64. How to Excel as a Leader During Economic Instability
Feb 14, 2024
Marija Duka
Let’s address the elephant in the room… the impending recession and times of economic instability (eeek). It’s natural that times of economic instability makes everyone feel nervous and some may even be questioning the future of their role within their organisation.
When there are difficult times of instability, it’s more important than ever before to have strong leaders that make their people feel secure and instil hope.
This episode delves into three ways to be a standout leader in the context of this current economic climate. It may not be what you expect!
Let’s address the elephant in the room… the impending recession and times of economic instability (eeek). It’s natural that times of economic instability makes everyone feel nervous and some may even be questioning the future of their role within their organisation.
When there are difficult times of instability, it’s more important than ever before to have strong leaders that make their people feel secure and instil hope.
This episode delves into three ways to be a standout leader in the context of this current economic climate. It may not be what you expect!
Welcome to the Career Confidence podcast, the podcast for driven the lawyers wanting to step out of the traditional path and build fulfilling and purposeful careers. I'm your host, maria Ducar, legal counsel and career coach, helping you navigate your career with intention and confidence. In this podcast, we don't show away from having real conversations about topics that matter to us. Driven AF go getters from manifesting your dream career, negotiating the salary you deserve, creating your personal brand, knowing when it's time to pivot. We cover these topics and so much more. You ready, let's dive into today's episode. Hey, hey, welcome to another episode of the Career Confidence podcast. I hope you're doing well and I hope you're having an amazing week so far. Let's talk about the elephant in the room, which is not really an elephant.
Speaker 1:
I think it's quite obvious with so many media outlets talking about this last year and this year, and that is this impending recession and this time of economic instability. Now a lot of people are feeling nervous about the future of their career. Particularly when economic downturns come around like this, People genuinely start to feel nervous. When there's difficult times like this, it is more important than ever to have strong leaders that make their people feel secure, feel like things are going to be okay, feel in control and that there is a brighter future ahead. So in today's episode, I'm going to be talking about three ways to be a standout leader in the context of this current economic climate. So tough times show people's true colours and I truly believe this because I have seen it and I'm sure you have to in your lifetime as well. When things are going well, it's easy to show up as the best version of yourself, to be happy when things are easy and going smoothly. But when things are not going your way or there's instability in the economic climate, there's something that's not within your control. That has happened. How do you react to that? Have a think about that, because there are some people that don't react quite well in those situations, and that shows in the way they show up at work and treat other people. So we want to be the type of leaders that make our people feel comfortable, calm, secure, hopeful and positive about the future ahead. So here are three ways that you can be a standout leader.
Speaker 1:
Number one lead with empathy and show genuine care about your team and their career goals. When you lead with empathy and open up the space to your people to share with you what their fears are, what they're feeling and what they're wanting to achieve. This will allow them to share with you openly, because you are providing this open and safe space for them to do that. What's important here is to listen more and talk less. A lot of people tend to just fill the room with a bunch of noise and we tend to talk over other people and sometimes we might think that we know better for someone than they know for themselves. But I encourage you to listen more to your people and to talk less and see the change in dynamic there. When you listen more, you'll get to hear the things that would not come up when you don't give it the space. It's important to create a safe environment for your people to have one-on-one chats with them to allow them to voice what they're thinking, what they're feeling, and for them to voice to you their career goals, so that you can then support them in achieving that within the workplace. Don't shoot people's ideas down. Be encouraging of that.
Speaker 1:
Each and every person is different in the way they approach their work and life and they have different goals and things that are important to them. Another way that you can be a standout leader in 2024, and this one is, I reckon, the most important one, not just in how we are leaders at work, but even in life, and that is to regulate your nervous system. So you've probably come across a colleague or a manager before that does not know how to regulate their emotions. So when there is a stressful situation happening in the workplace, rather than them taking leadership and ownership of the situation and making you feel calm or making you feel like you're part of a team that collaborates and works on the problem together, they instead make you feel like the world is ending. Everyone has different tipping points, but if we're not working on regulating our nervous system, we are going to react in a certain way that we're going to regret later on, and that is not a great reflection of ourselves, and it is not really fair to put that negative energy onto our colleagues either.
Speaker 1:
So ways that you can regulate your nervous system are through meditation. That is a beautiful way to regulate your nervous system. I have a wonderful friend, sarah Suzak, who has started her own meditation program, and I'll link that in the show notes. So if you don't know how to meditate, she's your go-to. Another way for me personally is exercise. I love moving my body every day, so I love to take my dog for a walk and I love to do Pilates and weight lifting, and that helps me set up my body and my mind for the day.
