Interview with Lorna McDowell on 'Women Leading Change'
Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with a very insightful lady, Lorna McDowell of Xenergie Consulting, who suggests that all the economic changes which are coming at us fast and furiously, are changes that we should be embracing and moving 'with' instead of resisting, despite the negativity surrounding them. Lorna says that not only will we face the changes and come out the other side, but that women in particular are going to be a hugely important part in the whole process. I wanted you all to hear what Lorna has to say..... I suggest you sit down when you have a quiet minute to read - and really take in - what Lorna suggests. Make sure you read the part about practical ways for us to learn to adapt to what is hapening - in business and otherwise.
Q: Lorna, what is your perspective on what is happening in the world right now and how the overall situation is really affecting small businesses... i.e. as a country we are finding ourselves in a cul-de-sac of debt. How are we going to adapt to all the change coming our way?
A: We are all facing a realisation that big changes are afoot in the world and that the way we have been living has become unsustainable. Once upon a time, one used to be able to count on the turning of the seasons as the one constant when all else was changing around us, however even this bedrock seems compromised.
As individuals we struggle enormously with change because it challenges so personally on the very fundamental beliefs and values on which we have constructed our lives. These conscious and unconscious assumptions affect our thinking, emotions, decisions and actions … and therefore the outcomes we produce. When the bedrock of what we have known begins to crumble, life can either feel freeing or treacherous, depending on our state of mind.
The stress of crumbling bedrocks is profound. With change happening on so many channels in our lives and in those around us, it can feel like there’s no let up, no relief, no way out, just more cul de sacs to deal with. Like grieving a loved one, acceptance of this state can take a long time, leakage of self esteem and much heartache before we are able to let go and adjust to new circumstances. It is one of the most unacknowledged and misunderstood sources of grief and that is why it feels all the more confusing.
The more I work with people and change, I have come to appreciate that this gradual letting go to a point of acceptance is a very necessary destructive stage that makes space for the new, but we unknowingly resist it or try and prop up what is crumbling, as a coping strategy. Otto Scharmer, an human research scientist at MIT, describes this as a “U-curve” where the descent down the U is the destruction phase which can take anything up to 2 years because of the resistance. The crux point is the bottom of the U, where mindset is everything for navigating our way through this stage – curiosity, hope, grace and compassion are key.
So in what seems like our country and indeed Euorpe being in what we could call a cul-de-sac of debt, how do we get people to the point of Many people give up hope and feel they have failed before they reach this stage and so find themselves descending through the same old patterns again and again, rather than recognising that they are actually on a transition path. In their minds they fear the worst and become hard on themselves and others and fear is the biggest inhibitor of change because it has such a paralysing effect. If we can be gentler on ourselves and with each other during these times and reach out to ask for help, rather than shut down, retreat in shame or expect a knight in shining armour to save us, then we can find more grace and energy to help move us through the “U” of change. The good news is that the journey up the right hand side of the “U” is much faster because one has cleared so much crap out of the way and we are energised with our new sense of purpose and focus.
A crucial element to recovery is engagement in lateral thinking - something that is hugely helped by the contributions of others to inspire us and help us reveal resources and opportunities which are there, but which we can’t see. In these times, these new opportunities might feel like stepping off - or being thrown off - a cliff. For instance, facing redundancy and realising that secure employment of a kind we have known may not be possible and the need to become masters of your own employment or business as a source of income. Here, positive attitudes can enable invisible bridges to emerge and the journey of discovery becomes like a detective game or an adventure to a lost world. Each step on the journey is a clue to the next stage.
Relating this to business owners, the new conditions may mean we need to re-evalulate many assumptions about ourselves and our businesses:
- A greater focus on collaboration and joining up with others will require us to revisit old assumptions about working with competitors, releasing fear of sharing resources
- Rather than profit being the main focus, we may also be measured on our social contribution. Already discerning customers are showing signs of shopping with ethical brands over unethical ones.
- This begs a question of morality and how do we determine good from bad? If we are to have any hope of developing enough compassion to truly collaborate, we have to become more used to working with a diversity of opinions and style, and less judgemental about others.
- Humans naturally veer towards people who are “like us” but actually we need people who are “not like us” to challenge us so as to avoid complacency in our vigilant world, which will generate tension, but a productive tension if handled with compassion
The biggest learning from all this chaos will be around appreciation of how we are all connected, one business, one person affects another and we are all part of a whole system, therefore we need to work together, not just survival of the fittest.
Q: Are there any positive elements that we can glean from this situation?
Yes, what I have just described might sound rather heavy, but in fact the forced nature of change is actually creating a chaos, that brings flexibility for a new order and better ways to take root. The flip side of this chaos is the birth of a very exciting and fruitful time for us all, if we are open to it. The times that we are in offer the potential for massive creativity, reinvention of a scale we have not seen since the industrial revolution. These are momentous times.
Once you begin to master the navigation of your own ship through these times and you are part of a flotilla of other ships on a similar journey, you will find a whole new world of resources and opportunities opens up to you. As one door closes, others open. The important thing is to be able to read the signs, work with your gut, challenge yourself to stay out of your comfort zone for a while and look for the flows. It takes 21 days to embed a new habit.
