Make 2022 About Rejuvenation, Enlightenment, and Inclusion

Each new year, I like to identify a theme for leadership to focus on over the next 12 months, and this year’s was easy to pinpoint. In 2022, I encourage all leaders and companies to make this the year for rejuvenation, enlightenment, and inclusion. If ever we’ve collectively needed a fresh start—a chance to bring our lessons from the past and use our creativity and innovation for the future—it’s now. We’re on the heels of arguably the most difficult pair of years as a society—the COVID-19 years of 2020 and 2021—that many of us and those who report to us have ever encountered. Yet with these great challenges comes even greater opportunity for those at the helm of organizations and teams to lead with the true spirit of collaboration, inclusion for all, and a strong commitment to renewal of our leadership.

This moment in time represents a critical opportunity for organizations to prioritize becoming public servants and fostering a greater sense of community, compassion, and belonging for every employee. Leaders this year more than ever should embrace the responsibility of doing their part to ensure that the new workplace that has been forged during the pandemic aligns with the new realities of what employees need today, including empathy from inclusive, enlightened leaders. Companies and employees alike thrive when there is a balance of leadership, cognitive diversity, and opportunities to experience an integrated culture where we all can work, live, and feel our contributions are valued.

As you move toward trying to bring some fresh outlook to the new year as a leader, I encourage you to keep the following points in mind:

• Be deliberate about connection building. The last two years, we’ve all been consumed with Zoom, virtual interactions, and online everything. While these tech tools have been vital in helping us continue to communicate in crisis times, human beings thrive and exist on human interaction. Keeping in mind that some have become disconnected from leadership and from each other during this time, when it’s safe, leaders need to be deliberate about facilitating opportunities for deeper relationships and connection with their team and organizations. Be intentional about deeply listening to others and demonstrate care and compassion for people in all walks of life. Embrace the heart of leadership and see people as human first, then employee.
• Take time to personalize your relations. As you hone in on reestablishing relationships with your teams and across the organization, remember to engage in rich dialogue and help others articulate their vision of purpose and success. Explore career opportunities, coach and mentor others to build new skills to reach their potential and support them in believing in their highest self and finding their voice.
• Transcend from disruption to ideation and invention.The last two years were historical in disrupting our normal way of work and life in our organizations and company cultures, which mirror the major shifts underway in our communities and society. Pay attention, tap into the wider range of ideas, and be relentlessly curious about what can be. Leaders need to create flexible, agile, and collaborative workplaces that can throttle up and reinvent important issues such as digital acceleration, supply chain logistics, and evolving customer demographics and demands.  Remember that innovation starts when people feel comfortable bringing their whole self to work. Leaders need to create a safe place to engage others in healthy debate and empower their employees to ask questions and share their ideas.
• Foster trust and inclusion. The traditional workplace has been dismantled, which calls for leaders to build new working cultures that foster trust and inclusion. This requires increased leadership accountability to tap into and value a wider range of diverse talent. Corporations are under pressure to hire diverse talent at the board level throughout the organization but playing the numbers game will not do. This calls for collaboration, shared goals, equal and fair access to opportunities, and pay equity for all. This starts with increased accountability at the top then working its way across the organization.
• Make a fundamental mindset shift. Successful and lasting companies that are true corporate and societal citizens stand behind the greater good for all. Whether that means better health care or educational systems that ensure equal access, safety and well-being in organizations and their communities begins with a fundamental shift from “me” to “we.”

 

All of the steps above trace back to embracing the future and possessing a resilient mindset. The last two years have created a new reality: while we want to feel settled and wake up to a life of being normal, our new normal is now filled with dynamic change, or a non-static normal. As we greet this new year, may we welcome the future with gratitude. Feel confident and self–assured knowing you can go forth expressing your creativity, kindness, and compassion that opens up possibilities and opportunities that lead to a more fulfilling life. Honor your well-being, listen to your intuition, make your laugh infectious, cherish your loved ones, and shine a light of hope and goodwill for yourself and those around you.

Contact me at info@shambaughleadership.com or link to SHAMBAUGH’s offerings to learn more about SHAMBAUGH’s Coaching and Development Programs for Women, Inclusive Culture, and Fundamentals of Leadership in a Post Covid Work Environment. I’d be happy to speak at your company on how women can champion their life/career and lean into their highest leadership.    

Rebecca Shambaugh is President of SHAMBAUGH Leadership, and Founder of Women in Leadership and Learning. Rebecca is a contributing writer to Harvard Business Review, the HuffPost, and a TEDx speaker. Rebecca has been featured on CNBC, Forbes, Training Magazine, and US News and World Report.  She is author of the best-selling books It’s Not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor and Make Room for Her: Why Companies Need an Integrated Leadership Model to Achieve Extraordinary Results.

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