I have a confession to make: I once had a mentor that I didn’t like all the time. She could be harsh. She could be direct. She sometimes challenged me in ways that were uncomfortable. But, when it came down to it, there was no bigger advocate in my life than she. Time and time again, she found ways to turn a spotlight on my accomplishments, find the goodness in what I was doing, and tee me up to work on the next big thing.

Her role as my mentor was not to blow smoke. It wasn’t to tell me how great I was. It was to help me get better. And she did. I might not have always liked it, but even when I initially railed against it, I always came back around because I knew her feedback and guidance ultimately helped me improve.

I’m a big believer in creating a network or a council of supporters who each have a unique purpose in my life—but who all share a common goal—to help me learn, develop, and grow. A mentor has an important regular seat on that council and a particularly important role when it comes to career turning points and critical decisions.

A mentor’s role is not only pivotal during career milestones; they also have an impact on day-to-day satisfaction. Research conducted by CNBC and Survey Monkey revealed some profound differences between employees who had mentors and those who did not. Of the 8,000 individuals surveyed in the Workplace Happiness Survey, 9 in 10 workers, 91%, who have a mentor are satisfied with their job, including more than half (57%) who are “very satisfied.” For those without a mentor, those numbers drop considerably. What’s more, GP Strategies’ research identified mentoring as the most helpful leadership intervention available according to our survey respondents.

Because of the impact a mentor can have on career advancement and the ability to navigate organizational dynamics, finding the right mentor in a senior-level position is a logical choice. But finding a mentor in the C-suite, or even close to it, isn’t as easy as it sounds. The scarcity of women in senior-level positions, a challenge that is even more pronounced for women of color, can make it hard to find a role model that feels relatable.

Reimagining the mentor-mentee relationship can create new possibilities for filling that pivotal function. Expanding the definition of the mentorship encourages individuals not to confine themselves to only executives, but to seek the type of influence a mentor can have from colleagues with commensurate or just slightly more experience.

Further expansion of the more traditional mentoring relationship includes the concept of reverse mentoring—relationships in which more seasoned workers equally benefit from learning about new technology or emerging ideas from their junior colleagues who may be better informed. Regardless of how you uniquely define your mentoring relationship, the key point is to find one, cultivate one, and let the connections you build help you to evolve and flourish.

Regardless of where your mentor sits within your organization, three elements are critical to ensure success:

• Shared responsibility – Both the mentor and the mentee play an active role in constructing a relationship that is beneficial. The mentor is giving of their time, advice, and experience. The mentee is an active listener and is open to what they hear and learn from their mentor. Both are responsible for the success of the relationship
• Mutual benefit – The mentee’s benefits in the relationship are clear: insight into the organization’s culture, network development, feedback, and self-confidence. The mentor benefits as well; they feel the satisfaction of helping someone else and are exposed to new ideas and perspectives that mentees can often bring to the relationship.
• Relationship – At the core of the mentor-mentee relationship is trust and communication. Mentors who are accepting and nonjudgmental set a tone for a connection that allows the mentee to bring their true selves into the relationship and authentically gain advice and guidance. By being open to self-reflection and feedback and by applying the guidance received from their mentor, a mentee can establish a trustful relationship with their mentor, which generates creativity and achievement.

My mentor helped me in countless ways—offering her advice and industry expertise. She was able to suggest ways to navigate organizational challenges and advocate for me to others. She was a safe space for testing new ideas or discussing setbacks and failures—in many ways she was the ultimate “growth mindset” coach. And, finally, she enhanced my self-confidence by highlighting the strengths I was sometimes unable to recognize in myself.

National Mentoring Day provides an opportunity to stop, reflect, and thank the mentors who have helped countless individuals see the best in themselves and aspire to more. If you have a mentor who has helped shape your life, take a moment to thank them. And if you haven’t had the benefit of this unique type of support in your life, seek it out. Find someone to challenge you, as my mentor did. Find someone to share their experiences. Finding the right mentor for you will help ensure you’ll both reap the rewards.

About the Authors

Leah Clark

Director, Strategy and Planning, GP Strategies Corporation. Senior Director for Strategy and Planning, Leah focuses on bringing new products to market and enhancing the participant experience. She works with clients to understand their leadership and engagement challenges and consults with them on the creative solutions. Prior to joining GP Strategies, Leah had her own practice in executive coaching and consulting. She is a certified professional coach through an ICF accredited organization and is a Myers-Briggs practitioner. Leah has over seventeen years of experience in marketing, strategy, and product development in a corporate environment. She has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the fields of psychology and organizational psychology. She has a Master’s of Arts degree in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Sociology from Boston College where she graduated summa cum laude.

Leaders around the globe have done amazing things against the backdrop of the challenging events of the past year—from keeping family and coworkers safe, pivoting to an all-virtual work scenario, juggling home-bound schoolchildren to addressing fatigue and burnout of epic proportions. With all of the challenges leaders have overcome, it stands to reason that many would want the familiarity and logic of a “return to normal.” But there are new challenges to tackle as hybrid work arrangements, those where some employees are physically together and some are virtual, begin to take shape. From policy to processes to communication and leadership, there is little that will be left untouched as hybrid becomes the norm for many organizations.

Several factors are at play

In this new-but-not-completely-new scenario, several factors may be contributing to the stress:

It’s longer term

With the exception of essential workers, virtual work in 2020 and 2021 was the norm. But many anticipated an eventual end to widespread remote scenarios and were willing to make what they thought would be temporary adjustments. Still others have taken the opportunity to re-evaluate their space. Now that a hybrid and virtual scenario will likely be ongoing, more permanent decisions will need to be made—and those decisions are complicated. A temporary change felt manageable, but shifting the paradigm of the office environment for good feels daunting.

One size does not fit all

When the work-from-home mandate was the only solution to keep people healthy, there was little debate about what needed to be done. No one needed to negotiate because a singular approach—everyone staying home—applied to all. But now that the solution isn’t obvious, and each individual’s circumstance is unique, leaders are in murky waters. How many days? Who can work from home? What do they need? Addressing each employee’s personal needs and circumstances is complicated.

