Heading Into the Next
- By Jana Al Hammouri
The leadership of the future workplace depends on how you conduct the return to the environment to begin. Amidst the crisis of the pandemic, bringing peace to both your team and your workplace sets the tone for re-entry. The future of successful leaders is based on their ability to adapt. Not just to a new setting, but a new culture and environment as well. Rather than using the pandemic as a metaphor for disruption, use it as an analogy for adaptation. Everyone wants change, but nobody is willing to change. So be the change. Introduce that idea, pilot that concept, and conduct that analysis for a new hybrid situation. The blueprint for success during the next period is not changing but revaluating.
Using leadership models such as the FISH! Philosophy, a philosophy by John Christensen based on the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle where “large crowds come to watch the fishmongers work—and buy lots of fish, his philosophy focused on fishmongers”, explores “four simple practices anyone can use to be successful” (FISH! Philosophy). These practices, known as The FISH! Philosophy, are the foundation of training solutions and reinforces proper re-entry and navigation into the next few years The FISH! model allows you to build relationships that "inspire people to contribute their passion, skill and creativity" and helps explores the potential of you and your team. Implementing the FISH! Model into your future steps is necessary as it lays a stable foundation for you and your team to work and fall back on as you begin to figure out the transition to a new working situation. The FISH! model focuses on four aspects of leadership; trust, awareness, attitude and recognition. The trust element of the FISH! Philosophy is to ensure that a team that trusts its leader can handle any challenge or change. It allows you to learn how to build trust based on presence and reliability, being fully present and in attendance for the people you need when they need you most. The awareness aspect highlights the situation you are in as a leader by helping you realize the impact you have on people and the example you set that earns the respect and commitment of your team. By being sensitive to the concerns of the people you're leading, your leadership will be more relatable, approachable and effective. Another feature of the model is attitude. As a leader, your attitude is infectious and spreads among your team; the model emphasizes that your attitude is your choice and has the ability to change both the environment and outlook of your team. By adjusting and regulating your attitude when needed, you become an example of integrity and accountability. Lastly, the final prospect of the FISH! Model is recognition, both of you and your team. The best leaders don't just value results, they value people. Whether that's through consistent affirmation and appreciation or subtle acts, celebrating, encouraging, motivating and listening to your team are among the small and simple gestures that help strengthen and structure your team and their environment.
Leading effectively in this sense sharpens relationship skills within the team and between you and your team. Using models like FISH! highlights the cultural swamp most organizations and companies face and allows organizations to sustain a more robust culture, enjoy the work they're doing, and deliver quality results. No matter what field or industry you're based in, you don't have to settle for returning to the old normal; you can do better and transition into a more efficient and effective next "normal." By forming a familiar and effective mindset based on teamwork and leadership initiatives, you and your teams' ability to adapt and adjust to the transition of the next new and improved "normal" will allow for easier change and adaptation in other situations and environments. Your experience as a leader now determines how you move forward. Take a look at your organization now and evaluate the best moves using the four aspects of the FISH! Model in order to determine how to best transition into a "normal" of higher efficiency, productivity and most importantly, satisfaction.
Christensen, J. (2021, June 17). Leaders. FISH! Philosophy Training. Retrieved September 21, 2021, from https://www.fishphilosophy.com/leaders/.
