As a leadership coach, I often get asked what the biggest challenge is in being a leader. My answer: you never stop learning. So, I decided to share some of the leadership lessons I learnt this year.

“The best leaders never stop learning.”

Donald T Philips, writer.

It’s just so important. Our behaviour is always changing, our immediate circumstances are changing and the world around us is too. Management styles and workplace expectations evolve, and in particular the pandemic has accelerated many trends such as workplace flexibility, technology usage and supporting employee mental health.

A leader who cannot keep up will no longer be an excellent leader.

The good news is, constant leadership learning does get easier all the time – the more you improve your basic leadership skills like self-awareness, the more learning and constant evaluation and improvement become second nature.

I try to always apply this principle to myself, and I know it’s not always easy. Even with my horses here to keep me grounded, and for me to check myself against every day, I can still get caught up and have ‘blind-spots’ about my behaviour, especially when I get very busy and focused on the task at hand.

This year has been a tough year for most of us. However, everything that’s happened has opened my eyes and helped me learn about leadership. As there’s only a few weeks left of 2021, I thought it was time to share some of what I learnt about leadership this year (so far).

1. Positivity has power

If you know me, or have read some of my earlier posts, then you may be aware that I had an accident in the first half of this year in which I broke several vertebrae. I’m very lucky that my recovery, while difficult, has been excellent, and in particular I’m lucky I can still walk.

And it really taught me how much of an impact positivity can be in our lives.

This is not to say that everyone can or should be positive all the time. We know life can be tough. And we’re very aware and supportive of mental health issues here – please do get help if you need it.

However, the power of positivity is a great mantra for leaders. Positivity is an excellent way to keep yourself and your team focus on goals and remain resilient through challenges.

 2. Be aware of your impact upon others

My accident was a big reminder of all the people – in my work and personal lives – who rely on me to do certain tasks. Seeing them have to work around me suddenly not being there showed how I impact upon others. Obviously, this was an extreme example, but it is worthwhile keeping in mind on a regular basis. If you’re stressed, then those around you will feel that stress. The same goes for being cranky, or distracted, or whatever else.

At the same time of being reminded of interdependence, I also got see how others were able to step up and keep everything running without me. A welcome reminder that a good leader not only creates a team that works well together, but also where each member has the ability to work autonomously and get on with what they’re good at.

As others have said – good leaders make themselves replaceable.

3.   Look after yourself

Being forced to slow down is not something that happens to me often! I have numerous demands in both my home and work life, so I often fall into the trap of doing so much in a single day that I hardly have time to breathe (let alone eat or rest!)

However, having to focus on my health really drove home how important looking after myself is. How can we lead others if we’re run down and not functioning properly ourselves?

I think we all know this deep down, but what I learnt is that what was holding me back from caring for myself more was fear of what would happen to all my responsibilities if I did take time to myself.

And guess what: it all worked out just fine.

What have you learnt about leadership this year? Let me know in the comments.

If you’re interested in learning more about our unique leadership training with horses, email info@leadingedgelifeskills.com.au.

Trusting your gut feeling: horsey lessons on intuition

There’s lots of evidence to suggest that intuition is a valuable asset in the workplace. Unlike our horsey friends, though, it’s a skill that most of us humans need to work on and develop.

Do you know one of my favourite things about horses?

They respond to every situation honestly and immediately; either they feel safe and comfortable and will work with you happily, or they won’t.

We humans also have intuition, or what we know as our ‘gut feeling’, but unlike horses we often choose to ignore this feeling.

I vividly remember one particular time (one of the many over the years) that I personally experienced this. It occurred during one of our facilitator training weeks. We were in Denmark and I was asked to be a program participant to even out numbers for a team. My human team mate, Suzanne, had just successfully completed a task with a different team.  Following on from this, she was being very directive about how Bendt, our horse, and I should complete the task at hand. It made me very uncomfortable. I did not want to say what my gut was telling me as I thought it would come across the wrong way.

But there is no fooling horses! Bendt was not relaxed and he would not budge. It was not until both Suzanne and I were honest about what was happening were we able to move forward. I admitted – out loud – that I felt I was being pushed in a direction that I didn’t want to go. Suzanne was so surprised at my revelation that she cried! The last thing she intended was to be “bossy”. Bendt literally sighed and yawned – a release response for horses – we all hugged (pre-Covid days!) including Bendt and worked beautifully as a team from then.