It’s being driven, in part, by employees

Employees are speaking up and finding a voice that they didn’t have in the early virtual days. Many are letting their organizations know, in no uncertain terms, that their expectations have shifted about their working conditions and they are unwilling to go back to the way it was. Instead of accepting organizational policy, saluting sharply, and marching back into the office, employees are asking, “Why? Why exactly do we need to come into the office when we’ve gotten it done so well from home?”

It challenges elements of leadership

If individuals were productive, distributive decision making increased, and they were able to hold themselves and their teams accountable, how does that shape the role of the leader? For confident leaders, this team empowerment is a positive development. But for others, who define leadership success by a corner office and the ability to peer over their employees’ shoulders, a more permanent hybrid scenario threatens to undermine the value of their role.

Execution of company policy is on the backs of frontline and leaders of leaders

Leaders are exhausted. After successfully navigating through operational issues to address productivity and personal issues to ensure individuals stay connected, they would like to return to something they know. Instead, they find themselves in the crosshairs of company policy and the practical challenges of implementing that policy. While the C Suite mandates, “Back in the office three days,” those who lead the frontlines are acutely aware of the personal and logistical issues their teams are dealing with. They are put in a difficult situation of getting pushback from their people when they question the “Why?” of the policy.

Adjusting Your Mindset

Undoubtedly leaders will rise to the challenges presented by the new hybrid and they will successfully lead others through yet another change. They will, as they’ve done before, advocate on behalf of their people, while simultaneously respecting the needs of the organization. But it won’t be easy. Not only will they need to apply leadership skills in a new hybrid context, but they will also need to implement new policies, potentially learn different technology, and deal with the multitude of issues that will come from a team that may be physically divided. And they will need to understand each individual’s reality, including some elements of their at-home and personal family situation.  

The first place to start as they confidently take on hybrid is the leader’s mindset. Strong leaders have certain mindsets and apply them in different contexts. The “back to office” shift or hybrid shift is no exception. Our research has revealed that four key mindsets, including growth, inclusive, agile, and enterprise, are important in leader success. When a leader applies these mindsets in a variety of situations, it can alter the outcome of the decisions they make and their interactions with others. Holding these mindsets front-and-center can be the start of tackling hybrid angst.

Growth mindset

A growth mindset is the belief that skills and behaviors can be cultivated through effort. With this mindset, challenges, obstacles, and feedback become an opportunity to learn and grow.

As leaders transition to hybrid, a growth mindset will be front and center. Leaders can abandon long-held assumptions about how to get work done, bring people together, and develop careers.

Inclusive mindset

This mindset involves the belief that contribution and performance are unleashed in an inclusive environment. With this mindset, we see differences in how others think and behave as advantages to be leveraged.

The transition to hybrid will include an increased focus on inclusivity. Employees are speaking up and want to be involved in the decision-making process regarding hybrid arrangements. Equity will be a key focus in leader communications, the structure of meetings, and in the way career development is addressed to avoid an “us” vs. “them” mentality among in-office and remote team members.

Agile mindset

An agile mindset is the belief that success in a complex and volatile world requires flexibility, adaptation, innovation, and resilience. With this mindset, we fail fast and achieve success by being nimble in the way we think and act.

Last year’s pivot taught leaders much about agility, and they will benefit from this learning. These agile lessons will help remind leaders that they can approach their role differently, as they’ve had to do, and move with speed. An agile mindset includes keeping an open mind to how to use technology to support different ways of working.

Enterprise Mindset

This mindset is the belief that success is maximized when we prioritize the needs of the larger organization. With this mindset, all decisions in my team or business unit are made for the greater good of the company.

A hybrid leader balances meeting individual and team needs while keeping the goals of the organization and our customers top-of-mind regardless of physical scenarios.

The new hybrid world isn’t going to magically appear by thinking it into reality. It’s going to take hard work and strong leadership. But hard work and strong leadership is what so many have demonstrated against the backdrop of profound disruption and, for many, great loss. Reimagining what is possible in a hybrid environment means thinking about things differently—thinking from a place of agility and inclusivity, with an enterprise perspective and, above all, from a perspective of growth and possibility.

About the Authors

Leah Clark

Director, Strategy and Planning, GP Strategies Corporation. Senior Director for Strategy and Planning, Leah focuses on bringing new products to market and enhancing the participant experience. She works with clients to understand their leadership and engagement challenges and consults with them on the creative solutions. Prior to joining GP Strategies, Leah had her own practice in executive coaching and consulting. She is a certified professional coach through an ICF accredited organization and is a Myers-Briggs practitioner. Leah has over seventeen years of experience in marketing, strategy, and product development in a corporate environment. She has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the fields of psychology and organizational psychology. She has a Master’s of Arts degree in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Sociology from Boston College where she graduated summa cum laude.

A good friend of mine came out to me a few years ago. In the quiet of my kitchen, she told me she was gay. And in that moment, everything changed. And in that moment, everything was the same. For me, that’s the paradox of being an ally. By definition, as an ally, you’re supposed to be an advocate. You’re meant to be a supporter. You’re someone who defends and promotes. But those words—advocate, support, defend, promote—they are words of doing, words of action. And, sometimes, as it was for me with my friend in the quiet of the kitchen, it’s more about being than doing. Being present. Being mindful. Being aware. Being what a friend needed me to be. I needed to be a good listener and a holder of space for another person who needed to speak her truth.

I’m neither a perfect person, nor a perfect ally. I don’t want to offer homespun advice on what an ally should or shouldn’t do. I can simply share what I know worked in that moment, and in the days since:   

• Respect what she wanted to talk about, who she wanted to talk to, and when she was ready to share more.
• Honor who she was as a person—all of her—in all facets of her life.
• Recognize decisions about who else she wanted to tell and how she wanted to tell them had no right answers, was something she needed to decide, and something I needed to support.
• Check in periodically to see how things are going and let her know I was there for her.
• Celebrate the relief that she felt in her ability to be authentic with someone close to her and the fact that she chose me as that person.

Maybe these words are too soft for a leadership blog. This isn’t the “tough stuff” we need to feed leaders to make them successful. Or is it? We talk about creating an environment of psychological safety and the very tangible benefits in terms of innovation, contribution, and productivity. These issues—respecting each other, honoring our differences, recognizing individual differences, and checking in with each other—are ways we can create psychological safety, not only in our kitchens, but in our offices and Zoom rooms, so that, ultimately, we can celebrate. Celebrate the right we all should have—to live our authentic lives. Celebrate the humanity. Celebrate love and acceptance. Celebrate the pride that has come not only to define the LGBTQ+ community but those who are lucky enough to call themselves allies.

