Leadership at Every Level in Times of Change

Jim Kouzes, a coauthor of The Leadership Challenge^®, recently sat down with the host of the Modern Career podcast, Mary Humiston, to discuss the practices that will help leaders at every level be the best they can be, especially in times of change. Jim also shared how all of us, regardless of role or title, can be extraordinary leaders. Listen to the podcast episode with Jim here.

The pandemic has greatly affected what successful leadership looks like. Jim shared that in times of change, leaders need to be more engaging, they need to create more trust with their teams, and they need to recognize that the challenges we are currently facing are actually opportunities to do things better. And most importantly, in times of change, not everyone has to be a formal leader to demonstrate leadership behaviors. When everyone is empowered to behave like a leader, they look at their work differently and are better equipped to adapt to changes on their own, as well as to communicate those adaptations to others on their team.

Throughout the pandemic, many of us have had to learn new skills to succeed. Jim shared many examples of new technologies that we have had to incorporate in our workflows to be successful such as working from home and video conferencing. All of this change can be stressful, but as Jim points out in this podcast, “innovation in times of change is crucial, and new challenges are opportunities for greatness." Leaders need to recognize those opportunities and seize them, no matter where or from whom they come, even if those solutions dramatically alter conventions. Jim went on to explain, "We don’t do our best when we keep things the same, and the pandemic is an external event that shook us at our core and forced us to make changes. When leaders are at their best, they know that to improve they need to challenge the process.”

Want to learn more about leadership at every level in times of change? Listen to the podcast episode with Jim here.