I could argue that this is the normal post-Christmas blues but I think it's more than that. Everywhere you look these days there is a theme of disruption. Digital is upon us, new ways of working, the rise of robots and jobs will never be the same again we hear. It's impacting our core business model and undermining how big business has made lots of money for many years. Any change brings with it huge opportunity - those that are fleet of foot will benefit in the long run. Future generations aren't doomed, but they will be different.
In amongst all of this is a fundamental question - who do I want to be in this new world? Brilliant - just as I thought I'd begun to understand the question of 'Who am I?', I find the parameters resetting around me and I'm at sea again.
But this post wasn't intended to be about change per se, I wanted to focus on energy. Changes takes enormous energy. It requires you to reset behaviours and find new ways of doing things. It requires clear goal setting and a purpose that you believe in, otherwise why would you commit that energy.
The energy we bring to work is interesting. It's not a given - we now call it out on our leadership attributes as vitality, and we recognise not everybody has it and it's not a constant. And while you can adopt a 'fake it til you make it' approach to many aspects of leadership, it's exhausting to try and pretend you have the energy and passion required to lead a change programme if in fact you don't.
For me energy and passion come directly from a shared set of beliefs in what we are collectively aiming for. A purpose led organisation is a powerful thing, and in order for it to be authentic the metrics we are measured by must align to the purpose. This unfortunately is where the rubber starts to leave the road for me. And so right now my energy is running low and my subconscious is frantically trying to compute the options and it's exhausting!
The real test for me is when I listen to those around me and realise that others are really excited and energised by the opportunities in our business. They are highly engaged and motivated to see this change through. They are the next generation of leaders. The organisation will survive, albeit it may look very different. I know I'm not alone. I meet people all the time at my level who feel the same and want something different, something more personally energising. Maybe it's a life stage, more likely it's about really understanding where you're energy comes from and how important it is to wake up everyday fully engaged and passionate about what you do. I wish our jobs didn't define us quite so much, but so often they do.
The good news is that when I finally make THE decision about who I want to be, all this energy which I'm currently 'wasting' in processing time will be there to switch on to something new. It's not lost, it's just idling for the time being, and that's probably ok.