About the Authors

Leah Clark

Director, Strategy and Planning, GP Strategies Corporation. Senior Director for Strategy and Planning, Leah focuses on bringing new products to market and enhancing the participant experience. She works with clients to understand their leadership and engagement challenges and consults with them on the creative solutions. Prior to joining GP Strategies, Leah had her own practice in executive coaching and consulting. She is a certified professional coach through an ICF accredited organization and is a Myers-Briggs practitioner. Leah has over seventeen years of experience in marketing, strategy, and product development in a corporate environment. She has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the fields of psychology and organizational psychology. She has a Master’s of Arts degree in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Sociology from Boston College where she graduated summa cum laude.

The challenge―you want to move to a digital learning approach for leadership development, but you are concerned about keeping human connection alive. You need something that uses technology, but you are teaching soft skills. You want to make it fun and engaging, but you want learners to take it seriously. The answer? BLEND it like you mean it.

Blended leadership learning journeys have been around for years―that’s nothing new. What is new is the range of options available to create a truly blended journey, fueled by new digital learning solutions, in an ever-increasing number of expanded options. It can be overwhelming and hard to know where to start.

The key is in finding a strategic way to bring different elements of learning together to accomplish your learning outcomes, while simultaneously engaging and exciting the learner. At the same time, ensuring applicability of the learning is critical. 

Just as great chefs must determine the best way to balance the combination of food, seasoning, and cooking techniques, so too must learning professionals bring together content, learner needs, and modalities to create the right blend. And while learner tastes are varied, there are a few essential ingredients that can guide any new creation.

Why is the BLEND more important than ever? Digital solutions that create more collaboration but less connection can leave leaders feeling like they’ve been offered a feast, but walk away from the table still feeling hungry. We need to appeal to all learners—those who want more technology and those who crave greater human connection. We need to engage extroverted learners who thrive on conversation, and introverts who need time to process their thoughts and express themselves using the written word. We need to keep the experience interesting and varied to avoid learner fatigue.

One thing that the pandemic taught us is the way we work doesn’t need to be an “all-or-nothing” proposition. Blending thoughtfully and intentionally isn’t hard if you follow a few core principles, ensure you have the right ingredients, and season to taste.

About the Authors

Leah Clark

Director, Strategy and Planning, GP Strategies Corporation. Senior Director for Strategy and Planning, Leah focuses on bringing new products to market and enhancing the participant experience. She works with clients to understand their leadership and engagement challenges and consults with them on the creative solutions. Prior to joining GP Strategies, Leah had her own practice in executive coaching and consulting. She is a certified professional coach through an ICF accredited organization and is a Myers-Briggs practitioner. Leah has over seventeen years of experience in marketing, strategy, and product development in a corporate environment. She has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the fields of psychology and organizational psychology. She has a Master’s of Arts degree in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Sociology from Boston College where she graduated summa cum laude.

Women’s history month comes to a close at what feels like a turning point for women in the workforce and in leadership. It’s a confusing landscape. In the most senior-level leadership roles in the United States, we see women making history: Kamala Harris is the first woman and person of color to hold the office of vice president. The United States is on track to have 12 cabinet positions held by women—including eight women of color (Harris included)—shattering previous records.

But what do Kamala Harris and these 11 other women have to do with the many women in leadership across the United States who need to work but who are also being pulled heavily toward home with children to care for and virtual school to support? Are we at a positive inflection point, or is there more work to do, given how many women are struggling to remain employed and hold onto the progress they’ve made advancing their careers?

Countless recent articles and research have highlighted the layers to the challenges facing women in the workforce. The crushing weight of the pandemic has forced record numbers of women to leave their jobs, either temporarily or permanently. Nearly three million women in the United States have dropped out of the labor force in the past year, plagued by the competing responsibilities of work and home.¹ Further complicating the challenge is the fact that gender roles continue to dictate that women bear the brunt of home and childcare pressures, reinforcing the inequities they have, for years, battled against. 

The result? Not just lost wages and the personal toll, but lost productivity and lost innovation. This loss will hit companies where it often hurts the most—the bottom line. Company profits and share performance is almost 50 percent higher when women are in leadership positions.² More women and people of color means greater diversity and the increased likelihood that new talent will be motivated to join companies.

Just as women are reaching previously unimaginable professional successes, many have been forced to abandon them—and the companies lose out too.

How do we address this paradox? Do we celebrate our successes? Or do we redouble our efforts to support women in all areas of the workforce, including leadership positions? The answer is, we do both.

We need to take actions at macro and micro levels to address the challenges women face, not only to advance to senior-level positions, but, for many, to simply remain employed while balancing the additional burden, and joys, of caring for children and maintaining household responsibilities. We need to look at the boulders, and the pebbles, that are in the way of further progress.  

Here are a few ways to address the paradox:

• Examine policies and procedures. Examine policies and practices to evaluate who is being hired and promoted. Are those policies inclusive? Is there an inherent disadvantage in policies for working moms? Look for hidden biases that might disadvantage women and create barriers to entry. For example, screening criteria that look for gaps in employment can disadvantage working moms whose lapses come from pregnancy, childbirth, and caring for small children. 
  • Ensure that you are hiring for qualifications and not for “fit,” which can often be code for “like us,” so you can improve diversity.  If, as an organization, you articulate the value of inclusion, make sure that your corporate policies and leadership practices are, in fact, consistent with that value. 
  • Extend the same transparency to promotional practices. Be clear about what standards individuals need to meet in order to move up, and evaluate all individuals equally and fairly against those standards. 

• Be an ally. By taking an active role in advancing the culture of inclusion through intentional efforts, you can become an ally. Attend Employee Resource Groups, take on policy and procedure review, and support policies such as flex time and paid parental leave.    

