Manila, 17 June 2020 — How are you turning adversity into advantage in your workplace?

This question was the focus of a webinar for coaches by Laura Huang that I enjoyed attending. Now that we are several months into the Covid-19 pandemic and have gained valuable experience with lockdowns and working from home, it has become a recurring theme in workplaces around the world. 

New Normal in Kathmandu

Turning adversity into advantage was also the theme of a Zoom call we had today with members of Grow3Leaders at the Institute for Social and Environmental Transition (ISET) in Kathmandu. Together, we explored what the new normal starts to look like for ISET’s team and how they can pivot to serve changing and new client needs.

To help us take a holistic view of the question, we used a framework to find new normals in each of the Three Worlds: 

• What we feel: values, fears, and care in our Personal World

• What we do: behaviors, expectations, and skills in our Social World, and

• What we think: systems, knowledge, and resources in our Observed World.

We had a rich discussion. Adversity had indeed emerged in several forms, and so had the contours of new opportunities. We gained clarity about some values, behaviors, and skillsets to make good use of them. These included cross-generational communication, networking, and collaboration. That would help bridge digital divides in outreach, training, and research. Looking at trends around the world helped to inform our discussion, and new ideas also emerged to take forward in our community of leaders.

Discussions Continue

In Grow3Leaders, we will continue exploring with other members how to turn adversity into advantage, so that teams can serve clients better and build stronger cross-generational teamwork in the process.

We are a private community of leaders from countries around the world, and from different generations, who are committed to learning and practicing effective leadership behaviors together and ‘out loud’ to create positive change in our workplaces, especially during these difficult times of dealing with Covid-19.

Joining us is free of charge—not free of commitment. Collaboration and actions are required from the start. Send us a request if you feel that you are up to our Grow3Leaders challenge and are ready to join together with three of your colleagues in your workplace.