Speaker 1:
Another way to regulate your nervous system is to talk about your feelings, how you're feeling scared about something or nervous about something or angry about something. There's so many resources out there so that you can open up to someone. If it's not a friend or a family member, it could be a professional psychologist, a therapist, whoever it may be. There are certain ways and resources that you can get out what you're internally feeling, so that you feel heard and seen and so that you feel safe and also remember just to breathe. I know that this sounds so simple, but when we have an unregulated nervous system, our body is tense, we have short breaths and we're going into this spiral, this panic spiral, essentially. So when you are in that moment, you pause and just take three deep breaths. Always go back to your breath. Before you say something to someone that you regret, before you respond to an email you know with nasty words or something that you don't mean, take a breather First rather than be in that reactive mode. Give yourself some space.
Speaker 1:
And another way to regulate nervous system is do things that bring you joy in your day to day life. You know, spend some time with your family and friends on the weekend. Go for bike rides, if that's what makes you happy. Go to the beach, go for walks in the park, spend time with your kids, like whatever it is that brings you that joy that fills up your cup, and for all of us it might be something different, right, but go back to yourself and what makes you feel whole and do more of that. Implement more of that so that you do feel regulated when you are at work and in life, and you'll feel so much lighter.
Speaker 1:
Also, I think that unsettling sense of feeling within your nervous system comes from a place of you feeling out of control. Right Understanding that we are not in control what happens outside of ourselves is the most freeing thing that you will ever learn to accept about life and work. The only thing and I've mentioned this in so many other episodes that we can control is ourselves how we show up, the steps we take next, how we react. It's not up to you to control everything and to be the one that's making every single decision all by yourself. Remember you're part of a team, so lean on them, be collaborative, get everyone involved in, you know, certain decision making or problem solving. When everyone feels involved, they feel like to have that buy in and then they have more confidence in their own decision making power as well. So just know that you're not alone and you don't have to be solving everyone's problems. You just have to learn to let go of that control and come back to yourself. Regulate your nervous system so you can Show up with more energy and excitement and also just a calm nervous system that makes other people also feel calm around you.
Speaker 1:
And number three and this is not going to be surprised to you it's taking self responsibility and also encouraging that within your team to. So when you've made a mistake about something, or if you've slipped up, admitting that and saying, hey, I did this, I recognize that and I will fix that, by doing X, y and Z, your owning yourself as a leader because you're taking responsibility, and when you're Team sees that, they will also feel inclined and also safe to be able to admit to their mistakes and be proactive in finding a solution, which is exactly what a leader Think like an ax like. Another way that you can encourage self leadership in the team is to not allow your people to fall victim to their excuses and that blaming game either, and to essentially step into the shoes of a coach in this scenario and ask them how they think that they could have done something differently, how their actions contributed to that outcome and what are the next steps they're going to take to ensure that they solve that problem and are being proactive. When you approach your people in this way, they are more likely to grow and learn from their mistakes, and also not only that, but they're going to learn on what it is to be a great leader by being proactive and taking steps to solve the problem, rather than hiding the problem, blaming other people or ignoring it. This is something that I think that will be so important and so key, especially in a year where people are feeling nervous, potentially about their job, and they might not. There's a lot of certain things because when we're feeling insecure about where we're at, where less likely to feel empowered in owning up to Our mistakes and therefore we might, you know, hide or whatever that may look like, but by you taking control of the situation, by you taking control of your own actions and words. You are then encouraging that in your team and you're encouraging that self responsibility far and wide, so that people hold themselves accountable to things as well. So there you have it the three ways to be a standout leader in 2024. Number one to lead with empathy and genuinely care about your team and their career goals. Number two regulate your nervous system and have an outlet. Number three takes up responsibility and encourage it in the team.
Speaker 1:
I hope this episode provides you with a feeling of excitement for the future and a feeling of there is an opportunity here for us to grow and be the best leaders that we can be. These times of instability don't have to be all negative, and they actually can be times that really shape us and our future. So how are you going to show up this year? Are you going to show up as that leader that cares about their people, that makes the people feel safe, that takes responsibility over their own actions, or are you going to be the leader that makes people feel scared and insecure and uncomfortable? The choice is yours at the end of the day.
Speaker 1:
I hope you have an amazing week ahead. I hope you love this episode. Send me a DM on LinkedIn and let me know your biggest takeaway Until next time. Chat to you super soon. Bye, thanks for tuning into the career confidence podcast. Like what you learned today. Why not share this episode with your work bestie, and leave us a five star review on? Wherever you listen to a podcast on, we'd absolutely love to get into more years and help more women, just like you, build fulfilling and thriving careers. Until next time.