• Self reflect. Ask yourself what you are doing as a leader to let the women on your team know that they are heard and valued. What are you hearing from the women in your organization? What are they saying they need to be successful? Have you asked that question and then truly listened for understanding?
  • Sharpen your active listening skills and notice how often the women on your team contribute. Are they getting equal “airtime”? Are their voices being diminished or amplified? When they contribute a strong idea, is that idea validated and carried forward? Or does that only happen when it’s repeated or reframed by a male colleague? Anchor back to their contributions and acknowledge their ideas.
  • Draw out your more reticent employees and give them the space to share their thoughts at a pace that works for them and respects their communication style.

• Be a sponsor. Sponsors are people who actively champion a project, group, or person and use their positional power, expertise, advocacy, and influence to help others. Be a sponsor by exploring development opportunities—both formal and informal—for the women on your team. Learning journeys, stretch assignments, coaching, and mentoring are opportunities for employees to develop. Proactively engage in career conversations and help women expand their career communities so they can network more easily. When your organization is discussing promotions, make a conscious effort to advocate for the contributions of the women in your team.

• Take action. Be responsible for yourself but also hold others accountable. Watch your words and those of others. The words that we say matter and the context in which we say them matters. Women who are on the receiving end of verbal or nonverbal behavior or actions that make them feel less than or othered, often known as microaggressions, feel their impact profoundly.
  • Tune in to these painful slights and spend time reflecting on their impact and strategizing how you can address them. Speak up when you see them happening, even if those conversations are difficult. Model the behaviors of an inclusive leader.
  • Empathize by putting yourself in the seats of the working moms in your organization.  This doesn’t mean swapping stories about your kids’ latest escapades. Instead, stop and tune in to what these moms share. Put yourself in the shoes, in the mind, in the heart of that parent to understand the struggle. Do you hear the pain and frustration? Listening to working moms is about relating in a way that gives space for the struggle to be heard and not judged. Because the struggle is real. 

So, what is the single biggest thing that leaders, men and women, can do in your organization to address the paradox—to celebrate women’s accomplishments while continuing to support the women in your organization? From Washington to Zoom calls to the kitchen tables of working moms, what can leaders do to support the women on their teams? In short, clear away obstacles—both big and small. The obstacles that prevent good, strong, talented women from being hired and advancing. And the obstacles that prevent them from speaking up, staying engaged, or simply remaining employed. As leaders, that’s our job. Whether it’s a barrier to inclusive hiring or challenges associated with childcare, women aren’t asking us to solve their problems. But what we can do is partner with them to clear the obstacles that are in the way of their solution. Work together to take the boulders and the pebbles and line them up so they no longer get in the way, but instead create a path to greater progress.

¹ Pew Research

²Sundiatu Dixon-Fyle, Kevin Dolan, Vivian Hunt, and Sara Prince, “Diversity wins: How inclusion matters,” May 19, 2020.

About the Authors

Leah Clark

Director, Strategy and Planning, GP Strategies Corporation. Senior Director for Strategy and Planning, Leah focuses on bringing new products to market and enhancing the participant experience. She works with clients to understand their leadership and engagement challenges and consults with them on the creative solutions. Prior to joining GP Strategies, Leah had her own practice in executive coaching and consulting. She is a certified professional coach through an ICF accredited organization and is a Myers-Briggs practitioner. Leah has over seventeen years of experience in marketing, strategy, and product development in a corporate environment. She has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the fields of psychology and organizational psychology. She has a Master’s of Arts degree in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Sociology from Boston College where she graduated summa cum laude.

Turn the page on 2020. Leave it behind. It’s tempting to do. Millions of individuals worldwide have been infected. Thousands of lives lost. A healthcare system strained to the breaking point. Economies in tatters–job loss, small businesses shuttered, families struggling to pay rent or pay for food. Reminders of the systemic presence of racial injustice that have amplified conversations and action, but have also caused additional racial trauma for so many.

It’s hard to find the positives, the light, the path forward. We talk about resiliency–but resiliency implies a bouncing back to where we were and where we can’t go back. Too much has changed. Our eyes have been opened to our collective vulnerability–to our impact on each other physically, psychologically, emotionally, and economically. We need to reimagine what our world is going to be like as we start to take tentative steps into 2021 with hope.

But before we can leave behind a year that has taken so much away from us, we need to understand what this year has given us. We’ve gained lessons about leadership and new perspectives on Trust, Empowerment, Accountability, Community, and Humanity. What did 2020 TEACH us?

• Trust – 2020 reminded us how important trust is to all relationships including those between leaders and their teams. Employees have looked to their leaders, during this year of great uncertainty, and asked them to be transparent in their communication and interactions, even when the news wasn’t always good. They’ve asked them to be reliable by showing up regularly and helping them overcome new challenges. And they’ve looked to them to be selfless and understanding to the personal challenges brought about by home schooled children, social isolation, increased fear, and anxiety. More than ever, leaders have shown up authentically for their people and expressed their own vulnerabilities during a time when no one was immune to stress and strain. Transparency, reliability, authenticity, selflessness–key elements of trust that 2020 has illuminated as being important to a trusting relationship. Teachable moment: Leadership is less about follow up, more about trust. The more trust you give, the more your people will trust you as a leader.

