Leadership Lesson from Jacinda
Ardern, New Zealand PM:.
As we all know, Jacinda Ardern is New
Zealand’s youngest ever female prime minister & is clearly exceptionally
skilled at multitasking and has been applauded for how well she responded to
the Coronavirus pandemic. She even voluntarily took a 20% pay cut to ‘close the
gap’ between herself and those affected by COVID pay cuts and received a phone
call from Queen Elizabeth in praise of all her hard work.
A few weeks ago, during a Face book
live stream, New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern was in the middle of giving the
nation an update on Covid-19 restrictions when she was interrupted by her
3-year-old daughter, Neve. "You're meant to be in bed, darling,"
Ardern told her daughter. When Neve called for her again, she responded
"Pop back to bed, I'll see you in a second," before turning back to
the camera to laugh about the darling little interruption.
After continuing for another five
minutes, Ardern called it quits when little Neve reappeared at the door. It’s
adorable & heart warming. Over these past 18 months, when I am interacting
with my students online, I have had many "important calls" where I have
told my wife not to disturb me and be quiet for the next 90 minutes ... no
matter what!"
And, here we have a world leader,
addressing the people of New Zealand about pandemic restrictions. No call of
mine is, or will ever be, close to this level of importance. Yet, Ardern acted
both as PM & parent and switched between the two roles with absolute ease
and grace. While this may not be normal leadership behavior, I am of the
opinion that it is exactly the type of leadership we need within our organizations.
So what are our leanings?
Be vulnerable: When you're caught off
guard and your team is there to witness, it can often feel like you're losing
control. Ardern could have turned off the camera or muted herself,but she
didn't want this moment of vulnerability to stop her from doing her job.
Be confident: Ardern could have
appeared embarrassed in the video by fidgeting with the camera and lowering her
voice when talking to her daughter? But she didn't..
Be compassionate: Nowadays, people
are going through tough times and as a leader, showing compassion toward your
team, especially when they make mistakes, is imperative. Needless to say,
job satisfaction is 86% higher for employees who work for a wise and
compassionate leader than for those who don't.
Be authentic: At that moment, she
asks, "Does anyone else have kids escape like three, four times after
bedtime?" Considering millions of parents were forced to work from home
while caring for their kids during the pandemic, her question was likely
answered by tens of thousands of viewers with a resounding "Yes!"
Don’t you all think, her reaction is
the Best Lesson in Leadership we all could've ever seen?
