Cyclone Gabrielle and the Power of People
As we keep up to date with the news, scenes coming in from Cyclone Gabrielle’s path are both distressing and inspiring. Yet another unprecedented event we’re being asked to face, with loss of lives and impacts that are both very real and unimaginable all at the same time.
“Intrinsically woven within these stories of destruction are stories of incredible leadership and community coming together. In the face of adversity people coming together is not only powerful, it’s one of the best things we can do to find our way through.”
Leadership is not about a title, it’s about the actions we take. We’re watching leadership at all levels across New Zealand – Central and Local Governments, Community Leaders, Local Iwi and Marae, Parents, Teachers, Businesses, Industries, and the good b*ggers, every day folk who are stepping up and in to support. Ka Pai. It’s a phenomenal effort that we know will continue on for weeks to come.
Cyclone Gabrielle presents us with significant and holistic challenges. It’s both personal and professional, and everyone around us knows someone who is impacted in some way. We wanted to share with you, some of the reminders we’ve been talking about within CVL as we support our clients, partners and loved ones this week:
People over task
Putting people at the heart of your decision making over the coming weeks will not only help in the short term to get back up and running into a new normal, but it’ll also support a culture of care and commitment in the future.
Connect people together to solve things. Leveraging communities helps us do the work needed – this is both true in times of crisis and in everyday business. Crises are the time when people can achieve incredible things when they come together – we’re seeing examples of this in the news as communities clean up, support neighbours, collectively work together to find ways to get supplies through to cut off townships.
Emotion is important. As a National emergency Gabrielle impacts all of us in some shape or form. It’s unsettling and causes us to reflect on our lives. Don’t hide from the emotions people are feeling – emotions can connect us, motivate us, lead to action, strength communities and are an important part of processing. Along with ensuring people’s physical safety, be someone who people feel safe to share and talk with.
Oxygen mask first
Leadership is often seen as the ‘go to’. To be critical, indispensable, and needed to make decisions in each moment. You are needed today, and you’re also needed in the weeks and months to come.
It’s a marathon not a sprint. We don’t yet understand the full impacts of Gabrielle but we do know it’s going to take months, possibly years to recover from. This will require sustainable efforts, doing what’s needed now and still having enough in the tank for later. Our colleague George Connolly wrote a blog recently on exactly this (read here).
Ask for help. Leaders can feel the burden of responsibility and at times can become isolated as they try to support others. Think about who is in your support network and activate this. The good news is that everyone wants to help, and it’s important to let them, for both of you.
For those who want to do something
The question that’s asked a lot within CVL is “what can we do to help?”. Our team’s whānau, clients and partners have been impacted and/or are supporting those who are. This is a time when all of us have things we can do to help, and here’s a few ideas…
Reach out. Keeping connected, letting people talk, sit with the emotion they are feeling. Just being there is a gift in itself.
Donate. It could be money, supplies, a spare room. We’re working out how to do this best at CVL and we know that every little bit counts for those who have lost everything.
Talk about it. Connect with your colleagues and loved ones, use this as the opportunity to discuss what we would do, are we prepped, what’s important to us? What’s the special skill we have that we can use to help others?
Support those who can be/are on the frontline. Donating, cooking meals, supporting their families while they’re away, sending a message to say they’re rockstars. If we can’t be on the frontline, what can we do to support those who are?
Reflecting on both this week and the past couple of years, the thing that continues to ring true time and time again is that people can do amazing things when they come together. Gabrielle has the power to destroy, people have the power to pull together and rebuild. There is evidence of this over and over again in history, and us Kiwi’s have an extra special bit of ‘Kiwi-ness’ in our kete that we’re already seeing in action.
Go gently into this weekend, and if you have an idea of how we can support more with the skills we have to share, we’d always love to hear it!
