Why 2024 is the year of mojo
By Andrew Loveless, Director, Pecan Partnership
Losing one’s mojo means to lose confidence, energy or enthusiasm, especially coinciding with a decline in one’s success.
It can make us feel depleted, overwhelmed, stressed-out, tired, bored or lethargic.
A pretty good description of a lot of people’s experience these days, and particularly for leaders.
What’s going on?
I believe we are in a state of recovery from the seismic and cumulative changes we have all experienced over the last few years; Covid, lockdowns, Brexit, wars, hybrid working, the cost-of-living crisis.
It’s like being stuck in second gear, trying to make sense of it all and find our ‘new normal’. It feels harder and takes longer to get decisions made and bring about change and innovation. Lots of uncertainty and ambiguity can blur our perception of what we can control and shrink what we believe we can influence. In the background we may feel low-level anxiety about things that concern us but realistically we can’t do much about.
I also believe that now is the time for organisations to step up and work on their mojo. It is what the world needs now. We have been supporting clients to do this over the last few years and those that have are now in a markedly better place than others in their sector.
What does this mean in practice?
Prioritise making your organisation the best it can be. A place where people enjoy coming to work and where they feel welcomed, cared for, challenged and developed. The sort of place that clients and customers rave about to their friends and colleagues. An organisation made up of teams that achieve great things and have a great time doing it.
Where to start?
One quick win is to identify and embed the leadership routines that boost energy, engagement and performance.
This could include fundamental but powerful tactics:
- Weekly 121s with direct reports – not about tasks and what needs to be done, but to check-in on how they are, share ideas, listen, laugh
- Town Halls every few months to keep people connected with progress towards the vision. If there is no vision, use these get-togethers to create one that people find motivating and connected to
- Listening groups to hear what is getting in the way and needs addressing
If any of this strikes a chord get in touch.
Pecan can help in lots of ways:
- Revisiting your purpose and vision
- Reviewing and developing your organisational or team culture
- Resetting, refreshing or embedding values
- Cutting through the BAU to enable and speed up change and innovation
- Deepening relationships with stakeholders
PS Just accepting that your mojo may need attention is an act of courage that can kick-start momentum!
About Andy:
Andy is a culture change expert with over 30 years of experience. Andy specialises in helping organisations achieve a positive workplace culture, using a range of tools and services.
You can find out more here
