Hope you are great!
Welcome to our December update – a perfect moment to reflect, get present and reset.
Being a purpose-aware leader can make a positive impact to the world and the people we serve. It’s the one quality that really can transform performance and levels of contribution by; shifting perspectives, building and onboarding engagement and elevating human potential.
Sustainable leadership requires a balance of being present in the operational reality of now, and possessing the courage to rethink, imagine and invest for the long-term to smooth the path that lies ahead.
My sincere wish is that the gift of these leadership principles can provide you with some sustenance, perspective and to be of service to you in making astonishingly good things happen.
Go well!
Simon – Coachvirtus
Guiding leadership principles for contemplation;
- Open to possibility – with better awareness we make better decisions. Whilst getting things done with maximum impact and efficiency is important for daily delivery and execution, its important that we don’t allow being busy to get in the way of our purpose and why.
- Mind state of a scientist – being open-minded to facts and fresh perspectives, helps to elevate performance. Not to start with answers or solutions; but to lead with questions and puzzles. This methodology means that we don’t preach from intuition, but we teach and communicate from evidence.
- Recognise biases and blindspots – opinions, ego, patterns and blind spots might make us feel in control, but this behaviour inhibits contribution, collaboration and initiative of the team we serve. We all have blind spots due to our conditioning, experiences and learned coping strategies, the courageous leaders are the ones that take action to address them with new perspectives and trusted wisdom.
- Don’t blame – be the change – consider that people generally do their best within the constraints of a system and society they work and exist within. It’s our role as leaders to set out an inspired and sustainable vision that provides the hope, clarity of direction, empowerment and provides the resources and tools for people to become the change.
- Build goodwill – givers change the world. By contributing to a mission greater than ourselves, and empowering and inspiring the people we lead and serve, we build confidence and hope. Little moments that make people feel valued, seen and heard, can have enormous positive impact.
- Take the long path – the laws of the universe keep on turning and rebalancing, like the seasons, we go through cycles of growth, plateau and decline, each of these phases has learnings to serve us. The good times will come again, so take a moment to reset and get connected with your purpose and life mission.
- Daily reset – our brains are incredible and have the capacity of creative genius, and yet they have an equal capability to create the opposite. It’s important to recognise that we can easily get triggered as we operate and process a noisy, complex and demanding ecosystem – this consumes a lot of energy. Tap into your gift to choose, reframe and start afresh.
- A confident humility – our ego’s have the potential to make us over confident, controlling and overly opinionated. A potential consequence can be that we develop blind spots, that can suppress the capacity and contribution of those around us to step up and in. Adopting an open, active listening and coaching style, helps to build trust, demonstrate our empathy and energise the contributions of our team.
- Power in choosing gratitude – when things get stressful and overwhelming, pausing and leaning in to gratitude helps us to appreciate how far we’ve come, to recognise that we are doing our best and identify the strengths and values that can take us to the top of the next mountain.
- Be a giver – apparently happy people give more. By freeing ourselves up, embracing this mind state and linking it to our/ a purpose, provides us with a power-source that can literally change the world and how we elevate the focus and energy on service and contribution.
Good post!