BUSINESS leaders faced unprecedented challenges during the Covid pandemic but, while the lockdown threat may have receded, difficulties employing staff and the global economic situation are placing further obstacles in the way of growth and success.
Two inspirational leaders recently gave their advice to local business owners as part of the Jersey Business Leading Growth programme.
It included adapting your style, keeping sight of goals and remembering to look after yourself.
Captain Louis Rudd is a record-breaking polar adventurer, expedition leader, and a former Royal Marine Commando and SAS soldier. He is the only person to have traversed Antarctica twice using human power alone.
While the Antarctic might seem a long way away from Jersey, his experiences and lessons are highly relevant to business leaders here, as he demonstrated during his talk.
He said: ‘In expeditions, because of the enormity of the challenge you are taking on, you have to pick the right people.
‘In business, if you have a particular business goal, it’s also about selecting the right people to achieve that goal, and it can be a difficult process and take a long time.
‘Leaders need to learn about integrating someone into the business and having someone on a probationary period to see if they are a good fit for the business and the team and if the business is the right fit for them. Team players are essential.’
Captain Rudd also believes that while technology has helped inform decision-making by providing almost instant access to information, leaders need to adapt their style to fit the circumstances.
‘There are definitely different types of leadership styles and they are definitely relevant in certain scenarios. You need to be able to adapt your style depending on circumstances.
‘There’s a time to allow group decision-making. If I have time and the situation allows, I always go for an inclusive leadership style where I’ll listen to team members’ feedback and concerns and take them into consideration and then ultimately as leader make a final decision.
‘However, I also employ a quite autocratic leadership style where the situation and time do not allow for discussion where, especially from a safety perspective, I have to take the reins and say this is what we are doing.
‘Hopefully, you always have time to give the reasons why.
‘Generally, there’s time to sit down and discuss a problem. It’s incredible some of the experience and knowledge and solutions people come up with that you, as the leader, hadn’t thought of.’
Fellow presenter Royston Guest, a motivational speaker and the facilitator of the Jersey Business Leading Growth programme, said that in a VUCA world – volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous – people need to keep sight of their goal.
‘Your north star and your purpose is really important. That’s making sure from an individual perspective, but also your team’s, that you’ve got a compelling north star that you’re aligned to – the “why you do what you do every single day”,’ he said.
‘If you get the purpose – the why – right, the how will take care of itself because it will give you the resilience and energy to deal with all the challenges that you’ve got along the way.’
While the focus is often on the business, Mr Guest said self-care and self-regulation were also critically important, especially in environments where people were under pressure.
‘You need to really make sure you get your recovery – that’s sleep and food and diet. Leadership is also about caring and understanding the challenges of others,’ he explained.
‘Some people can handle high levels of uncertainty whereas other people will be frozen by paralysis, so there’s no one-size-fits-all from a leadership perspective.
‘It’s about looking at your individual people and how they react to the environment you’re operating in.
‘You have to be truly invested in understanding and reading the signals of where your people are at.’
While Jersey is a small island in a huge global economy and many of our businesses are also modestly sized, Captain Rudd said this shouldn’t hold us back.
‘Size doesn’t matter. If you look at the special forces as an example, the British Army is 82,000 people, and the special forces is around 300 people,’ he said.
‘Highly-trained, highly-skilled individuals, operating in small six-man teams, can have a strategic-level impact beyond a full-scale battalion with the right intelligence and the right support.’
Applications are now open for the autumn 2022 Leading Growth programme. More information is available from jerseybusiness.je.
