Being a leader who doesn’t know where we are going

Throughout my career I have never been scared of leadership roles-maybe because I could always think of ideas of directions in which we could go or maybe because I just thought if not me then who?

Whatever the reason I felt there was a pattern and a routine to leadership- listen to others, ask for support, speak honestly about challenges, don’t be afraid to say ‘I don’t know’ and at all times remember where you want to get to. For me the ‘where I want to get to’ was a sustainable event indsutry- in other words every time people come together a positive social, environmental and economic impact happens. For many years that has meant championing the positive impact of events, encouraging reporting and best practice and educating an industry on what sustainability is.

The impact of COVID 19 has changed the ‘where I want to get to’. To speak honestly the impact of COVID 19 has achieved some of the best practice I wanted to see but in a way I could never have expected. All of a sudden the path I was leading everyone down has changed and the path ahead isn’t clear- I don’t know where we are going.

In a few years time I will be able to look back at my leadership skills and understand how impactful they were at this time but for now, with the traditional markers of leadership success no longer in place, I am leading with a focus on values including: authenticity, honesty, positivity, responsibility, collaboration and proactivity. Rather than leading with a known end in sight- I’m leading with an intention to empower others in values which will help an end be created that works for everyone.

Maybe knowing where we are going was never a necessary leadership trait?