• Empowerment – The immediate pivot to alternate approaches to working shifted the paradigm of the leader-employee relationship. This was not a year of leaders bestowing empowerment on others, but of employees making decisions and taking actions of their own accord because they simply knew what needed to get done. Without immediate physical access to leaders and colleagues, and with the need to respond quickly, employees answered client calls, delivered products, or innovated in some way to get the job done. Empowerment is about feeling that you can make decisions and take action without asking permission–in 2020 employees “just did it” and demonstrated that they know what is required to be successful. Teachable moment: Continue to give power away–let your employees make decisions and support them.
• Accountability – This year amplified accountability in its many layers. Virtual teams became the norm and leaders realized that just because they couldn’t see their teams working it didn’t mean it wasn’t happening. Productivity and engagement of employees remained constant despite alternate ways of working. People proved they could get-it-done and be accountable for their contributions. On a larger scale, accountability has been amplified in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion. There is greater awareness for the fact that conversations on DE&I aren’t enough. Organizations, leaders, and employees need to move beyond conversations–they need to be accountable for taking actions consistent with creating a culture of inclusivity. Changing policies, looking at hiring and other practices, and sharing power are just some of the ways accountability around DE&I has flourished. Teachable moment: Focus on actions that produce desired outcomes more so than physical proximity or words.
• Community – 2020 simultaneously wrecked and bolstered community. What it took away in the form of human contact, in the form of physical proximity, it gave back in spirit. This year reminded leaders and their people that their groups are more than teams of workers–they are a community of individuals who support, share, and need each other to thrive. Community was reinforced in the creative ways people found to connect with each other socially–through Zoom Happy Hours, socially distanced gatherings or through the personal conversations that have increasingly marked the start of meetings and conversations across the globe. Community emerged in the shared purpose employees felt in meeting customer needs despite obstacles. And it was perhaps most pronounced in the frontline and healthcare workers who put their lives on the line to serve their communities. Teachable moment: Community is a more powerful motivator than task–keep it alive on your teams.
• Humanity – Thank you, 2020, for reminding us that we are not the center of the universe. Even the best of leaders can’t control everything. We are human beings who fail, who get sick, who care about each other, who lift each other up, and who need each other. 2020 taught us everything about empathy–putting ourselves in other people’s shoes emotionally and cognitively. That doesn’t need to change with the arrival of a vaccine. We will continue to be human beings who will struggle and succeed. The more we can seek to understand the unique experiences of our colleagues, the more connected we will be. It is that shared humanity that reminds us that together we can achieve anything. Teachable moment: Connecting with each other as human beings shouldn’t end with a vaccine. Empathy should be a #2021goal.

2020 is a wasted year–but only if we let it be. There are things this year can teach us that we can carry forward to grow a better world, organization, leader, employee, and human being. Trust, empowerment, accountability, community, and humanity–let’s do more than rebound, let’s take these lessons forward and emerge a little stronger and also a little kinder.

About the Authors

Leah Clark

Director, Strategy and Planning, GP Strategies Corporation. Senior Director for Strategy and Planning, Leah focuses on bringing new products to market and enhancing the participant experience. She works with clients to understand their leadership and engagement challenges and consults with them on the creative solutions. Prior to joining GP Strategies, Leah had her own practice in executive coaching and consulting. She is a certified professional coach through an ICF accredited organization and is a Myers-Briggs practitioner. Leah has over seventeen years of experience in marketing, strategy, and product development in a corporate environment. She has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the fields of psychology and organizational psychology. She has a Master’s of Arts degree in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Sociology from Boston College where she graduated summa cum laude.

In June 1999, President Bill Clinton proclaimed June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month; 10 years later, President Barack Obama expanded the commemoration by declaring June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. And this month, the Supreme Court ruled that LGBTQ workers are protected from job discrimination. As leaders, it’s important to stop and reflect on the idea of pride and what it means in the context of inclusion and the psychological safety of our employees.

Pride is about being able to express ourselves. It’s about being able to share all parts of who we are. It’s about being able to bring our whole selves to any situation—including work situations.

When we are given a safe space to express ourselves, we speak up—not just about who we are, but what we think. And those ideas fuel new approaches or innovation. Those ideas highlight concerns that prevent failures. Those ideas benefit the leader and the organization. But do we need to bring in the personal elements of who we are to freely express our thoughts on topics related to a project? Organizational goals? What a client needs? In other words, can’t we speak freely on those topics without necessarily expressing pride about who we are as people?

Human beings are complex. We often compartmentalize and are selective about how much of our true selves we let others see.  Keeping certain beliefs private and not showing our true selves to others may seem like a good idea, but it can do way more harm than good. When leaders fail to cultivate an environment where employees feel safe to bring their whole selves to work, they don’t enable their people to show up with pride in who they are.

When we don’t have pride enough to be ourselves at work, we spend precious time and energy hiding what we don’t want others to see. We might navigate discussions about how we spent our weekend to avoid talking about our partner. We might monitor our body language, potentially concerned how a mannerism might be interpreted by our coworkers. The term for concealing something about one’s self to avoid making other people feel uncomfortable or to lessen attention to a given characteristic is called “covering.” When we spend time covering or monitoring how we appear, we have less time and little focus for the task at hand.

The cognitive stress associated with covering occupies an individual’s mind and impacts how and what we contribute. Mindshare is limited, so using any of it to self-edit detracts from an individual’s presence and contributions. If all portions of our mindshare were allocated to the work that needs to be done or the problem that needs to be solved, we could be more productive, creative, and genuine. So you see, pride and inclusion in the workplace can have a huge effect on a business.

What Leaders Can Do

While how much of our personal selves we want to share with coworkers should always be a choice, our leaders must create the conditions that give us the confidence that we can be ourselves. How can leaders create an environment where individuals are proud to bring their whole selves to the team? How can leaders create a team of individuals who feel good about the contributions they are making and proud of who they are—proud of their race, sexual preference, gender, or age.

Our research on leadership mindsets tells us that the most significant thing a leader can do to demonstrate an inclusive mindset is to reach out to individuals who look, think, and behave differently from them (43%). Leaders who responded to our research survey also acknowledged the need to recognize their own unconscious bias and to account for it proactively (19%) and to take actions to stop microaggressions or other biased behavior (15%).

What leaders also acknowledge in their responses is that being able to surface those biases is one of their biggest challenges. The leaders we surveyed told us they felt it was “important for them to reflect and understand their own biases and to uncover how those biases impact their decisions,” and to “recognize systemic biases ingrained in their company’s culture which are difficult to change.” They told us, “Unconscious bias is there even if you think your behavior doesn’t show this. We all make instant judgments on people, based on our inane value system developed from birth by our surroundings, upbringing, peer groups, and parents or careers.”

The inclusive mindset is one of our four mindsets for a reason: Thinking inclusively isn’t something a leader should do when they get around to it or because June is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. Having this mindset is about leading inclusively and demonstrating inclusivity in the context of all leadership actions. How can you delegate inclusively? Coach inclusively? Lead through change inclusively?

Thinking and behaving inclusively needs to become part of the fabric of leadership DNA. The more leaders create environments where individuals feel proud to bring their whole selves to their jobs, the more included and safe people will feel, creating situations where individuals and their organizations can thrive.

