It’s easy to put off till tomorrow what can be done today. And when it comes to our own growth, there are very specific conditions necessary to thrive, both personally and/or professionally.
For some, it is common practice to take charge of their own learning. These people are ready, willing and able to do whatever it takes to develop themselves, in order to move closer toward mastery of self and craft. For others, it isn’t so easy to do so. Although these people strive to be their best selves, they can often times be overcome by nagging self-doubt and an inability to identify the next steps needed in their own learning and growth. This can be the result of a number of factors. For example, not having had any real mentors or being explored to poor leaders in the past, working in organizations that did not support learning and growth, or never having experienced genuine autonomy in past jobs. It’s necessary for leaders to consider how they are using each day to help create the conditions necessary for growth in their organizations. Especially considering these organizations probably have both types of people described above. To any leader reading this, consider this question: How might you be differentiating growth opportunities to meet your employees where they are at in regards to their own learning and development? With each day, comes new opportunities to empower all people under your leadership to thrive and flourish in their own unique ways within your organization. It is easy to categorize people into either being willing or unwilling to grow and learn. Just as a teacher has to differentiate their instruction to meet the diverse needs of the students under their care and guidance, every leader also has the responsibility to individualize and differentiate professional growth in a way that makes learning accessible to all of their employees. Seneca’s quote above states, ‘As each day arises, welcome it as the very best day of all and make it your possession.’ Grabbing a hold of each day, will allow you, as a leader, to take action on the steps needed to empower those around you to show up as their best self and feel completely supported along the way. Thanks for reading.
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The terrain of leadership is much more difficult to navigate nowadays compared to times in the past. Leaders are constantly faced with deeper uncertainty, fast-paced change, and problems that are more complex than ever before.
And because of this, the hierarchical, control and compliance structures of the past no longer serve organizations as they once did. Effective leadership in today’s ever-changing world means being open and receptive to new ideas, criticisms, and different perspectives. The best leaders no longer rely on their position of power. Instead they choose to focus on consistently deepening their ability to influence those they lead. They influence through compassion, empathy, support, modeling, transparency, and open communication. It’s easy for leaders to default to their position of power, but as best-selling author and Harvard professor, Dr. John Kotter says, “Leadership is very much related to change. As the pace of change accelerates, there is naturally a greater need for effective leadership.” Many would suggest that leadership hasn’t transformed itself fast enough to keep up with the changing times, but what does this actually mean? What should good leadership now look like given the pace of change and uncertainty in the world? Nicola Sturgeon’s words from the quote above have never rung truer when looking at the current state of leadership and what should be expected of any leader wanting to create lasting change and impact. To influence change requires taking full accountability of one’s actions as a leader. And as Nicola says: “Leaders make mistakes and when we make mistakes it is much better to acknowledge that and learn the lessons from those mistakes rather do what leaders have traditionally done which is never ever admit to ever making a mistake.” If you are a leader (or aspiring leader) reading this, how are you holding yourself accountable for your actions? To what extent are you willing to own your mistakes? To what extent do you challenge yourself to grow and learn every day? It’s one thing to take courses, go to leadership workshops, and attend leadership conferences. It’s a completely different playing field though, when leaders take action to consistently apply their learning, in real time, with those who they serve. And to continue to reflect on what is working and what they need to further develop. Leadership is tough. It is a grind. But to those leaders who are willing to do the deep internal work needed to continually grow and learn, I commend you. The world needs you more than ever. Thanks for reading. Setting goals for ourselves and endeavoring to stay on track with those goals is a worthy pursuit for anyone trying to create lasting change in their life. With change often times comes growth and learning, so it's definitely worth setting goals.
