Leadership
Recently I met a consultant who described his business as an ‘organisational energy consultancy’. No they’re not into new bio fuels or anything like that. They have an outstanding record track record of influencing focused change in multi-national corporations. They say that certain leadership tasks are critical to energising an organisation.
These are:
• Creating energy – by being seen and giving out the right signals. Developing and supporting talent and building alliances
with key people.
• Providing purpose & direction – by lifting the sights, setting the tone and developing a great team aligned with each
other throughout the business.
• Priorities & warning signals – by becoming excellent at prioritising and being able to instinctively pick up on the warning
signs (and of course take actions to deal with these).
The question is, how well do you lift the sights of your organisation?
Do you have a clear picture of the future?
Do you talk about it to other ‘key’ people?
Do you draw a strong connection between your work and the positive impact it has?
On a scale of 1-10 (1 being low and 10 being very high) what level of energy are you demonstrating in your leadership role today?
And on a similar scale, what level of energy are you putting into your key business activities today?
And similarly, how do you see the energy input from those people you are there to inspire?
Energise your day by leading with passion in everything you do. Enjoy your energy and promote it!
Article by: Wendy Howard
Join me on www.twitter.com/wendyhoward & www.linkedin.com/in/spiritofvenus
Fear and doubt are often the main stopping points to doing what needs to be done to get to the next level. We have a natural tendency to weigh up the risks and butt out as quickly as possible. Or sometimes we just don’t take any action at all – which is the same as butting out, but just not acknowledging that’s what we’re actually doing.
Yet, fear and doubt are simultaneously a leader’s two greatest allies aswell as their two greatest enemies. Fear itself provides us with self-awareness, a sense of urgency and an opportunity to learn while gaining more information than we previously had.
Doubt, on the other hand, forms the core of objectivity and learning. Whether it is doubt about ourself or ones’ ability or whether something is right or wrong, or even if it’s due to our own ignorance or negligence.
Cultivating courage and integrity is ultimately an exercise in balance for the leader. Recently, I had to make a choice on doing something that I indeed doubted and feared partly because I knew very little about the direction and what was needed. I had concerns over the short term loss weighed up with the long term implications of a possible failure.
I realised very quickly that although there are people who support you or are around to help when it comes to making the choice, the final decision is a very lonely one, no-one else can make that decision for you.
I chose to take the risk and made the choice that whatever happened I’d never look back. I’d use it as a learning experience and have the courage and integrity to stand by what I’d chosen to do. And it paid off.
Fear and doubt is like the critic in the Walt Disney style of leadership. It’s good to have but it’s not something that should hold you back or stop you.
It’s about using it to balance everything out. Then use integrity and courage to stand by your decision and set the foundations in place for a bright future.
Someone recently said that great leaders make decisions quickly, but change their minds slowly. I think that’s a great way of putting it.
Have a great day and visit me at www.grow-training.com
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