THE ART OF LEADERSHIP

THE ART OF LEADERSHIP

ROSS SWAN

We create our own reality. We either do it consciously or unconsciously.

Conscious leadership starts with understanding that it is our responsibility to understand how we function and take responsibility for our responses to situations. Are we being proactive and not reactive? We have to react to challenges, but we should do so in a proactive way. Reacting proactively helps us to take more control of the situation at hand. It helps you turn something that you can drive.

It’s about self-leadership. It is you driving your own car and not just being a passenger all the time. As a passenger of life, you go where the driver wants you to go. Driving your own life means you go where you want to go.

Self-leadership also becomes the foundation for you to be able to lead others effectively. When you accept and take up a position in leadership, you have a moral obligation to try to get the best out of your people which means you owe it to your team to be tapped in, turned on and tuned up. That is, we show up properly. It’s not just going through the motion.

You need to knowingly see things and be awake or conscious to read the signs around you. It’s being in the moment. It’s being aware of how you behave and how you view what surrounds us. It’s not blaming others; it is taking responsibility for how you function as a person.

It’s understanding the difference between the context that we came from and the content that we work with. That is, what is my place of ‘being’, where I’m proud to be approaching things from?

For example, as you approach a team meeting. Ask yourself, am I approaching this with anger, or a place of victimhood, or aggressiveness.

Understanding this helps you modify your behaviour in order for the meeting to be effective. It’s not showing up with whatever energy you have at that moment, it’s being conscious of wanting to show up being confident and positive, with understanding and compassion.

It’s being intentional about what we’re want to create. Understanding your core when you need to show up creates your results. Its taking time out to be conscious of where you are and adjust accordingly and not just turn up and ‘wing it’.

It is asking yourself, not only what you want to achieve, but what behaviours do I need to display to achieve it. This activity of asking yourself what behaviours you need to display should take place many times addressing all sorts of situations in your life. Remember your conscious behaviour creates your results.

So, ask yourself what behaviours do I need to display to be the person I want to be in situations such as: - being an executive, a loving partner, a friend, a parent and the list goes on. Being a conscious leader is not just limited to one aspect of your life, its every aspect of your life. That’s selfleadership.

This is not just an exercise of just listing down the behaviours you think you need to display, and it will just happen. You need to consciously contemplate each behaviour and ask yourself these questions… what emotions do I quite often display that might sabotage one or more of these behaviours? Will my passion for succeeding as a loving partner etc help me overcome these emotional challenges. What are my strengths that will help me be successful?

Knowing your strengths is important, as they give you a high level of energy and inspiration that will help support you. This energy fuels your engagement in the desired behaviour or behaviours and helps you make a more positive impact.

Another question to ask your self when you compile a behaviour list. Do I enjoy doing these behaviours? There may be few that you would prefer not to do. Dr. Dan Harrison a well published Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology said that to be successful at something you have to enjoy at least 75% of what you are doing. So, if your list has enjoyable behaviours below this is percentage then I suggest you review your list, otherwise, the undesirable behaviours you need to display will suck your energy and destroy your resolve. Review these energy draining aspects and examine their source (non-alignment in values, blocking beliefs, fears, worries, to mention a few) and take a proactive step to resolve them. This is when you need be honest with yourself. If you aren’t motivated enough to overcome these energy draining aspects to take you above the 75% then ask yourself whether it is for you.

If the desired behaviours are over 75% then you will generate the required energy to see you through. As I said, this exercise can be completed in any aspect of your life. It’s not just unconsciously and letting life happen, it is taking the driver’s seat and consciously leading yourself through life that you can be proud of.

About Ross Swan

CEO Soul Inspired Leadership

Pte Ltd

Ross is a perceptive and responsive leadership consultant, coach, and trainer, with broad experience in varied industries worldwide continually helping leaders to reduce their stress in managing people.

Ross is also a dynamic speaker and podcaster with outstanding skills in communication, presentation, training, teambuilding, and interpersonal relations. He works internationally with his projects encompassing many diverse cultural backgrounds.

Throughout the years, Ross has developed a growing desire to put an ongoing emphasis in bringing more soul into business and he believes that the most effective leaders stay true to their authenticity by being soul inspired and it starts by being able to lead yourself.

You can catch Ross at: www.soul-inspired-leadership. com https://www.linkedin.com/in/ rossswan1/ https://twitter.com/RossSwan2