Having a congruent vision of self, as well as a wellintegrated public and private morality helps leaders to not become emotionally reactive in times of disruption or uncertainty as we have seen in recent times

also ensure that their teams are able to get results even with the disruptions around them.

Where do leaders get the capacity to bring stability to their teams in the face of massive disruptions? You might want to ask, and that is a very instructive question because, as many leaders have shared their experiences during the pandemic, being able to be seen as the emotional anchor of a team is an incredibly vital part of the ability to exploit the opportunities that exists in uncertainty.

Leadership Stability In A Turbulent World

Positive stability is a term that describes the ability of the airplane to come back to its original planned position based on the inherent strengths of the plane. It is a tendency to return to a previous position after it has been inclined, or after it has been moved around a little bit. Positive stability is what keeps the plane within its normal operating system. It keeps returning to an undisturbed state after turbulence. As most pilots and aeronautical engineers will tell us, the capacity to do this lies within all of the technical stuff that work in-between the wings of the plane and right there in the belly of the fuselage. This is the same way self-awareness works for us as leaders. Leaders have this capacity within them– they must build within them that positive stability. You cannot do that without having a good configuration of yourself.

Where Does That Come From?

When we talk about self-awareness, we are talking about the ability of the leader to do introspection. Ask these questions about yourself: Who am I at my core? What are my strengths? What are my weaknesses? How do I bring impact to my world?

Unfortunately, in the world today, a lot of leaders hardly have time for this level of deep reflection. Most leaders would rather not admit that they don’t know it all. It then makes it extremely difficult to look at situations of disruption and be able to provide stability. Whatever turmoil is going on within the leader, gets transferred onto the subordinates or those who are being led. This is aptly captured by Robert J. Palmer when he says that “the leader has the uncanny ability to shed light or shadow on followers.” So, the inclination of the leader always translates into the attitude and disposition of the team.

Having a congruent vision of self, as well as a well-integrated public and private morality helps leaders to not become emotionally reactive in times of disruption or uncertainty as we have seen in recent times. It helps the team to function in a more congruent way by providing a good foundation for having tough conversations in the middle of a storm.