Looking back at the last months, the conversations that felt the most useful were the ones during which we’ve been able to look at the context. Much of people’s reactions to the pandemic are concentrated on reactions and things that are going wrong. This is normal and most certainly also helpful to a certain extent. The day-to-day creates pressure and people search for ways to release some of it. Integrating how they make sense of what is happening and sharing how they are reacting to it belongs to the ways we make sense of this situation.

However, the times when we stopped and looked at the bigger picture have been the ones allowing us to look forward. They helped find orientation in what otherwise might feel like chaos.

It’s leadership work.

The time spent with conversation is the time when ideas are being shared. Where ideas can grow through curiosity as well as wisdom in the room. This is true for many of the everyday conversations we can have. This most often is content work.

But it is the ability to take a step back and start to ask questions about one’s work as a team that allow uncovering where the future of our work lies. By allowing oneself to shift from content to context conversations the group gets to see both aspects of their work. They realign how decisions can be made and what the work is about.

In the past leaders feared that others may develop more knowledge or power than they had. Today they should fear, that the team delegates them all the power and become efficiency cogs.