EP5.1: Skills leaders need to thrive in ongoing uncertainty

Today’s teams are faced with ongoing, unprecedented disruption. Leaders, then, are challenged to guide their teams through these new and uncertain times. Are leaders prepared?  

In this episode of LeaderLab, we are joined by Kristine Steinberg, CEO and founder of Kismet, to explore what it will take for leaders to be successful in today’s environment, and perhaps more importantly, what skills they’ll need as we move forward in this new dynamic.  

Kristine shared the following key insights with us:  

Self-awareness is critical as we navigate through an extended period of chaos:  
“Leaders are the people we’re looking to right now to help us through this time. So, you have to really consider why would someone follow me right now? Am I setting a good example of how to take care of myself as I navigate through uncertainty? Am I taking care of myself physically? Where am I feeling vulnerable or challenged and how can I get help to work through those things.”  
    The power of micro-experiences to create a sense of survival when you’re feeling burnt out:  
“Leaders are burnt out and they can’t leave the wheel of their ship. They can't actually leave and go do something that would give them the break they need. So, they have to shift to micro-experiences to create a sense of survival – talk to a friend, go for a run, or any other form of self-care that won't take up a lot of time, but will ultimately take your level of energy up even ever so slightly.” 

Leadership is about coaching, not command and control: 
“There’s a time and place to be directive and there’s a time and place to teach and advise. As a leader, you have to learn to bring people along and mobilize people and help them get inspired around their own strengths.” 

Let go of expectations to know all the answer and get comfortable designing the way forward with your team: 
“Leaders need to take the pressure off of trying to know every politically correct thing to do in the wake of a race war, equality around gender, race, culture, religion, everything. Instead, move into a new mode of listening and hearing about people’s experience, understanding what they need and responding; instead of trying to come up with the perfect equity formally.  

Meet Kristine Steinberg 

Kristine Steinberg is the CEO at Kismet, a consultancy dedicated to helping leaders become their highest selves. Kristine is a master leadership coach and guides her clients to strengthen their emotional IQ. This includes nurturing mindfulness and discipline, dissolving emotional rigidity, learning to communicate clearly and powerfully, balancing ambition with humility, how to empower colleagues and teams to grasp their true value and to navigate conflict with agility. Kristine has worked with dogged leaders from some of the vanguards of tech, business, fashion and lifestyle, including Bain & Company, Chanel, TED, LinkedIn, IBM, Adidas, Microsoft and others. Learn more about Kristine and her work at www.thisiskismet.com. 

About TILTCO 

TILTCO is a boutique consulting company that helps leaders define and execute their strategies in order to achieve extraordinary business and personal results. Founded by Tineke Keesmaat, she brings her 20 years of leadership consulting experience rooted at McKinsey & Company and Accenture to supports today’s leaders achieve exceptional results.