Michael Eales

I recently had a breakthrough in how I can use Future-Engage-Deliver. So far I have used Future-Engage-Deliver to look at the big picture, the long strategy of Leadership. However, while I was trying to work out how best to prepare myself for chairing a really important meeting it suddenly occurred to me that I could apply FED just as easily to this short term event. I took my role seriously, knowing that many hopes were focused on me and my being able to deliver as a chair.

First and foremost I reflected on what was the future that I wanted to be guided by in the meeting. I care deeply about the future of this organisation and what it stands for and wanted to have front of mind a clear, and big, picture of this organisation as vital and viable.

Secondly I thought about who I am at my best, guided by what really matters to me and having the impact that I seek to create. I thought about how I wanted people to feel in the meeting and what I could do through my own behaviour as the chair to have them feel positive, creative, connected and engaged. I then set myself the challenge to be more mindful of my impact in the moment. It is so easy for engagement to become a mix of good intention and post event regret.

Thirdly when I thought about the organisation and its future I knew it was important that people felt they could deliver. As a chair I realised that making time for and encouraging people to have the conversation at the meeting about what they could do was going to be part of their success, and that of the organisation.

The meeting went better than I could have expected, the feedback was great people shared their commitment to each others’ success and to the organisations’ success, they felt positive, re-energised and ready to make a difference.

I think this is a feature of all good approaches – the ‘hermetic principle’ that what applies to the biggest applies equally to the smallest situation. I shall be tackling more situations with this new ‘FED awareness’.

Leadership Nudge: This week take time to notice how you prepare for the smaller leadership tasks, like a meeting, using FED as a framework. See what other situations you can bring your FED awareness to.

By Mike Eales

Learn more about the author of this article, Mike Eales