Survival! That seems to be one of the most commonly used words today. Individuals need to survive, just as much as companies, families, businesses, relationships, economies, governments and political institutions. The greatest 
need of most people around the world today is possible that of survival. They have to survive growing economic hardships, insecurity challenges and diverse unpredictable environmental conditions. No country or continent seems to be spared the challenge of survival.
Unfortunately, at times like these people look more to their leaders for answers and solutions to virtually every problem that they identify in the environment. But, while the leaders may not immediately have the answers and solutions, they owe it to their followers to communicate a feeling of assurance and confidence that the challenges are not insurmountable.
One way that they communicate this is to be calm while others around them are agitated, and be open-minded when people proffer solutions, even when such may not be what is needed at that time. Showing restraint and humility when pressured by people to act irrationally is the hallmark of matured leadership.
When asked how he was able to remain calm and focused when the terrorist planes hit the twin towers in the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush replied that it was the most difficult, but most practical thing to do. He had to show a kind of understanding that the generality of people would not be required to show.
Specifically, he had to appreciate that he was thrust by circumstances beyond his control to lead an angry, traumatised and confused people through what would be a very difficult period, which he chose to call a season of travail. It was indeed a tough season for America, but it soon passed away, even though the pain and anger was still felt several years after.
In life there are different seasons and times. That is why if you are a leader, your followers and every member of your team must not have illusions about the season and time that they are in at every stage. As a matter of fact, the greatest leaders are thrust forward into the saddle of leadership during tough times and seasons. It is these challenges that bring out the leadership qualities that have been latent and can now be unlocked for the benefits of the generality of the people.
Such wonderful qualities as discipline, courage, decisiveness, grace, humility, passion, energy, selflessness, integrity, faith, and others can never be truly developed in a leader except he is passed through the leadership crucible of fire. The resultant effect is that such leaders become “rounded” or “balanced” individuals, who have had the privilege of seeing possibly several extremes of many pleasant and unpleasant situations, so that they can become more objective, less self-magnifying and more people-motivated. Such leaders thus become all-season leaders, with the capacity to build and lead an all-season team.
It is an all-season team that can truly weather storms and still remain focused, energised, committed, dynamic and united in purpose. From the leadership stance, the people are taught and shown to believe that what they have to go through as a people can only reveal them as people of character and grace.
They are taught and shown by the leadership example that circumstances do not make a man, but rather reveals him. That is where many leaders fail and falter. And, that is what made the greatest leaders of our time to be successful. They were all-season men that led all-season teams, which expectedly were not always winners in every battle, but were always productive.
The way to be productive all-year round is to be proactive. We can learn from the wisdom of Joseph in Egypt, who anticipated what could happen in the time of famine, and planned accordingly. This is the only way to ensure that your people would be dynamic. They must be helped to find their place of greatest contribution, as they are integrated around sometimes difficult, but always clear-cut goals.
In reality, the best time to build an all-seasons’ team is the time of adversity. It makes sense for instance to start preparing for winter while it is still summer, and to anticipate the harvest time only after there has been a time of successful sowing and cultivation. The key lesson is that the way of empowering leadership is to be selfless. People would always respond with equal selflessness and loyalty.
Empowering Leadership in Tough Times
Our planet appears to have spurned out of its course in terms of stability and many people don’t know what to do next, as the fear of known and unknown forces play havoc on their minds. Someone recently drove this point home in a rather ironic way by suggesting that the only safe place now for anyone is heaven, but in reality not many people want to die and go to heaven in a hurry. I suppose that means that the only choice for the living is to build more capacity and increase resilience, in order to adapt to the tough times now and in the future. That is one of the critical purposes of visionary and inspirational leadership.
The greatest leaders are those that support people to build capacity by stretching themselves through their positive belief, improved personal awareness and increased energy, to do what people regard as nearly impossible. And, not only must they be able to achieve these feats, they must be able to do so repeatedly and enthusiastically each time.
There are no better ways to empower people than this, and the special role that a true leader gives himself, is that of empowering people, by teaching, training, coaching and modeling them. Leadership may begin with employing a person, but it reaches its zenith by empowering that person. That is what empowering leadership is all about.
The important point that needs to be made here is that empowering leadership is possible only when the leader is determined to be selfless. When and where that happens, people would always respond with equal selflessness and loyalty. As a leader, you must therefore start to build your team by carefully choosing the people that show promise that they would be teachable and trainable. It is those 
people that you should thereafter expose to the soft skills development processes of coaching and mentoring, as you remain a leader that is worthy of being modeled by his protégés.
As a leader, you will need to focus on transformation of the core values, behaviours, attitudes, beliefs and capacities of your people, essentially because you know that each individual in your team has great potentials to succeed. It is a belief that people can be what they want to be in life, if they have the right environment to express themselves, and a believing leader that would facilitate the unleashing of their genius.
As a leader for all seasons therefore, you must challenge your people to stretch themselves well beyond their limits and comfort zones. You must focus them on issues that would make them – reach for things that are ordinarily well beyond their grasp. The truth is that they would never want to do this, but as a leader acting also as their coach, making them believe in the ultimate benefit for them and the influence they would wield as a result is a realistic currency of motivation. The interesting thing is that they would eventually love what they are doing and also love you for making them do it.
That is what develops their minds, as they have to think of ways and means of achieving the set goals, as long as they have the belief that they can achieve, and retain a strong focusing system along the way.
To truly succeed in life, people must face reality and they must face it on a sound moral and spiritual basis. As you face the challenges of management today and get ready for the bigger ones ahead, you must practise integrity in all that you do. Start with yourself as the leader and be sure to model integrity, not only in the workplace put also beyond there. Practise it alone and practise it with your top team. Let integrity be the one thing that no one would be unsure of whether you have or do not have. The key is to be transparent to the point of people acknowledging that you are indeed a trustworthy and competent leader. Let people experience what you have experienced as a leader.
Experiential learning overshadows classroom style learning. This is because experiential learning engages the head, heart and body of the learners. What is learnt only with the head is hardly ever sustainable. It is not to be compared with what is inspired from the inside of a person through passion. That is more transformational and sustainable, because it is from the heart – the core of the person. Therefore, as an all season leader, you must teach, train and coach your people to be above the fray of questionable morals, behaviours and actions. That is one of the characteristics of a strong all-seasons’ team.
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Dr Emmanuel Imevbore is an executive coach, management consultant and business strategist. He is the CEO of International Coaching and Mentoring Institute, a specialist coaching and coach-training Organisation. He can be reached by email:
emmanuel@ic-mi.com; and WhatsApp: +27 79 259 1768.
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