I believe there is a very fine and high order to all that is happening right now and that nature has a perfect plan for steering us through these times. I have been following the Mayan calendar for over a decade now following a trip to Mexico back in the 1990s when I was in a very different zone of my life. The calendar is not a calendar in the traditional sense, but a story of human evolution which has been held for thousands of years and very accurately frames much of what we are experiencing right now and the solutions we need to engage in, which are all to do with interconnection, compassion and raising our level of thinking.
I consider myself a pretty grounded person and so I have come to regard this teaching because I’ve experienced it in my own business and life and it has provided great insight and help for moving through blockages and tough times. I know what it is to experience things destruct to a point where I had to let go, and even the most enlightened of people still experience these feelings, because they are an important part of our human existence. The difference is in learning to navigate them.
In the last few years, ten years after a previous “destruction cycle”, I am now coming out of another important one which has involved a regeneration of myself and my business. What I realised both times was that there was no particular model to follow, that I had to create new models and test new ideas, that this is part of my calling. The testing phase was testing in every way financially, emotionally and mentally, but somehow something invisible inside me kept me going and today I have a new plan that feels so right for me and, so far, it’s flowing into action.
Faith and friends really help when all is crumbling around you and they’re there to celebrate as things come together again as you climb out of the pit of despair!
Q: A lot of our readers are small business owners but many of them are also freelance professionals who are at times are struggling to motivate themselves out of bed in the morning. What nuggets of information would you offer to people who are eager to make positive changes – motivating themselves towards success?
A: Each day brings the possibility of new hope and a step further into an exciting new world of change. Get out from under the duvet and find out what is happening! Engage in your own personal development, because this will be your new bank account of resources and contacts. Join a local personal development group or find a coach who can help you navigate your own change journey. At Xenergie, we offer workshops and regular groups who meet virtually and face to face with a coach to share their experiences and make sense of what is happening, drawing on both scientific, mystic and business/psychological data. There is a wealth of information becoming available if you go looking for it.
Remember, what happened yesterday does not dictate today. Don’t carry bad form and lingering doubts from one to the next. Clear any negative energy from your life, you need to stay very focused and positive, and have a healthy curiosity about yourself and how you and others operate, in order to get the best out of yourself. This means making sure you have a positive living and working space, eliminating energy drains (friends, staff, clients who just drain your energy and resources)
In terms of women in business specifically, who often have to contend with a whole host of other issues going on in their lives as well as that of their work, managing to stay motivated and on top of their tasks can be a serious uphill struggle, do you think women have a harder time in this whole process?
Something I have found interesting is a male/female difference in approach. Women seem far more able to cope with the complexity of interconnected relationships and a more nurturing approach than “survival of the fittest”. When the going gets tough women get going. It is sad that in the past there are so few female success stories compared to male and when I see the line of up leadership gurus in my own field, I often sigh at the lack of females. Often we are caught up with other priorities and have less of a need for ego-driven fame. I hope that the new business and new world conditions will encourage more women to bring their strengths to the fore, because this is what we need – humble heroines.
The courage and stamina to stay in there and run a small business often comes women. Behind every successful male entrepreneur is usually a right hand woman in the background but behind many female entrepreneurs is often not a right hand man, but a right hand friend or daughter. This is the era of women really succeeding in changing the world. Let’s do it!
If people or businesses want to learn more about leadership development - what kind of programmes or workshops do you offer to facilitate this?
In my company, Xenergie, our main purpose is to build the capacity of people and companies to positively impact business performance in a way that contributes to the common good, by transforming and upgrading leadership and organisational culture. This helps us all thrive in a rapidly changing environment.
We run programmes of 9 sessions over 9 months, with groups of people who want to learn together, either in a company or individual business owners who want to form a group. There is a real richness in learning about leadership by hearing other people’s stories and viewpoints. The groups happen both on-line and face to face and we to connect up people who we think will have common interests. These powerful sessions help you develop your explore your own leadership potential, develop your personal brand and understand more about the changing times we are in and how to inspire yourself and others through the challenges, brand and generally feel more competent and confident about yourself in your role.
In corporate businesses today, the expectations for leaders are high, so personal development is essential for success – over 40% of new hired leaders fail because of immature leadership skills. Coaching is essential to mitigate this statistic. Xenergie has a strong record in assisting senior managers through 1-1 and team coaching programmes where we work with leaders and teams in a 9 month programme, a developmental journey, that evolves awareness, performance, culture and mindsets whilst working on real live projects that instantly deliver results. The benefits include improved alignment of people, strategy, processes and culture in pursuit of clearer common goals, leading to increased effectiveness, innovation, cost reduction and generally adding value to the bottom line and to the personal growth of staff.
Our clients are large and small companies, from one person start-ups to major institutions.
We have also launched a change leadership consultant programme, for those who want to learn how to consult in organisational change management using the new sciences and models that are suitable for today’s challenges.
For more information call 087 919 0622 or join our FREE introductory webinar to find out more by visiting http://www.xenergie.com/workshops/
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