The UNTHINKABLE articles were first posted on Linked In.
I smile as I recognise that the speed of change and evolution now means that I’ve put developing this leadership model on hold for now. I am, however, leaving these 7 articles up as I feel they do illustrate core source issues and opportunities for leaders to look at in themselves prior to developing and practicing their own evolution of their leadership.
(The fifth in a series of articles inspired by a Sep 26, 2017 Workshop for Entrepreneurial Scotland)
As we progress through this series of articles on #OpenLeadership, we move now to what to focus on once we have some clarity on our Self-Knowledge. It is said that “knowledge is power”, so self-knowledge is key to leadership.
The next step from self-knowledge is to have the self-awareness of your state in any moment, as well as what influences your state.As my dear friend Suki Laniado Smithsigns off every email, “Awareness is the greatest agent for change”.
Once we have a degree of self-knowledge and then self-awareness, the next step is to do something with this, something I learned from Shirlaws to call “Managing the Energy”.
Whether we practice it or not, we are aware of the importance of managing our own energy, and some of us may have hired performance coaches. For lots of wonderful thought leadership, tools and information on this, take a look at the site of the amazing Vanessa Bennett and her team at Next Evolution Performance.
I will also be writing often in my posts on my site on topics such as self-knowledge, self-awareness and individual energy management. A recent post is on “Doing from Being” as an example.
However, for this post I want to focus on the importance for leaders of managing the energy of their team. For today then, two simple stories.
First, recently I met with a business leader of a fast growing specialist software company. As they sat down, I asked them how they were. “Stressed” was the reply. They then started to talk about their business and in general they were unconscious of their physical presence.
When they asked me for my thoughts on what they had downloaded, perhaps they were a little surprised to hear me reflect specifically on their state. I told them that they were emanating physical stress, from a tightness across the chest, to constriction of blood vessels, slight shortness of breath, tension in neck and other muscles.
After a joke along the lines of “should I get on the couch now ?, we changed the subject to talk about the business matters they had raised. However, a few minutes later I abruptly paused, looked at them, and said “what do you notice about yourself right now?”. They smiled, laughed a little, and said “I’ve relaxed”.
For this leader, by simply bringing awareness to their state being one of elevated stress, they had the tools to shift their state to one of relaxation, which then changed their thinking, the conversation, the energy they emanated. I would further suggest that when they went back to their office, the energy they radiated would have had a positive and productive impact on their team.
One more story of managing the energy, and this one a famous one from Rugby.
In 1990 the Scotland Rugby Captain, David Sole, chose to emerge onto the field for a critical game by, instead of the tradition of running out, leading his team on a “slow walk” with intent and focus in their stares and demeanour. As a young Scot, I remember watching this and feeling the game was already won before it actually started.
For more on this, watch a 7″ video here that tells the story.
How often do you pay attention to your state and bring awareness to it ? “Awareness is the greatest agent for change”, and sometimes all it takes to make a change is a little awareness.
As the Law of Thermodynamics says, energy cannot be created or destroyed, it may only change form. As a leader, be aware of your state, and where you feel stressed, look to convert that restrictive energy to one of positive and expansive energy for yourself and your team.