Leaders of businesses, organisations and public bodies are making decisions today that will impact the lives of their employees, customers, the environment and society.
What will be your leadership legacy and do you have a visual communication strategy to document it?
Unprecedented times
It’s a phrase that I first heard following the financial turbulence of 2008, business leaders would describe the challenges they were facing as ‘being unprecedented‘. It wasn’t just the financial crash of course, that was just the icing on the cake. Customers needs had been changing for years, barriers to entry in many sectors had come down so new entrants and competition were commonplace. Ways of working were also changing.
Demands on leaders to make decisions – the right decisions – often with competing priorities meant that change or transformation was inevitable.
Every sector – private, public and charitable has evolved its strategy, culture, values, market, relationships with stakeholders, and much more over the past 20 years.
The question is whether any of the outcomes of these decisions have been visually documented, celebrated and archived for future generations to understand the leadership legacy that has been created?
Leaders’ legacy
Leadership author, Glenn Llopsis writes: ‘It surprises me how many leaders don’t spend enough time thinking about their legacy – what they will leave behind for the organization and the people they serve.’ He goes to state ‘Your legacy grows with each new experience, with each previously untested idea and bold ideal that you are courageous enough to deploy, and each time you inspire others to see something through to fruition.’
A Fast Company article states that leaders have much more responsibility in modern organisations and that it’s not just about profit, ‘They’re also in charge of keeping demanding investors happy, cultivating a workplace culture that engages employees and attracts new talent, and serving as a good global actor amid increased scrutiny on corporate ESG practices.’
Every leader is making decisions that are creating environments where employees can thrive, innovate, and be inspired to develop new products, processes and find new ways to do business that is financially, socially and environmentally responsible.
I know of great leaders in numerous businesses who spent 10 or 15 years as the leader of their function or business area making bold decisions, building new revenue streams, opening new offices or facilities, acquiring other businesses, funding life changing work in far flung parts of the world, and yet very little of it was visually documented, and as a result today’s employees don’t appreciate what went before.
The scrapbook
When I was younger and had aspirations to be on the stage I kept the programmes, photographs and newspaper articles of the plays I was in. At the time it was a form of inspiration and encouragement but now it’s an archive that my family is interested in. My wife has been known to post photos from the scrapbook on her instagram feed! Without the photographs I would just have memories, which I could still share but there is a greater connection and understanding when people can see the images.
Organisations today are not great at keeping scrapbooks. Official documents and presentations are often bulging with purchased stock images, which in years to come might be misleading – ‘Was this is a photo of something we did or did we pretend it was ours?’. Digital assets are rarely centralised so any photography or video that has been commissioned may sit in a folder on a local drive unavailable to others.
At a time when we’re told that our mental health is suffering more than ever, we’re advised to remember all that we’ve achieved and not just focus on what’s in front of us. What better way of reminding yourself of what you’ve helped to achieve than by looking through your own scrapbook of photographs?
Photographs are the best way to visually document. Photography is relatively cheap, it’s not intrusive, it’s versatile, quick to get from capture-to-use, and can be stored and shared very easily.
Numerous companies have photographic archives: The John Lewis Partnership (who I still work for after 30 years documenting their work across all areas of the business), Cadbury, Diageo, Ford and many more. Whilst I recall submitting video tapes to the John Lewis archive in the early 2000s I know that they haven’t been accessed as much as the photographs I took of the same projects.
How can you document your leadership legacy?
There are four approaches to photography that can be employed and most leaders will use all four at some stage:
- Shadowing
- Day in the life
- Projects
- Outcomes and Impact
Shadowing
This involves spending the day (usually multiple days throughout the year) literally shadowing the leader as they go about their business. It’s not intended to be an ego trip, the photographer should be looking to capture the diversity of work, interactions and complexities faced during the course of the day.
Day in the life
Similar to shadowing but with a broader remit to take in the whole organisation, function or team. It’s about capturing a typical day that highlights the work done and the people who do it. It could be anything from a new building project, to a manufacturing facility, to the workings of a shop, or behind the scenes of a busy office.
Projects
The most usual type of leadership legacy to document is a project that the leader has championed, sponsored or created. These could be projects that reflect values and principles, that will re-shape the organisation or the function, or will deliver against strategic goals.
Outcomes and impact
Often overlooked is the impact that work has, particularly work that has a social or environmental value to it. Businesses might capture what they ‘did’ but rarely the impact it has on people’s lives – whether it’s employees, the community or other stakeholders. If you’re building a school or a community centre, where you work or thousands of miles away, it’s not the cutting of the ribbon that matters, it’s what the building does for those that use it.
Start documenting your Leadership Legacy
Every business and organisation has been shaped by those leadership moments of inspiration, tenacity, and courage. Each leadership decision forms part of the company history which is how lessons are learned and achievements celebrated.
To document your leadership legacy is not a vanity project, it’s creating chapters of the company history which others will look back on with pride.
To start documenting your leadership legacy give me a call or send me an email and let’s discuss which approach to take and where to start.
