Giving your Leadership a Lift

In early 2020 (yes way back then) I was searching for inspiration to kick start the next phase of my development as a leader. I had heard a lot about LIFT Ireland. SalesSense had been a founding partner and I knew it was a force to improve the quality of leadership in Ireland in all walks of life, with the goal of developing a generation of leaders. I’m a great believer in continuous improvement and any associated learnings, so with the dual objectives of further growing our people and our business, I found myself enrolling in a Leadership Roundtable.

The roundtable took the format of a workshop, a fantastic group format with precise material that allowed open discussion. While some might argue to the contrary, I am actually a bit of an introvert, but the format and atmosphere was such that I found myself opening up and looking to apply the principles to my own workplace scenarios, both those in the past and those I anticipated. I remembered a saying I’d heard that “the quality of our society depends on the quality of our leaders”.  I found myself reflecting on my life outside work and how I could apply the same principles of leadership to help me to be a better person. I returned to SalesSense as a certified LIFT Facilitator. I didn’t know it then, but in hindsight if ever there was a year to develop more leaders, 2020 would prove to be it.

As a Facilitator I was trained to share the learnings, and my first community of practice was comprised of our Team Leaders. My strategy from the outset was that they in turn would be ready to cascade the LIFT values to our Agents and Field Representatives. In mid-March when we invoked BCP along with the rest of the country, our roundtable sessions became virtual roundtable sessions, and what surprised me was how well the values transcended to the virtual format. In some respects, the 8 values of the LIFT programme became crucial in our new home working environment. Listening to each other was vital as we worked remotely and a positive attitude more important than ever as we navigated through an unprecedented time. Respect for every individual’s situation ensured empathy and understanding, underpinned by the honesty and integrity exemplified by the wider team. Competency, accountability, dedication and determination all shone through as we delivered continued excellent service to our clients during lockdown.

So I find myself writing this article as a personal reflection, as it is important to me to capture the change in me in 2020, especially as we begin our gradual return to “business as usual”. Over the last four months I’ve reflected on many things and learned a lot about myself and the team around me. I cannot say for certain what the immediate future holds, but I can say for certain that our team is stronger for these shared experiences. Are we contributing to producing the additional leaders that 2020 desperately needs? I think so, especially as the LIFT values sit so comfortably alongside our own.

Teamwork Inspiring Excellence.