About the Authors

Leah Clark

Director, Strategy and Planning, GP Strategies Corporation. Senior Director for Strategy and Planning, Leah focuses on bringing new products to market and enhancing the participant experience. She works with clients to understand their leadership and engagement challenges and consults with them on the creative solutions. Prior to joining GP Strategies, Leah had her own practice in executive coaching and consulting. She is a certified professional coach through an ICF accredited organization and is a Myers-Briggs practitioner. Leah has over seventeen years of experience in marketing, strategy, and product development in a corporate environment. She has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the fields of psychology and organizational psychology. She has a Master’s of Arts degree in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Sociology from Boston College where she graduated summa cum laude.

Leadership research conducted by GP Strategies uncovered the need for four particular mindsets to lead effectively: growth, inclusive, agile, and enterprise. Inside a steady-state or business-as-usual environment, these mindsets can ground leaders, helping them support their teams, each other, and their organization. But what about times of uncertainty or crisis? Do these mindsets go out the window in favor of something else? Quite the opposite. During times of uncertainty, these four kinds of mindsets can help refocus leaders on the attitudes they need to succeed.

Growth – A growth mindset reminds us to learn from our setbacks and challenges and use them to improve. When situations are challenging—customer demands are shifting, markets are in flux, employee roles are being changed or eliminated—it can be hard to remain positive. A growth mindset is an acknowledgment of current realities combined with a commitment to how you’ll address those challenges differently. How are your customers’ needs shifting and how can you be better prepared to meet them going forward? With organizational changes, how can you alter what you’re doing to support the organization? Is there something new you can learn or take on to contribute in new or different ways?

Look around at the ways businesses and communities are flexing to change what they deliver to their customers and students. Adaptations like curbside pickup for food, distance learning for homebound children, or Zoom meetings to connect family members are real-time examples of the growth mindset—creative ways to accomplish goals through different means. When we move forward in spite of obstacles and look for new ways to accomplish tasks, we make room for growth and skill development. From there, it’s possible to move forward with confidence and instill that confidence in our teams.

Inclusive – Times of uncertainty and change are also times where you need your team to step up and bring their ideas and support to what you’re trying to accomplish. When a leader has an inclusive mindset, they recognize the need to make sure they are seeking the input of all members of their team and not simply falling back on the thoughts and opinions of a trusted few. They can do this by actively reaching out to get feedback and ideas from those with diverse perspectives. In addition, creating an environment of psychological safety is particularly important during times of uncertainty because you want your team to feel comfortable sharing all ideas. If a team member feels pressure to “get on board” even if they have doubts or other ideas, you run the risk of repressing information that might be useful. Diverse opinions can reveal new ways of adapting work from home scenarios to be more sensitive to working parents or better address the time zone differences of global team members. An inclusive leader helps all team members feel as though their unique differences and opinions are relevant at all times—including times of change.

Agile – Agility might be the most important mindset during times of change and uncertainty. When confronted with change, some people (including leaders) are so overwhelmed that they freeze, unable to act in a way that moves them, or their team, forward. You yourself might want to hold off on making decisions until the best decision comes into focus or you gather more information, but playing the waiting game and choosing inaction may not be the best choice. An agile leader is increasingly comfortable with ambiguous situations, is able to make decisions with incomplete information, and helps their team take actions that propel them forward. Agility can be seen in the adaptations leaders and their people have made to leverage technology in new ways to keep their teams connected and contributing. An agile leader cultivates personal resiliency and encourages their team to do the same. The result of agility can be new and innovative ideas, opportunities to get things done differently, or approaches that might not otherwise have surfaced if a leader didn’t to pivot from their current reality.

Enterprise – Change can cause leaders, and their teams, to lose focus. You may be distracted by world events, volatile market conditions, or upheavals in your personal life such as working from home while juggling family responsibilities. Under these circumstances, it’s easy to become disengaged and feel unsure where to spend your time and energy. One way to refocus is to tap into your enterprise mindset and think about the contributions you need to make to your team members, organization, and customers. Reminding yourself, and your team, of the shared purpose you have to make contributions that benefit your clients and customers can keep you focused on the task at hand. Likewise, research shows that the best enterprise leaders link the work their team is doing to organizational goals. When you remind yourself of what or who you’re working for and re-center around the efforts you can make to contribute, you can increase your (and your team’s) engagement.

During times of change and uncertainty, there’s a lot we can’t control. But with some conscious effort, you can align your thinking and bring forth an attitude of growth, inclusivity, agility, and enterprise thinking to help you move forward. And when you align your thoughts, your actions will follow, further enabling you to lead yourself, and others, through change.

About the Authors

Leah Clark

Director, Strategy and Planning, GP Strategies Corporation. Senior Director for Strategy and Planning, Leah focuses on bringing new products to market and enhancing the participant experience. She works with clients to understand their leadership and engagement challenges and consults with them on the creative solutions. Prior to joining GP Strategies, Leah had her own practice in executive coaching and consulting. She is a certified professional coach through an ICF accredited organization and is a Myers-Briggs practitioner. Leah has over seventeen years of experience in marketing, strategy, and product development in a corporate environment. She has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the fields of psychology and organizational psychology. She has a Master’s of Arts degree in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Sociology from Boston College where she graduated summa cum laude.

While some have been monitoring the threat of COVID-19 for a while, for many, the gravity of the situation seemed to spike incredibly quickly, turning our world upside down. Leaders in government, healthcare, and business are scrambling to deal with an unprecedented situation. They are being pressed to make decisions and communicate with speed in the absence of complete information and against a backdrop of chaos and anxiety.

Employees are looking to their leaders to be a steady presence during a time of chaos. How can leaders communicate competence while maintaining the human element of connection and why are these two elements so critical?
In a recent webinar I answered this important question and shared a framework and practical communication tips for keeping you and your people on track and engaged. To watch the full session, you can download it here.

After the presentation, several great questions came up from the audience that I want to share with you. Below are those questions and my best answers. This is an ongoing conversation, and I encourage you to keep the questions coming in via the comments section at the bottom of this page.

Q: What if you make a decision with urgency on imperfect information and it’s the wrong decision? Doesn’t it dent your credibility?
A: As a leader, you won’t get it right all-the-time and it’s okay to admit that. In fact, if it’s clear a bad decision was made and you don’t acknowledge that, you will hurt your credibility. During times of uncertainty, share what you know, and what you don’t. Be transparent about your decisions and why you are making them – including the fact that you are making a decision with, perhaps, incomplete information. Acknowledge that you need to move quickly and, as one of our webinar participants stated so well, “If you are clear in that you have imperfect information but there is a compelling need to act quickly, your people will forgive you much more than if you hold back info until you have it 100% right.”

