Tag Archive for: growth

What are signs that you have become a lazy leader?

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I don’t think anyone intentionally sets out to be lazy. But sometimes we get so overwhelmed that we crash. Like when you have so many things on your to-do list you just sit in front of the tv and check out. This isn’t a problem once in a while, but when it becomes a habitual way of handling stress it’s cause for concern.

AI lists signs of lazy leadership that, on the surface, look like lazy leaders, but if you dig a little deeper, you’ll likely find burnout, exhaustion, and poor time management are behind them:

  1. Apathy and Indifference
  2. Lack of Direction
  3. Passive Approach to Problems
  4. Disorganization
  5. Vague Standards and Expectations
  6. Resistance to Change
  7. Hiding in your Office
  8. Endlessly browsing the Internet during work hours
  9. Avoiding Accountability, Blaming, Gossiping, and Finger Pointing

By being aware of these signs, you can take proactive steps to step up your focus, clarify the boundaries you’ve been compromising, say no to the wrong demands, and craft a new strategy. This ensures that you renew your engagement and effectively guide your team towards revitalized success.

All setbacks are opportunities to learn and emerge a better person and a better leader.

hashtag#leadership hashtag#authenticity hashtag#growth

I love Halloween.

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I love going to a party wearing a mask so people don’t know who you are. I would even dress up when I took our daughters trick or treating. It’s a blast being incognito.

However, when we unintentionally wear masks to protect ourselves we present a curated version of ourselves to the world, hiding our true self. We can identify so strongly with the mask – the calm mask, the humor mask, the overachiever mask, the accountable mask, the perfectionistic mask, the people-pleasing mask – that we aren’t even aware we are wearing one or who our real self is any longer.

While they serve important protective functions, prolonged masking can take a toll on our mental health. Suppressing true emotions can lead to anger, rage, depression, and disease in the body. It’s exhausting and isolating.

So have fun wearing masks this Halloween. Just be sure you choose to wear them and know when to take them off and reveal the real you.

What does “good with yourself” look and feel like?

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First, it means having the courage to be open to an awareness of yourself, and how your life impacts those around you. It’s about knowing what drives you and what blocks you while understanding and appreciating your blind spots. It’s about facing the darker sides of your nature, to acknowledge the traumas, inadequacies, self-doubts, insecurities, and fears, and having the willingness to work with and heal these aspects of yourself.

Second, being “good with yourself” means having a degree of self-acceptance. Rather than judging, acceptance means realizing that all behavior stems from positive intent, and healing begins with learning to be friendly with all parts of yourself. It means appreciating that each aspect of yourself can be both a blessing and a potential curse, a strength, and a weakness. Acceptance means finding empathy for others by being gentle with yourself.

Third, being “good with yourself” means taking action, having an orientation toward results. Action means a life-long commitment to continually change, to learn, to grow, to evolve. Growth is a combination of self-awareness and risk-taking. Action means not trying to do everything that everyone expects of you in the way they expect it but to feel comfortable enough with yourself to take the necessary risks that move you out of your comfort zones. You no longer have to create an illusion that you are further along that you are.

Being “good with yourself” means being comfortable enough to be who you are and keep growing. Being “good with yourself” means remembering what enough actually feels like.

 

There are people who do not feel safe at work. They don’t feel safe to speak honestly, offer ideas, or be themselves.

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There are people who do not feel safe at work. They don’t feel safe to speak honestly, offer ideas, or be themselves.

They fear that sharing concerns and mistakes will mean embarrassment or retribution; that if they are honest, they will be humiliated, ignored, or blamed. They fear asking questions when they are unsure of something. They sit on their hands, stay within the lines, underperform and become dissatisfied.

When people are afraid, they stay dangerously silent, they disengage, they lie, and they leave if they can. Or worst of all, they quit and stay.

Far too many managers – knowingly and unknowingly – believe that fear motivates. Too many managers are unaware of how unacknowledged stress and anxiety breeds fear. Brain science has demonstrated that fear inhibits learning, productivity, engagement, innovation, and fulfillment.

How can we, as leaders, create safe workplaces?

Why leadership training and development are so critical and why our teams deserve it.

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Three things I’ve learned about personal and leadership development:

  1. The greatest gift you can give someone is your own personal development. And one of the greatest gifts you can give your team is the gift of learning. Becoming a stronger, wiser, kinder person doesn’t just benefit you, it benefits those around you.
  2. Don’t mistake vertical growth for horizontal growth. I know of leaders who go on annual development courses to go deep into what we used to describe as horizontal growth. But now, podcasts, TED talks, Youtube videos and books, though useful, don’t necessarily allow you to go deeper. There’s a difference between learning “about leadership” (horizontal growth) and true leadership development (vertical growth).
  3. Development keeps us fresh, engaged, and relevant. Don’t put off developing yourself or your team. Leadership and personal development gives us perspective and strategies to navigate our world. Jim Rohn emphasized the crucial choice between discipline and regret: “We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.”

When offered an opportunity that feels too BIG or too Challenging – how do we know what we can handle?

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Frankly, sometimes I don’t know. I have often found myself jumping off a cliff and building wings as I fall. Usually things work out if I lean into whatever is challenging me.

Here’s a few things I do know:

  1. If I’m comfortable, I’m probably not growing. I don’t need to be growing all the time, but I need to be growing some of the time, so I welcome discomfort periodically as an opportunity to learn something new.
  2. If something feels too big or too challenging, it’s helpful to ask myself if the fear is helping or hindering me. Sometimes I need to listen to the fear and back off because it’s something that’s not right for me at the time or good for me. And sometimes I need to walk through the fear and not pay too much attention to it.
  3. I generally find it helpful to talk this through with a trusted colleague, friend, or guide. I often need support and guidance to sort it out.