Be the Architect and Anchor: Leading Through Transformation Without a Playbook

When the playbook is unclear, leaders must be both architects of change and anchors of stability. Discover how to stay relevant, lead through uncertainty, and shape your professional identity during transformation. This episode covers: 

• The dual role of architect and anchor in leadership
• How to create certainty when the ground keeps shifting
• Questions to redefine your value in the age of AI

Support the show

Jill Griffin, host of The Career Refresh, delivers expert guidance on workplace challenges and career transitions. Jill leverages her experience working for the world's top brands like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Hilton Hotels, and Martha Stewart to address leadership, burnout, team dynamics, and the 4Ps (perfectionism, people-pleasing, procrastination, and personalities).

Visit JillGriffinCoaching.com for more details on:

• Book a 1:1 Career Strategy and Executive Coaching HERE
• Build a Leadership Identity That Earns Trust and Delivers Results.
• Gallup CliftonStrengths Corporate Workshops to build a strengths-based culture
• Team Dynamics training to increase retention, communication, goal setting, and effective decision-making
• Keynote Speaking
• Grab a personal Resume Refresh with Jill Griffin HERE

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey friends, I am Jill Griffin, the host of the
Career Refresh podcast.
This is the place where we talkabout keeping your career fresh
, which is everything fromleadership to team dynamics, to
understanding how to navigatechallenge in the workplace, and
that's what we're talking abouttoday.
We're leading through a time ofextraordinary uncertainty
adapting to exponential change,or, if you're wrestling with AI

(00:23):
and what it means for youpersonally and your work, you
are in the right place todaybecause I want to take a breath
and then let's dig in.
All right, I want to offersomething very simple and very
real.
It's a pause, a breath, it'staking a moment to name what's

(00:45):
actually beneath the surface,because right now, you're not
just navigating change and Iknow this because of the
hundreds of people that I talkto on a regular basis through
career coaching, throughexecutive coaching, through team
workshops what I'm doing, it'sthat there is so much going on.
It's AI, it's the markets, it'swhat's going on in your local
region, your national region.

(01:06):
What is going on at thenational level?
It is everything everywhere,all at once, and you are leading
and working throughtransformation.
And let's call it what it is.
You are working and leadingthrough transformation without a
clear prelude book and, withouthaving a path charter, we are

(01:29):
charting new paths right now.
So the pace of work has shiftedradically from AI to automation,
to adding new tools regularlyto your job.
It's changing how work getsdone, the roles and how they
contribute, how things matterand what we're talking about
when we're saying that we areworking in a professional

(01:52):
environment, and this is whatI'm seeing leaders trying to
navigate and struggling with.
Frankly, it means that you needto be both an architect and an
anchor.
So you're designing new ways ofworking.
You're holding space for yourown fears, your team's fears,
questions, resistance, obstacles.

(02:13):
You're managing the dynamictensions between what's urgent
versus what's essential andyou're expected to deliver
results.
You need to manage up, you needto manage down, managing across
, staying strategic, stayingsane, and this is not just
pressure, but this is theemotional labor.
It is making sure that you havethat resilience, and I can't

(02:36):
stress this part enough that theemotional toll of helping teams
and clients shift while youyourself are still shifting is
real.
So you might be asking yourselfa hundred times a day, or at
least when you reflect at theend of the day, what happens to

(02:56):
the value I create if all of myskills that I've spent 10 or 20
years building are now beingautomated.
And how do I stay relevant whenthe ground keeps moving and
sort of the goalposts?
And where do I find solidground when everything feels
uncertain?
And the answer is it's on anindividual level, it's

(03:20):
connection with self, it ismindset, it is creating your own
clarity and it is really beingin that place of presence.
You need to figure out how youcan be certain about the things
that you can be certain about,which will anchor you, so that
you can be the architect on thethings that you have no idea

(03:41):
what's coming next.
And this is all coming throughstarting how you want to show up
right.
This is leadership identity,sometimes called professional
brand.
It is making sure youunderstand what is going to work
for you and then using that asyou navigate this path and lead
teams.

(04:01):
This is the kind of reinventionthat is not just about
upskilling, because there isdefinitely upskilling.
I am talking to my engineeringclients who haven't coded in a
while because they're leavingteams that are getting back into
engineering to making sure thatthey understand what teams are
going to so they can givedirection.
This is about evolving youridentity and you need to stay in

(04:25):
the now, you need to look ahead, you need to look around, you
need to look up, you need toquestion your own long-held
beliefs.
Those are your organization andthinking about how success is
built.
So I'm reframing this to youbecause I want to have a
conversation that this is real.
I'm not here today to tell youI have answers.
What I am here today to tellyou is that I have a path

(04:46):
forward through creating somecertainty and mindfulness
yourself.
And this is about what does itmean to lead?
Now you get to choose what thatmeans for you.
What does it mean to be in aprofessional role when work
roles, relevance, are beingrewritten in real time?
But I want you to remember thatthe pause or the relief happens

(05:11):
after the fog, after thediscomfort and after answering
the various questions that arein you.
So, yes, again, I'macknowledging you are in it, I
am in it.
I'm also figuring out how tocontinue to lead clients through
this level of continue and vastuncertainty.
So I want you to give yourselfsome space and I want you to

(05:34):
start here with reflecting.
What am I pretending not tofeel in this massive transition?
In this massive transition,what do I need to do more of, be
more of to lead with clarityfor myself and therefore

(05:55):
creating clarity for others.
Again, that's the anchor andthe architect, so that you can
move forward right now with thechallenges that are on your
plate today or this week.
And who do I want to becomethrough this, not just after
this.
Who am I becoming now?
And often we think about the endgoal and, yeah, there's some
beautiful reflection there whenyou've achieved the goal, but

(06:16):
the work is also deciding.
Who do I want to show up as asa leader as we're going through
this?
I mean, I am in conversationsregularly with leaders that are
saying that, based on thedecisions that they may or may
not make, do they want to workor live in a world that they are
creating?
So how are they going to usetheir power and influence wisely

(06:37):
?
How are they slowing down,setting reasonable targets,
being intentional, understandingthat there is a lot of noise
out there, understanding thatyou may need to be playing zone
defense, but you also need towalk.
You need to move your body, youneed to have space and grace as

(06:58):
things reveal what's next right.
This is requiring you to thinkthrough these things.
You don't have to carry thisalone.
There are resources and tools.
I'll put some in the show notes.
You can also think about how doyou create community?
Maybe it's within your work, ormaybe it's within your local
community, because right now,with so much uncertainty,

(07:20):
finding ways that we can go backto the core values of community
and collaboration and love andfriendship and really helping
out other people and ways to dothat will remind us to create
the world that we want to livein.
It's showing up and making surethat you're showing up for
yourself first.
That old put the oxygen mask onyourself first so that you can

(07:42):
show up for others.
So again, I see you, I get you.
It is my mission to serve youand keep leading with attention,
even when the path is shifting.
Be the architect and be theanchor and balance the now with
what's next.
You're not behind.
You are becoming.
Be intentional and always,always, always.

(08:04):
My friends, be kind.
All right, friends, as always,you know I love to hear from you
.
You can email me at hello atjillgriffincoachingcom, I will
get your questions answered.
If you have topics you want tohear about, also email me and
hit me up and we will get theresearch.
We will get those guests on theshow.
All right, friends, sending youso much support and I'll see
you next time.