In my own case, I've been working hard to look at the goals I set in my life, but to ensure that the goals that I do set have value and meaning. That they align with my core values and the things I'm trying to accomplish and achieve. One of the goals I set for myself, a few weeks ago, was to take on a daily writing challenge. To write one blog post a day about the things I'm inquiring into and trying to learn more deeply about. Much of my work revolves around learning as much as I can about mental health and wellness, so the focus of my daily writing is aimed at these areas. For the most part, I've stayed on track with my daily writing. It's certainly no easy task to try to produce one blog post a day, but I find the process worth my time. However, the last couple of days, I haven't posted. I was in the process of flying back to my home in Saudi Arabia from Scotland where my wife and I spent the last week and a half on vacation. Bottom line is that I got a bit complacent the last couple of days. Even though I could have devoted enough time to get my daily writing done, I fell off track. Day one led into day two. I could've written at the airport. I had time, but I simply didn't get it done. Enter the self-critiquing voice. That judgmental voice crept into my head while I was on the plane, "You didn't stick to your goal. You had the time but you didn't get it done! Do you actually have the self-discipline needed to stay on track?" The truth is I could've gotten it done, but didn't. When I woke up this morning, I reflected on my goal. It is a worthy endeavor to try and produce a blog post a day, but there will be times when I might not get it done. Rather than beat myself up, I probably need to be more self-compassionate. Scanning for the evidence of past success is a good way to be more compassionate and supportive with myself. I have blogged a number of days and have evidence of this. The point of today's blog post is to address self-compassion. How does self-compassion show up in your life? Are you self-compassionate enough with yourself when you fail to meet certain goals? Do you give yourself enough credit for showing up to do the work needed in the first place? My blogging example is just a greater metaphor for the need for more self-compassion in our lives. So, the next time you find yourself being judgmental with yourself, beating yourself up a bit (or a lot), and generally being pretty shitty with yourself, how might you infuse a bit of self-compassion to counter-balance and tame the harsh inner critic? Thanks for reading. Simply put, when any person sets a limitation in their life, they greatly limit what is achievable. In doing so, that person will often times not evolve or grow beyond the limitation they have set for themselves. This holds true in many different ways in our life. Whether it be our own mental health and well-being, the aspirations we have within our own profession, the limits we place on our own physical health and levels of fitness, or the quality of relationships in our life. Learning to navigate self-imposed limitations requires changing our mindset and our habitual ways of thinking about what is possible in our life. What’s most important to understand is that we can achieve more than we believe is possible when we get our mindset right. If you were to honestly assess to what extent you have placed self-imposed limitations on what’s possible in your own life, where would you fall on a scale of 1-10 below? If you have ranked yourself on the higher end of the scale, great! You are obviously on track and rarely limit what is possible in your life. If you are on the lower end of the scale, you may want to explore different ways to deal with self-imposed limitations in your life.
I recently had well-known performance psychologist and best-selling author, Todd Herman, on my podcast to share his work. His best-seller, The Alter Ego Effect, gives people deep insight into how they can shatter self-imposed limitations in their own life and overcome the self-doubt, negativity, and insecurity that holds them back. In this episode, Todd not only shares his own journey in overcoming self-imposed limitations in his life, he also shares the work he has done helping countless clients to overcome their own limitations. Todd has coached thousands of clients over the years, including Kobe Bryant. As well, he has coached many others in the field of elite sport, entertainment, business, and even navy seals/green berets. Click on the photo of Todd Herman below should you want to access the podcast we recorded to learn more about his work and his best-selling book. I hope you check out his book and listen to our podcast. Thanks for reading. Most people understand that being a good listener is a very valuable skill to possess. Have you ever consciously set out to focus on being a listener for an entire day? Listening is not just listening but asking too.
When we ask more questions to others, we automatically put ourselves in a position to be a listener. How often do we show genuine curiosity towards our colleagues? How often do we prioritize their stories over ours? In the madness of our days, we can certainly forget to ask and listen more. A self-awareness exercise to try out is the one-day listening challenge. For just a day, set the intention to ask more questions and genuinely focus on being a better listener. What might you discover about yourself if you tried this out? Would you find out that you connected more deeply with others? Would you find out that it felt quite uncomfortable for you because you are not use to listening and asking as much? Who knows what you would find out until you actually give it a try. In being curious about our own habits, we can learn more about ourselves. In the process, we create opportunities to focus more deeply on self-growth. Thanks for reading. I came across the leadership visual seen below on a social media post yesterday. The visual on the left represents what some people think leadership is. The visual on the right is what good leadership really is. As I looked at both visuals, something that immediately popped into my mind is that there was something very important missing.
There is a huge difference between saying what good leadership really is and actually putting great leadership skills into action on a daily basis. Having been in the international teaching field for over 20 years, I've seen lots of different types of leaders and leadership styles. I've seen a number of these leaders do exactly what is summarized in the left visual. Sadly, I've seen very few leaders actually put into action, with consistency, the skills outlined in the visual on the right. There is no question that leadership can be very challenging. There are many demands placed on leaders on a daily basis and with leadership comes enormous responsibility. A person who leads or aspires to lead must never forget this. They must also hold themselves accountable for their actions. They must be willing to reflect on their actions and assess to what extent they are leading with the empathy, compassion and integrity needed to empower those around them to be their best. They must remember that staying aligned to their core values in difficult moments and challenge is what will ultimately define them. And as the quote above states, "Leaders have to be conscious of their behavior because everyone else is." Thanks for reading. |
AuthorKAUST Faculty, Pedagogical Coach. Presenter & Workshop Leader.IB Educator. #RunYourLife podcast host. Archives
September 2022
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