Its been a good summer, wouldn’t you agree? Its funny how I have become obsessed about weather since I moved to London. In this country “chasing the sunshine” is quite literally a thing. In India, you are chasing the shadows! Jokes aside, I have always been amused by the amount of attention weather gets in casual conversations here, but I get it now. In fact, I enjoy moaning about grey days (a LOT) and raving about sunshine (about twice a year :)). Given enough time, I may even flock to the parks all packed with a picnic lunch, and braving the underground with my sunglasses on.
There are scientifically proven links between mood and weather.
According to a study, about 27% of people hate summer!? It causes them irritability and general unhappiness. Wait, what? apparently they truly exist. BBC too, recently reported a project trying to measure link between pain and weather. In a nutshell, it is more than conceivable that weather does affect our thoughts. In fact, in some crazy unsubstantiated theories postulate that thoughts affect weather. I want to draw your attention to a certain dichotomy of human desires that perfectly represents itself in how we perceive weather. On a cold, wet and grey afternoon, we long to see some sunshine whereas on a hot dry and bright summer day, we secretly desire a cold breeze of fresh air. To some extent, it is human nature – we cannot help it!
Undoubtedly, there is chasing the sunshine at our workplace too
While leaders do not have the ability to control the sunshine outside in the park, they can definitely influence the one at work. A team or an organisation goes through a rough patch every now and then. This winter (sometimes long) can be taxing for your teams. As a leader, you need to provide your team with the warmth of positive affirmation of their accomplishments and you need to provide them with the shelter and safety of your trust. People are not insecure with the rough weather, if they trust their leader.
There are times when a team or an organisation is going through a growth spurt, or a “spring”.
You must invest more in the team during this period – not only hiring but developing people, skills and their careers. you must appreciate your best talent, you can then be assured of good returns during the “fall”. When success comes, it may feel like “summer” and its time for leaders to reflect on what worked best, and what did not. Leaders should think about how to incorporate this into their plans for next set of seasons. In summary, a great leader can actually be a weather master, allowing positive impact of all situations. John Ruskin puts it beautifully –
Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
John Ruskin
In my experience, we are chasing sunshine all our lives but we often forget how beautiful a rainbow is. With the right attitude, we can create the perfect golden sunshine on one side and refreshing rain playing like a joyful child on the other, perhaps that is where amazing colours of life come from?
Let me know what you think in the comments section.
Abhinandanshah.com 