When you have a trusting relationship and are authentic with your team members, you will have greater credibility with them. It’s okay to share what author Terry Pearce called “allowable weaknesses” which are areas where you are vulnerable and may need help from your team. In fact, sharing this information will often serve as a rallying cry to team members who will extend themselves to shore up the areas where you need help. Your credibility is more likely to be dented if you try to hide the fact that you don’t have all the answers, have made a bad decision, or pretend to be a perfect leader.

Q: How do you guide a leader on recovering when they’ve failed to connect? Can they recover?
A: A leader can recover if they fail to connect, but it’s something that most likely will require an intentional effort. Working on the essential element of connection, trust, is a good place to start. Trust is the foundation of any connected relationship. Connection happens when leaders express empathy, when they are authentic. However, to be both empathetic and authentic, you need self-awareness. If self-awareness does not come naturally to you as a leader, get coaching from a professional coach or from someone in your organization who can help you look inward, reflect, and become more aware of how you are coming across to others. You can recover if you are not able to establish connection with others, but it will require self-awareness and intention of action to build-it-up.

Q: How would you approach a CEO or business leader that has not been doing or following these communication practices?
A: It can be difficult to approach a CEO or business leader who hasn’t been putting these communication practices in place because I suspect the implication is that he or she thinks they have been doing just fine in their communication. And the further up you go in the organization, the harder it can be for someone to be courageous enough to let the leader know their communications are not as effective. If that leader has a trusted colleague who can provide the feedback, consider leveraging that relationship. Alternatively, an executive coach who can bring an outside perspective, be objective, and deliver tough messages in a way that they will be heard by a CEO or a business leader is another option. Finally, although not as timely, if your organization runs an employee engagement survey, or does pulse surveying, consider a question that will allow this issue to surface. Whether through a trusted colleague, outside coach, or survey feedback, the message needs to be shared objectively with the leader in a way that helps them understand the impact of that communication and its importance.

Q: How do we bridge the gap between furloughed staff and those left behind – prepare to rebuild our team when all return?
A: That is a great question and something I think leaders will be struggling with for a while to come. I think it’s important to consider both the furloughed staff as well as those who have maintained employment and may have “survivors guilt.” To the extent your organizational policy allows it, maintaining contact with your furloughed employees can help ease the transition back. This is not to say that you should be reaching out to them with extraordinary detail about the work that is happening while they are away – that could come across as insensitive to the fact that they are no longer involved. But keeping in contact at a cadence that feels appropriate to them will maintain connection. Upon return, it may take some time for the team to begin feeling cohesive again. First, get them realigned to the mission of the organization and the goals of your team – getting them to all rally around their shared purpose can bring them back together and focus them in the same direction. Second, build, or rebuild, the trust that they have in you as a leader and that they have in each other. Related to this, continue to work on creating an environment of psychological safety so that all team members feel safe contributing, surfacing new ideas, and feeling like those ideas will be valued by you and other team members. You might also need to more consciously create opportunities for rapport building – even if those happen virtually through ice breakers at the start of your meetings or other ways of sharing on an appropriate personal level.

Q: What’s the best way to influence other leaders to practice what was presented today?
A: Share the webinar link! In all seriousness, I think, if a leader wants to get better, they will be hope for some, sharing the evidence – articles and research – that demonstrate leaders who have both competence and connection are more successful will sway some. Still, others might be willing to practice this because they want to become better leader.

Q: How do you get around people filtering for what they want to hear?
A: This is tough because you can’t control another individual’s self-awareness and emotional intelligence and what you are asking about requires both. And the way you might help an individual with this issue can be highly dependent on your relationship with them. Are they a senior executive with whom you work? Is it difficult because of their level and the challenge with giving upwards feedback? Is the individual a direct report for whom you need to provide performance feedback? The nature of your relationship and the type of information you want them to hear will, in part, drive a good approach.

Be as clear as possible – use language that is direct and specific. Communicate frequently – if there are long gaps, people will fill-in-the-blanks and alter the message in a way you, perhaps, didn’t intend. When communicating one-on-one, you can check their understanding by using the simple statement, “Tell me more,” as a way to understand what is happening with the receiver of the message and as a way to determine if you are coming across the way you want to.

Finally, how you come across to others and your ability to give an individual more direct feedback will be highly dependent on the level of trust you have with that individual. In a relationship that has a strong foundation of trust, there is a greater ability to be direct with the information you share or the feedback you give and know that it will be received with positive intent. In this instances, you will be in a position to help clarify the message if you sense that filtering is taking place and your message is not getting through.

Q: How frequent is frequent? What do you share if you have no new news? I am trying to communicate to furloughed employees a couple times a week but struggle with keeping it fresh and on point.
A: If you are sensing that there is nothing new and the contact is not serving either you or the employee, it’s okay to decrease the level of contact, but you should be transparent about it. If you aren’t open about why you are going to reach out less often, your employee might start to wonder why you aren’t reaching out weekly and you run the risk that they start to fill in the void with misinformation. There is no magic answer to the frequency with which you should communicate with your furloughed employee but it is important to openly discuss the frequency that’s right for them – and for you. The current crisis is a strange combination of things moving quickly (news, counts, etc.) and everything standing still (no schools, no travel, some quarantines), which can make it hard to figure out how to handle communication. Establish a general agreed-to cadence with your employee, share what you know when you know it, be transparent and specific, and share what you don’t know. And remember to communicate for human connection in addition to communicate updates or logistical details.

Q: What do you do with, “In times of crisis, we need to just tell people what to do?” We have worked to create a collaborative space and staff are struggling with the change.
A: There is a difference between a true crisis and a place of uncertainty. In a true crisis, for example, with a medical situation or a first responder, the emergency may require more directive communication. In a situation that is a true crisis, it might be okay to tell someone what to do to save a life or present a dramatic situation from becoming worse. If my child were about to walk into the street without looking both ways, it’s okay to yell to get their attention and divert disaster. But I wouldn’t want to communicate that way on a regular basis.

