In tidal pools, the ebb and flow of the water level is what drives its sustainability. Organisms have to adapt when the tide retreats. When the tide returns, the organisms are renewed. Adaptation lies at the heart of preservation.
Similarly, a caterpillar literally dissolves into a nutrient ‘soup’ before becoming a butterfly. Nothing of its old form remains inside the chrysalis.
Across my client base, there are many tired businesses at the moment, and it’s not because it’s the end of the year. These businesses are tired because they lack Life Force.
For leaders with a narrow view of what a business is, a lack of life force will present a problem because life force can’t be seen or measured. It exists within the spirit of a person or a collective of people. So, trying the orthodox things that a business leader might usually try – raising targets, coercing people – will not work. In fact, they will have the opposite effect.
So what is life force, and how does a leader recreate it within a business that is looking to renew itself?
It’s not any one thing but rather a combination of hope, belief, love, ambition, viability, excitement, and meaning.
That’s a pretty powerful collection of energies, thus making it even harder to work with because there is no single lever to pull. There are many, and they need to be worked on multiple fronts to come together in unison.
If I’m making this sound complex, it’s not. And it shouldn’t be because feeling vital is our natural state. We are all wired to be this way.
Here are a few pointers:
- Life Force requires a human approach, not a mechanical or tactical one.
- Life Force relies on meaning: if it doesn’t matter to people, it won’t stir the soul.
- Life Force builds on success: if something is failing, it’s hard to get excited about it.
- Life Force doesn’t lie, and it can’t be faked, so grandstanding won’t work.
- Life Force requires friction or creative tension, so it’s not about keeping the peace, necessarily.
- Life Force requires movement – ideas, communications, emotion, resource adjustment – so change must accompany it.
Practically, a business lacks Life Force because that Life Force has been burned away. It didn’t disappear on its own, and it can’t return on its own. It needs to be recreated by leaders, and it needs a pathway to that recreation.
Renewal is just one of those paths, but others exist too: pivots, expansions, and elevations are all examples of Life Force recreation processes.
But beware of trying to adjust Life Force as your central intention because it doesn’t work this way. Life Force is the result of getting other things right, few of which are mentioned in regular business literature.
They should be because Life Force lies at the heart of all business success. We have a highly vested interest in understanding it.