Take Back the Keys to Your Life
Are you a “one-woman or a one-man army?” Do you take on the world and leave others struggling in your wake? It is absolutely possible to produce results from that place. But it’s a bit like having a black belt in karate, the results can be painful and are not always pretty.
To create your best life and inspire others to follow you, it all begins with making daily decisions that support your leadership vision.
Here are valuable strategies to develop your awareness skills that will ultimately lead to your increased satisfaction, well being, and empower you to become the leader that you were meant to be.
Identify Your Goals and Chart a Course for Success
The best starting place is to identify your goals and how you would like to progress in your leadership. What are you struggling with? What do you need to do or how do you need to show up to be successful? Distinguish what needs to be addressed to attain the results according to your vision of success.
“Operating from a survival mechanism is like handing the keys to a 10-year-old and allowing them to drive the bus. And the bus is called your life.”
How do You Adjust your Course if You are not Showing up as Your Best Self?
The first step is always awareness. If you’re not aware, you’re on autopilot. Identify who you are when you are your best self. Start noticing when you are showing up as your best self and when the survival mechanisms are taking over. One of the things we work on in coaching is identifying practices each client can take on that will bring them back to their best self.
Transform Your Leadership One Decision at a Time
Determine your survival/self defense mechanisms; those things that are holding you back from reaching your ultimate potential. They include the automatic ways that each of us show up when we are under stress, afraid, or not present. We don’t want to eradicate them. They can be very useful and produce results, but it’s not from our best self.
Why is it Important to Show up in our Own Personal Power?
The thing that distinguishes us from computers is our presence. When an automatic habit is running the show, it’s not much better than having a computer in charge. Also, most of our survival mechanisms were formed at a young age, so as a wise Senior Program Leader at Accomplishment Coaching once said, “Operating from a survival mechanism is like handing the keys to a 10-year-old and allowing them to drive the bus. And the bus is your life.”
How do You Develop the Persona of a Leader?
Identify how you’re doing in each of the 18 characteristics most highly linked to effective leadership and business performance by taking the Leadership Circle Profile Assessment. Find out what tendencies that are getting in the way of your effectiveness as a leader and the faulty assumptions that are impacting how you show up. Identify what you need to do on a regular basis to show up as a leader.
What are Ways that you can Get Feedback on your Leadership Abilities from Those Around You?
Let people around you know that you’re committed to being the best leader you can be and that you would really appreciate their feedback. Ask several people to tell you what you’re doing that you should continue; what you could start doing; and what you should stop doing. Set aside time and perhaps take the person to lunch and ensure that they understand you value their feedback. Listen to what they have to say and ask questions. Seek to understand with a whole heart. Do NOT defend, dismiss, or argue. Let them know how much you appreciate their willingness to contribute by sharing their feedback. Choose the items you want to work on and share that with each of the people who provided feedback. Then let them know you’re going to check in with them monthly to see if you’re improving in that area.
Why is How you Show up on a Daily Basis so Important?
The difference between the best leader and the worst, is not their education or their technical skills. It is how they show up on a daily basis. It matters to the people around us and it matters to ourselves.
If you show up as your best self, people’s experience of you will be positive, and they will be engaged, motivated, and perhaps even want what you have. Your mood and even your health will be impacted; you will likely be happy, empowered, and excited about life. From a professional view, it affects your ability to be hired, promoted, and collaborate, which ultimately impact business productivity.
If you’re the boss and you’re consistently showing up as your best self, it impacts the
culture, which will likely affect employee engagement, retention and morale.
It’s my passion to help my clients succeed, become better leaders, and achieve their goals. I invite you to take back the keys to your life and transform your leadership.
To develop your own personal leadership plan, contact me today at
[email protected].