As executive leadership coaches, VIM Executive Coaching is always appreciative of the philosophies of optimistic people. We recently passed the home of a friend who is the EVP of a small firm in the Denver-area. He was in the process of raking an enormous leaf pile that was the product of an ancient Silver Maple. Unlike many of his neighbors, a broad, almost meditative smile was spread across his face. As opposed to his forte, the exactitude of software development for several specialty manufacturers, he loved the act of raking little leaves into massive mounds.
“Now, what will you do?” we asked.
He cheerfully explained that he was about to drag out the leaf chopper which would turn the leaves into mulch – then fertilizer. It must serve him well, for his garden and flower beds are the envy of the neighborhood.
“Is this it for your gardening year?”
“Not really,” was the response, “I’ve got about ten garden catalogs to wade through.”
Garden catalogs gave him hope for the future, just as the leaves gave him an appreciation for the past. For, in prior conversations, he expressed gratitude for “his friend,” the tree. The leaves cooled his home in the hot, high-desert summers.
The interplay
The catalogs and leaf raking along with feelings of gratitude, provided us with a metaphor in regard to change management. It struck us that this man was able to gain acceptance by understanding that change was inevitable and needed to be embraced rather than resisted. Acceptance is a quality that is unfortunately lacking in these times.
In these times, great changes have been sweeping across the landscape of business, from hybrid workplace models to AI assisted sales efforts to a multitude of work-place communications platforms to the sharp, new awareness of Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG).
Executive leaders can either mourn the passing of the old ways or accept that a preponderance of the changes was necessary and were clearly coming, just as the onset of autumn causes leaves to fall.
There is an interplay of the seasons, acceptance and hope. There is also a delightful aspect that says “acceptance brings opportunity.” The man turned piles of leaves into fine, nutritious mulch or the acceptance that once the chores of putting the prior year’s garden to rest, he could relax with the hope of picking out and imaging new gardens. There was an elegance and an optimism in thinking about what could be.
Little to be done
When we talked above about mourning change, we needed to point out that mindfulness has always driven acceptance. Indeed, mindful executive have not been overwhelmed or unduly surprised as to the “new normal” of our daily work lives.
While adapting to change might present challenges e.g., what does corporate America do with the excess office space? The same mindfulness in regard to accepting change will ultimately lead to addressing the issues for the future. The observation that we have shared at VIM Coaching is when workplaces try to force scenarios and business mod any oels that no longer work.
In regard to the post pandemic workplace, executive leaders can accept or fight change or even dictate a return to workplace scenarios that were no longer fitting even before the virus began its march.
Mindfulness will inevitably solve the seemingly intractable problems. Our neighbor realized – a long time ago, that complaining over the changing of the seasons was futile. The true benefit was in acceptance and then feeling grateful for what was, and can be.
Gratitude and mindfulness in a time of change is more than empowering, it is in accepting that hope for the future is often the greatest gift any of us can hold on to no matter the storms and winds of winter that may come.