What I think most business leaders are dealing with today is uncertainty more so than crisis. And I believe that, with uncertainty, you do have a moment-or-two to communicate in a more collaborative way. When you give space for your people and your teams to contribute their own ideas that will feel more empowered to take the actions required to help you, and your organization be successful. They may even surface ideas and approaches you might not have thought of that could be equally, if not more helpful, in solving team or organizational challenges. The most important thing you can do to make sure they feel comfortable doing this, is to create an environment of psychological safety – one in which individuals are free to surface ideas and know that those contributions will be valued even if they are not, ultimately, chosen. This last point is particularly clear because creating the space for collaboration doesn’t mean, as a leader, you have to go with what the group surfaces – it’s okay to make a decision that wasn’t surfaced by a team member. The important thing is that the contribution, and the person, felt considered and valued despite the ultimate decision that you, as a leader, will need to make.

Q: Any suggestions on how to face your fear when you don’t have all the answers or meaningful ways to help your employees and push through it?
A: I think being honest about those fears is an important thing for you, as a leader, to get through it. Finding a trusted colleague, or a coach, that you can talk with to sort through your emotions and your less logical thoughts can help you re-center. Self-talk can also help you get out some of your more negative emotions and help you shift to a more growth oriented mindset. Practicing self-care as you deal with change as a human being is also important – make sure you are taking care of yourself physically by eating well, exercising, getting sleep and meditating, if that is something that is accessible to you.

When you are in a better place, you can then turn to others and help them through the change. First, expressing empathy with your employees is a good starting point. Put yourself in their shoes, ask them how they are doing, and then tune in to their response. Second, help keep them focused on the contributions you need them to make to the organization and like those contributions to something bigger to increase their engagement.

When you need to communicate, be transparent about the fact that you don’t have all the answers. Communicate what you know, and what you don’t know. It’s okay to share your “allowable weaknesses” with your team – this is not to say you burden them with your own range of emotions. It is for this reason that you, as a leader, get support for yourself. But letting your team know where you have some challenges and could use their support typically gives them the opportunity to rally around you and provide even stronger contributions to ensure success.

About the Authors

Leah Clark

Director, Strategy and Planning, GP Strategies Corporation. Senior Director for Strategy and Planning, Leah focuses on bringing new products to market and enhancing the participant experience. She works with clients to understand their leadership and engagement challenges and consults with them on the creative solutions. Prior to joining GP Strategies, Leah had her own practice in executive coaching and consulting. She is a certified professional coach through an ICF accredited organization and is a Myers-Briggs practitioner. Leah has over seventeen years of experience in marketing, strategy, and product development in a corporate environment. She has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the fields of psychology and organizational psychology. She has a Master’s of Arts degree in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Sociology from Boston College where she graduated summa cum laude.

With the growing threat of COVID-19, many organizations are asking their employees to work from home. Putting that into practice, however, can prove difficult. So, what steps can we take to ensure a smooth transition from the office to the home? And how can leaders best manage their virtual teams?

We are facing unprecedented challenges in both our work and personal lives. Many schools have been required to assemble plans that allow their students to learn remotely, and various organizations have imposed travel bans and restrictions, including a work from home policy to reduce close contact.

While this scenario limits exposure to the virus, working remotely can prove challenging and leaders need to be prepared to support their teams. This support is especially important when the upheaval in our personal and professional lives is so profound.

Here are eight insights for leaders to consider when managing their virtual teams:

• When you connect with your people, check in and see how they are doing on a personal level. Don’t dive right into your to-do list and contingency plan for getting things done. Recognize that they are dealing with stress and anxiety associated with the situation, and could benefit from someone to talk about how they are feeling and coping. Let them know you care about them; this opens up the door to communication.
• Encourage your people to practice self-care. While many working adults are trying to juggle what you expect of them, chances are many of them are also responsible for soothing the concerns of their children and family members, or they may have elderly parents who are increasingly at risk. Remind them to keep themselves physically and emotionally healthy.
• Keep the lines of communication open. As company policies flex-and-change, and business results are impacted negatively, share with them what you know, when you know it. In the absence of clear communication, employees may fill-in-the-gaps with incorrect information.
• Flex your emotional intelligence as you communicate, and be more vigilant about how your words may come across when sensitivities are heightened. Consider the “logic-emotion” bubble – when someone comes to you with an emotional reaction, acknowledge the emotion and express empathy first. Defusing the emotion allows for greater space for a logical discussion to happen.
• Continue making progress against individual, team, and organizational goals. Ensuring that work continues to progress and contribution is maximized is not only good for business, but it can also create some normalcy for your team members. When so much around us feels out of control, it can be helpful to see progress in the work we do and the contributions we make.
• Explore new technology. Now is the time to leverage video conference, texting, and digital platforms such as “Teams” or “Yammer” to keep communication and collaboration going, even from a distance.
• Be globally aware/sensitive. It’s clear that certain geographies are harder hit than others. When working with global partners, be aware of where they are located and be sensitive to the fact that the impact of the virus may be more pronounced where they are located.
• Model the behavior you want to encourage. Take care of yourself and practice your own self-care. As a leader, you are responsible for others, but you can’t be a support to them if you aren’t physically and emotionally as healthy as possible.

It’s easy to talk about “leadership” and “teamwork” in times of success. The true success of a leader and their team emerges in times of real personal and organization crisis. Take care of yourself, take care of your people, and know we are better when we stick together than when we suffer alone.

The leadership division of GP Strategies is adding a series of virtual leaderships sessions to their schedule to ensure leaders have the skills to lead effectively. Topics include working virtually, managing change, giving feedback, and handling resistance. Just pick a comfortable spot, and join us at the scheduled time!

About the Authors

Leah Clark

Director, Strategy and Planning, GP Strategies Corporation. Senior Director for Strategy and Planning, Leah focuses on bringing new products to market and enhancing the participant experience. She works with clients to understand their leadership and engagement challenges and consults with them on the creative solutions. Prior to joining GP Strategies, Leah had her own practice in executive coaching and consulting. She is a certified professional coach through an ICF accredited organization and is a Myers-Briggs practitioner. Leah has over seventeen years of experience in marketing, strategy, and product development in a corporate environment. She has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the fields of psychology and organizational psychology. She has a Master’s of Arts degree in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Sociology from Boston College where she graduated summa cum laude.