How can we possibly talk about the events of this weekend? Every good leader should be thinking about key messages for their organisation and networks as we head into Monday.
The terrible attack on children attending a holiday dance class in Southport on Monday 29th July, will have left scores of families devastated and distraught. As someone who has lost a child, my heart is with them.
What should have been a moment for collective reflection, compassion and a space for grieving for everyone affected, has been destroyed by a movement radicalized by hate, emboldened by bad faith actors who have sown decades of division. Its a toxic cocktail, fuelled by systemic racism and classism.
We are and we should be better than this. But, lets be real, the sight of lynch mobs rampaging through our streets, torching hotels and tearing up our towns with impunity, can only be partially offset by stories of communities standing united or coming together to clear up the damage and destruction that racism has delivered.This terror will have triggered or left deep psychological scars for so many people, catalyzing a collective trauma.
This affects all of us. As employers, colleagues, neighbour's and friends, we need to reach out and call in each other to help make better sense of what we have experienced and witnessed. We must not freeze or collude through silence. We all need to lead and double down in our endeavours to make our communities safe, inclusive and equitable for all.
The UK Trauma Council (https://lnkd.in/emSH3M5y) provided a really useful set of principles around how to respond to critical incidents, to which I encourage you to refer. They suggest the following principles:
• Safe
• Calm
• Connected to, and supported by, others
• In control
• Hopeful
I think these are really useful handrails for anyone struggling to know how they can face the world tomorrow. But, equally importantly they can scaffold leaders in thinking out how they can hold their people, many of whom will have felt vicariously attacked.
As a member of several networks and organisations, I will be watching to see how these spaces, that say they welcome and represent me and you, respond too.
I don't know what the future holds, but I believe we can be on the right side of history, if we act with integrity, and if we model our values and commitments in moments like this.