, which is a step towards managing the positive advances technology brings to our businesses.
We look to past data to help us predict the future, which is not really possible. Predicting trends, yes, but predicting the future is, of course, a skill we do not possess. If we are not acknowledging the difference as leaders, the level of uncertainty felt by us and our teams will soon pervade the organisations we lead. Tests are used to determine our character types. While such data is, indeed, useful, relying on it can inhibit your team’s personal development and deny the human capability to adapt and change our behaviour.
As human beings we have the capability to be innovative, to develop relationships and to collaborate, and for this we need space in which to think and reflect. The truth is that most organisations and leaders are still required to be results driven, with everyone being expected to act in direct conflict with our natural gifts and abilities; we are back to trying to be the computer rather than work with it!
Much effort and financial investment is spent on improving the performance of your team. Often, the complex emotions associated with being human are overlooked and people do not engage, leading, not surprisingly, to the investment making little or no contribution or change.
Every generation learns from the past. Already there are media- and research-driven labels given to the next generation of leaders, some less complimentary from the perspective of those on the receiving end of the naming conventions. It is my experience and hope that the next generation of leaders will simply not accept the outdated leadership styles of command and control, and of chasing results alone, and will set about building trusted relationships and managing reputation better than may be the norm at present.
In Leading Through Uncertainty Jude states that “it takes an exceptionally skilled leader to balance the energy of driving results with the softness of nurturing in compl