Why Creative Leaders must accept fear
“The true role of a leader of creative systems is not to foresee and take control of its journey, but to contain the anxiety of its members as they operate at the edge of chaos” – Ralph Stacey
Living with fear is a simple fact for modern business and anxiety an all too familiar sensation for most leaders. But this is the reality of our times, where the pace of change today is the slowest it’s ever going to be and stability has been thrown out of the window. The anacronym VUCA meaning volatility, uncertainty, chaos and ambiguity was coined by the military last century, to explain exceptional circumstances. Nowadays it defines the world in which we live. But how do you lead the way when you don’t know where you’re going? And how can you plan for success, when you can’t predict the next 5 months, let alone the next five years?
Welcome to the discomfort zone.
The trouble is that what lies beyond our status quo – is fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of getting it wrong, fear of losing our way, fear of not having the answer, fear of losing control...all of these fears work hard to keep us where we are, wrapped in the cosy illusion of being safe. So when change happens, the compulsion of business is to get from A to B as quickly and painlessly as possible. To move from the old status quo to the new status quo, where we can all heave a collective sigh of relief.
But what if there is no new ‘status quo’? Recent history would suggest that ‘B’ will only ever be just another temporary state before everything changes again. And what if creatively it’s actually more desirable to sit in the messy no-man’s land in between? After all, isn’t chaos essential to the creative process and the unknown a necessity for novel thinking? The fact is that beyond the status quo is also where experimentation and innovation exist. In our race to get through the discomfort of change, the risk is that we try to pass through the state of unknowing too quickly, and that we miss the real creative potential that lies therein.
But how do you sit in this space of ambiguity of without being paralysed by fear? And how in hell do you persuade your team to sit there with you?
The fundamental shift that leaders have to grapple with is that leadership today is no longer about being the expert in the room – and it’s certainly not about being in control. Instead it’s about being prepared to jump into chaos and help your team sprint towards the unknown. Forget the trope of the fearless leader – they don’t exist. Successful leaders are those that learn to be ok with not being ok, so they can help their teams be ok with that too…
1. Accept
“Certainty is a form of hiding. It is a way of drowning out our fear, but it's also a surefire way to fail to see what's really happening around us.” Seth Godin
One of the biggest challenges leaders face is that the world demands certainty from its organisations. From business plans, to earnings calls, to shareholder reports - we want to know what to expect from our businesses and their value is determined by their predictability. Our business norms dictate that uncertainty is the death of business and yet, ironically, the reverse is probably true.
The problem with trying to create certainty is that it can blind leaders to both reality and creative opportunity by making us stick rigidly to what we already know and be resistant to looking at things in a new light. The more we try to apply control, the less we are prepared for the unexpected and less open to new possibilities - the foundation of creative thinking. Only by accepting that we are all essentially firing in the dark, can we learn to let go of the need to be right and be more nimble at moving on when we get it wrong. As Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson note in “Rework”: “Start referring to your business plans as business guesses… and your strategic plans as strategic guesses. Now you can stop worrying about them so much.”
2. Pause
In the business world we have a bias for action, so our fear of the unknown tends to trigger intense periods of busyness, as we try to wrestle our usual MO back on top of an unfamiliar situation. We slap process around it. We throw people at it. We’re desperate to make it fit with the way we know things work. Damn it!
Unfortunately, we can’t simply apply our old formulae and predict the outcome. Instead we have to get comfortable with not knowing and that means being able to sit calmly in the midst of chaos. Unsurprisingly, this is hard for us to do, not least because our brains are wired to set our hair on fire when faced with the threat of uncertainty. But, whilst our instinct might be screaming at us to spring into action and reimpose order, pressing pause might be the smarter thing to do.
Stepping out of the fray long enough to emotionally disengage and simply observe where you’re at, enables you to take stock and refocus. Creating pauses also allows you to see the bigger picture, join the dots and create the mental space for leaps in your thinking. So when you feel yourself going into overdrive – stop. Take a breath. Remind yourself why you’re all here. Then ask yourself ‘what’s most important, right now?’ It’s a simple technique that will help ensure you respond wisely, rather than react rashly. To borrow from Kipling’s wisdom: “if you can keep your head”, it might just stop everyone else from losing theirs.
3. Create Hope
“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears” – Nelson Mandela
Purpose is one of those words that’s bandied around so much these days, it’s at risk of becoming meaningless. But when we talk about a business having a purpose, what we really want from it is hope. Hope transcends fear. It’s what gets everyone out of bed and ready to jump off the cliff with you again and again. As such, a critical aspect of leading your team through uncertainty is to create a context that gives instability a purpose – that creates hope – that makes the discomfort and anxiety worthwhile.
In their brilliant book, “The Challenger Spirit”, Khurshed Dehnugara and Claire Genkai Breeze talk about creating shared passions and giving personal meaning to your team’s work, as this is how collective ambition is built that will carry you through even the darkest of times. The authors suggest asking “What is it worth standing for?”, “What are you trying to cause?” and talking to your people in a way “that encourages them to dream”. A powerful purpose will provoke real conviction from them - not just nods of vague approval or worse, acquiescence. If that’s the response you get, you haven’t dug deep enough to emotionally connect with their ambitions. So try again. It will be worth it.
4. Build Trust
But all the hope in the world is meaningless without trust. If you want to contain the anxiety that comes with facing the unknown, then creating a safe space for your team to experiment is the bedrock of creativity and innovation. According to Amy Edmondson in her TEDx talk, this trust comes from psychological safety, which “is a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes”. When you’re breaking new ground, you can’t possibly know what will happen, so encouraging collaboration and shared learning is the only way to make real progress. Admitting you don’t know the answer and fessing up to your mistakes, is hard to do, but your being vulnerable will make it clear that everyone’s opinions are valued, their concerns are valid and their missteps are ok too.
“Courage is resistance to fear…not absence of fear” – Mark Twain
The reality is that chaos is happening all around us and in increasingly visible ways – so it’s how we choose to respond to it that will make it more or less painful and scary. For leaders this means having the courage to operate on the edge of chaos and manage the inevitable anxiety it creates. It means having the courage to ask “What are the possibilities of this?” not “How do we get out of this?”. And it means having the courage to step outside your comfort zone, again and again, to embrace the creative opportunity of the unknown. Remember this: leadership is an act not a role. It’s what you do, not who you are that matters. So next time you’ve got ‘The Fear’ – heed those wise words from Ian Brown; “Fuck everything and rumble”.
https://www.creativereview.co.uk/why-creative-leaders-must-accept-fear/