Markiesha E. Wilson
Leadership Coach
Markiesha E. Wilson
Management consultant, leadership coach, speaker, and author, Markiesha Wilson is passionate about equipping and encouraging leaders to lead their teams authentically and pursue joy in their careers.
As a coach and speaker, Markiesha has the unique ability to ignite growth through challenge. She provides essential insights to help emerging, mid-level, and senior leaders navigate their careers from recruitment to retirement. Markiesha guides leaders to discover and refine a more productive leadership style, thereby creating fulfilling work environments for their employees.
In the Climb: Eight Audacious Actions to Overcome Life and Climb the Corporate Ladder with Joy is Markiesha’s latest book. In it, Markiesha shares the techniques she learned and applied to help her strategically navigate necessary nonsense in the workplace, excel in leadership roles at Fortune 500 companies, and heal from her troubled past and personal challenges.
Markiesha is a human capital professional. She has over 20 years of proven experience in strategizing and partnering with leadership teams to design and empower dynamic workforces. She is also an expert level facilitator and designer of highly rated interactive leadership and interpersonal communications courses for adult learners in educational and government institutions, and private sector entities, throughout the United States and the Caribbean.
She has enjoyed a successful career in various leadership roles with companies including Booz Allen Hamilton, Fannie Mae, First Bank Virgin Islands, Accenture and Deloitte Consulting.
Markiesha received her Master of Arts degree in Human and Intercultural Communications at Howard University and her Leadership Coaching Certification at Georgetown University. She is ACC certified by the International Coaching Federation.
For more information about Markiesha visit https://wilson-chapman.com/ and check out her TEDX Talk.
Eight Audacious Actions to Take For A Change
There is no shortage of training, books, and workshops on managing change. Yet, as omnipresent as oxygen in our corporate cultures, the topic of change continues to challenge leaders. As leaders, we set an example to follow, even when we do not agree with the changes being made. Enduring the change that is handed to us, we lead others through.
According to the 2023 Deloitte Human Capital Trends Report, leaders must evolve with their organizations and adopt new fundamentals to mobilize workers against new outcomes. The report states that a new brand of leadership is required.
As a leader, where and how do you show up? What is the mindset you adopt to drive work forward? Organizations with worker involvement in designing and implementing organizational change are more likely to experience positive outcomes according to the Deloitte 2023 Global Human Capital Trends survey.
As a change management consultant, I have facilitated complex reorganizations, comprehensive software implementations, complicated cultural shifts, and conflicting COVID changes. Each exacts a toll on the mindset of C-suite, mid-level, and emerging government and private industry executive coaching clients. Many become too anxious to communicate with their fearful teams, suppress their stress, and become physically ill.
Assuming we must passively receive the next big change, leaders use terms such as acceptance or adoption. What would happen if we took audacious actions instead of merely ‘accepting’ the change?
Here are eight actions to take when confronted with an organizational change:
- Envision Possibilities
What is possible? This is the first question. A desire to maintain the status quo blinds us to how the new person, place, or thing can add value to our workplaces. As you seek to envision how this change might be positive, try a few positive what-if possibilities. What if the new software system actually improves our efficiency? What if the CEO’s new strategic plan aligns with my values? What if allowing hybrid work schedules enhances our ability to recruit highly talented individuals? When we set our vision on the possibility of positives, we can better establish an encouraging tone for our teams to accept the change.
- Engage Opportunities
Invite your team to recommend and implement new processes while closely monitoring potential risks. Leading small change initiatives will give you empathy for your leaders, which may inspire your support.
- Endure Negativity
Some negativity is inevitable. Employees will complain that the old way is better, senior leaders will feel that your idea is too expensive, and peers may be jealous that you get too much visibility. This is normal. New ideas are often met with opposition, but without opposing views, we have no diversity of thought.
- Embody Audacity
To embody audacity requires building confidence and preparing to make the bold move. As our organizations progress to remain competitive in the post-COVID corporate culture, leaders are pressed to adapt rapidly with little to no preparation. We embody audacity when we realize that we are already capable and equipped to step forward boldly to take risks.
- Explore Creativity
Change invites the opportunity within the corporate culture to solve creatively. Find innovative ways to solve problems and move the organization forward. Forward-thinking leaders expect new issues to pop up. Lean into problem-solving by disrupting business-as-usual groupthink in favor of out-of-the-box ideation.
- Exhibit Generosity
Be generous with your time as your team embarks on the new process, system, or structure. Set office hours and clearly communicate that this time is set aside for discussion of concerns. Many leaders claim an open-door policy; however, employees benefit from multiple reminders that their leaders are available when change is on the horizon.
- Exemplify Tenacity
When boulders of change roll down from the top, running for the hills might seem like the fastest route to peace of mind. However, since you are brave enough to hold a leadership position, you’ve already survived managing during a pandemic, arguably one of the worst times in corporate culture history. You are already equipped to hold on in the most challenging times. Recall the self-care tools and strategies you utilized to weather the storm. Take off mental health days, minimize unnecessary meetings, and delegate tasks to recapture the strength you need to hold on through the change.
- Embrace Serenity
Acceptance, forgiveness, and gratitude are secrets to finding serenity in life and the workplace. At some point in our leadership journeys, we must accept that we do not have the ability or influence to control organizational changes. Like our direct reports, we may agree to change with a hint of resentment. However, if we can release old feelings of wrongdoing, we can grasp our own peace of mind.
The omnipresence of change in the workplace will continue well beyond our retirement dates. Leaders who intentionally take audacious actions to embrace a positive mindset towards change will be the ones who start finding more joy in their work now.
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