Authors point to six habits for effective leadership

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This article was published 06/05/2022 (1263 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In 2019, Mike Watson and Ali Grovue hunkered down in cabins to write about resilient leadership.

COVID-19 was not on their radar. A war in Ukraine was unimaginable. Remote work was comparatively niche, inflation rates weren’t breaking records and The Great Resignation could maybe be a book title but definitely not a movement.

The world that Rise Up: Leadership Habits for Turbulent Times is entering is drastically different from 2019. And, it’s the best time for the book to be released, according to Watson.

“For leaders, this is the most challenging time most of them have ever encountered,” he said. “We’re seeing this dynamic that is brand new to us.”

Watson, 55, runs Ignite Management Services, a B.C.-based company assisting businesses in their strategies and leadership development. Grovue is Ignite’s senior consultant.

People are bringing health and safety concerns into the workplace, while others are begging to stay home. Regular operations have been thrown in flux due to supply chain backlogs and war.

“Leaders haven’t been equipped to lead in these very, very challenging, turbulent times,” Watson said.

Still, imperfect leadership is not new. Watson pondered writing a book at least five years ago, after finding poor management was the No. 1 reason for clients unsuccessfully implementing business strategies.

A disconnected workplace can be obvious when you walk in the door, Watson said.

“You’d see people with hunched over shoulders,” he said of clients he visited. “Body language tells such an important story.”

His team sometimes conducts interviews.

“We would ask people about how their role contributed to the organization’s success and be met with blank stares,” Watson said.

During the pandemic, 35 per cent of Canadians quit, lost or retired from their jobs, according to a March Angus Reid Institute poll.

Watson began research for Rise Up in 2017. He’d ask general managers of NHL teams, bank executives and others in leadership roles about their approaches. He and Grovue met with a clinical counsellor.

“So much of leadership is rooted in human psychology, and what we’re talking about is changing habits that we’ve formed over many, many years,” Watson said.

He also perused his own memories and life experiences for examples of ineffective leadership.

Prior to starting Ignite in 2007, Watson held management positions in the banking world. He became a vice-president of a credit union and entered the strategic side of business.

“It’s also where my, I’m going to use the term ‘leadership immaturity,’ became a stumbling block for me,” Watson said.

His business plans weren’t working; he was focused on the bottom line and not on his employees, he shares in Rise Up.

“I was full of ego,” Watson said. “The authentic Mike Watson was not showing up, and people felt that.”

A close colleague advised him to spend time in the staff room with a box of donuts, to make small talk with workers. Watson also apologized to his leadership team and tore his strategy in front of them. Once real connections began forming, productivity started blossoming, he said.

“It all starts with ‘I care about you,’” Watson said. “I’m privileged to be in their presence, and I have to care about them. I don’t have to agree with them; I don’t even have to like them. But I must care about them as human beings.”

That mindset has directed Watson’s COVID-19 era decisions, he said. He wanted his staff back in office when restrictions relaxed, but employees wanted to stay home.

“My initial instinct was, ‘Well, I really would like you here.’ Then I had to question — ‘Is that for me or is that for us?’ And I realized that was for me and not for us.”

Watson and Grovue point to six habits for effective leadership — trust, inquisitiveness, humility, optimism, courage and discipline. The words are glazed on Ignite Management Services’s office windows; each has its own book chapter.

“It’s these turbulent times that we’re in… that call on us to approach leadership differently than we have in the past,” Watson said.

“The younger generation is waking up towards climate change, they’re waking up towards the pursuit of wellbeing and work-life harmony, they’re waking up to say that there needs to be purpose… Leaders are struggling with that,” Watson said.

Business leaders drive results by bringing out the best in their team, according to Grovue.

“I hope people understand that leadership development is personal development; it’s about looking in the mirror and saying I can be better,” she wrote in an email.

Rise Up is available in Indigo and on Amazon.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com