Over the years I’ve seen consistent patterns play out in human behavior. I’ve witnessed the sand traps, the heights, the mellow moments, and the deep recesses we can go thorough. People want to be empowered and thrive, and yet they are often and mightily challenged. What is stopping us from being our best selves more frequently? The tougher bits of life, often stemming from change and the loss, suffering, pain, and chaos that can ensue.
I had a client in recent times that exemplified this desire to be his best but got stymied because of chaos. He was an executive in a healthcare organization at the time when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Now, he was professionally prepared for a health crisis, to an extent. He was able to marshal the resources needed to meet the urgent and critical needs, but the global and unknown nature of this virus meant there was more loss of life, less information, and farther-reaching impacts than they could have even anticipated. The extreme financial costs could be problem-solved, measures could be devised. However, the impact on his workforce was completely unexpected.
Workers, on all levels of the organization, were facing their own dramatic changes. How to detect the virus, unknown. How to safeguard against the virus, unknown. What was safe to do or who to interact with, unknown. What to do with children at home, elders, vulnerable family members, workspace, etc. People needed more from him than ever before, personal lives were suddenly a vivid part of their professional world. He was literally on screen in their living room or bedroom. He felt unequipped to deal with the emotional and personal issues of some of his employees. They wanted clarity, certainty, and he had little to offer. He felt a new level of responsibility and burden. He was getting stressed out himself from work and tapped out at home too.
The questions my client faced all day long were about how to navigate change on multiple fronts: the business, personnel, and personal aspects. There was a call for different types of decision making, more empathy, more strategic thinking, communication, more collaboration, faster problem-solving. People needed MORE. It was hard.
He managed to navigate himself and his organization through the seismic changes initiated by the pandemic, for over two years. He entrusted me with his doubts, frustrations, and worries. He shared his desires, asked for help. He was willing to dig deeper into himself to discover more. This client found ways to get resourced, have strength and clarity, and in turn, he was able to lead, be of service to many others and thrive personally.
I saw the opposite happen during the pandemic as well. Leaders who fell into depressions, lost direction, couldn’t lead or help anyone else because the challenges were so personally crushing. Many left the workforce. There were those who got by, enough, and are still recovering and evaluating what to do next.
There was not a perfect or right response to what happened to us as a planet, but it certainly motivated me to help as many people as I can. I want to empower people who empower others.
Why me? I’ve spent 30 years developing an aptitude and competency around empowerment. Part of it comes from the fact that I see differently than most. Early in life I tapped into different types of intelligence that allowed me to sense subtleties, discern less visible data, feel with tremendous depth and empathy, and be creative as well as strategic. These abilities came from my upbringing, education, learning differences and travels. They were further developed by my numerous clients, teachers, mentors, friends, colleagues, and research.
During the pandemic, I had time to really think about how I wanted to impact those around me, what was my greatest offering? Regardless of the various elements that shaped me, there has been one constant; I have access to guidance, and I know how to help others access their own wisdom. I am an agent of change to bring joy, light, strength, and creative possibilities to those in the world doing their good work.
As the founder and CEO of LumiereWork™, I’m on a mission to ignite that joy and power of transformation in each and every leader and team.
For over two decades, I’ve been pioneering growth through holistic intelligence — simply, bringing your whole self to the world. I believe that everyone has the resources and intelligences to get what they desire, but few know how to seize them. My unique methodology gives changemakers the tools to perform at their best, delivering benefits that are both transformative and sustainable.
Change Leadership For a Changing World
The world is changing in extraordinary and dramatic ways. Economic upheaval, social unrest, health crises, climate change; anything, even the unthinkable, is possible. To remain competitive, companies must transform as they perform — making gutsy-yet-disciplined decisions as they tackle disruptive challenges and make big things happen the right way, through ideas that people are aching to get behind.
Transformative Perception is an emerging leadership competency needed to address these increasingly complex challenges. How you perceive a situation, or how your teams do, focuses internal resources and empowers or disables creative problem-solving.
Transformative leadership practices affect the culture and climate and have positive impacts on the work environment and can boost a team’s success
It’s not an easy task, and there isn’t a moment to waste.
The LumiereWork™ experience brings together world-class consulting, personalized coaching, energy practices, and behavioral science to deliver change at scale — improving individual agility, impact and resilience. The results? Leaders who make an authentic difference, acting consciously and fully with great clarity and purpose, even in times of radical change. Visit us to learn more at www.lumierework.com
Kathleen Joy, Founder & CEO of LumiereWork™