I know a lot of well-read leaders, and from their learning they know what type of culture creates high performance, that feedback is critical for innovation, and the importance of high emotional intelligence.
But it’s not often that I see leaders actually doing things differently as a result of what they've read, it’s rare to see them acting on all this knowledge they’ve gained.
And that’s because they lack self awareness.
Could this be you? You probably have great intentions and think you’re following through on making changes to enhance performance at work. But the truth is when it comes to crunch time, you’ll probably put head down and be so focused on delivering what they've been asked to do, that any training or reading into the latest management techniques will go out the window… and you’ll revert back to your default leadership style to get the job done.
Even the most senior leaders have a boss (or shareholders/ investors) so it’s common for people like you to spend more time listening upwards than downwards - and let’s be honest, there is often strong incentive to do so. The easiest way to raise self awareness (and therefore become an even greater leader) is to hire a coach who can be trusted to hold up a mirror.
The second best way is to ask yourself difficult questions. For example:
I describe my leadership style as...
My team would describe my leadership style as...
I describe the culture in my team (how it feels to work here) as...
My team would describe the culture here as...
Reflecting on yesterday, where did I show excellent leadership? Where did I show poor leadership?
What activities did I spend most of this week on? What does that say about my leadership choices?
Where have I been innovative this week?
Who was bold enough to share challenging feedback with me this week? What did I hear that I can work on today?
Some of you may be thinking that you could ask for feedback vs. self reflect but I think that’s cheating for a few reasons - I’ll share why in the next blog. Choosing to look inward and carefully consider your thoughts, actions and behaviour will help you continue to up level your leadership capability and demonstrate more of the leader you came here to be.
I’d love to hear one of your insights from the reflection questions this week and how it’s moving your leadership forwards.
P.S. You already know what makes a great leader - it’s time to pause and act on this knowledge. What's the gap vs. how you're leading now?
P.P.S. I've opened up 1 coaching programme space in June - please hit reply and let me know if it's for you.