Often, at the completion of training, because of the immediate cause and effect feedback loop provided by the horses, we see that participants have laid a solid foundation for being able to develop and practice their intuition skills at work.

This is not to say we should only act on ‘gut feeling’ – just listen to what it is telling us and make a decision from there.

Some questions to get you thinking about trusting your intuition more:

• Does everything feel right about this situation?
• Have I been over-analysing a situation?
• Am I ignoring inconvenient truths?
• Am I always second-guessing myself?
• Is my intuition in tune with that of my colleagues, my team?

It may be that we don’t want to face the reality of the situation, so we think: “This was supposed to be my dream job, it might work out if I just keep trying”. Perhaps we’re trying hard to modify our behaviour or circumstances to suit others: “I feel as if this person isn’t treating me very well but I can turn things around”. Or, a host of other reasons.

Many times, I’ve had groups in our training who have been dysfunctional for one reason for another – it could be that the group isn’t listening to each other, no one can agree on what to do, or one person is dominating proceedings. It’s only when the group recognises this discord – shown to them by the horse’s responses – and changes intentions and behaviours  does the horse respond.

And there’s evidence to back up the value of intuition – a few years ago researchers set out to measure the value of intuition, finding that it can boost accuracy and confidence when making decisions, as well as speed up response times.

From my own experience in the leadership development space, I know that a team which has an intuitive leader and is ‘in tune’ with each other, is always far more functional.

Intuition is powerful. It’s nature’s way of telling us that something isn’t quite right. Listening to it more will not only make us happier, it will make us better colleagues and stronger leaders.

Learning to trust intuition

While intuition obviously is something that occurs naturally in us all, it’s also a skill that we can refine, similar to the way natural artistic or sporting talent can be developed with training and practice. And then, we can learn to apply intuition within the frameworks that we employ day to day in our work.

Teaching these skills are a big part of what we do. Because not only do horses act on intuition, as mentioned above, but they make sure the humans they work with are following intuition too. If there’s something not right about a situation, then a horse will not move forward.  When you’re working with a horse, you have to guide and trust each other, so there’s no time for over-thinking.

Let’s all learn to trust our guts the way that our horse friends can!

How good are you at acting on intuition? Let me know in the comments.

For more information on our Wholistic Leadership seminars contact us at info@lepd.com.au

Confident leadership: an essential part of any workplace

Building your confidence at work and the confidence of those around you will make you a stronger and happier leader. Here’s some ways to go about it.

Confidence at work is one of my favourite topics. Whether it’s building your own or helping others around you boost theirs, it’s essential for a happy and productive workplace.

As a woman, I am particularly aware of always  trying to foster confidence in myself and others around me, particularly as there’s lots of data to show that we’re more likely to under estimate our abilities. I saw these wonderful imagesrecently, which repurpose words that are often used about women to showcase their achievements; a wonderful example of how we can build other’s confidence and our own.

Having said that, I have seen through my work that a lack of confidence is an attribute that plagues both men and women and can really impact our leadership. Without it, we can hold ourselves and our teams back. With confidence, we are able to:

• Follow our vision, even if there’s some risk
• Stay motivated and optimistic
• Focus and not get distracted by unimportant developments
• Stop comparing ourselves to other people
• Nurture others in a team to achieve their full potential
• Learn from mistakes

Ways to build confidence at work

If you’ve found that you’ve lost confidence at work, or perhaps there are members in your team that have, here are few tips.

• Keep a daily diary of achievements to help you remember everything that you do well where you have succeeded in the past – these can be either big or small. Researchers  studied diary entries from a number of employees to discover that celebrating small wins leads to happier and more engaged peopl

• Set some goals to help yourself feel more in control and boost your confidence. Make sure these goals are achievable – try the SMART goals method if in doubt.

• Follow your passion both at work and outside. I’m believe wholeheartedly in following your passion, which will give you a greater sense of satisfaction and purpose and in turn bolster your confidence.

• Get a hobby. Research has shown that pursuing hobbies can in fact boost your confidence at work. My hobby is – you guessed it – horse riding, specifically show jumping. I love that it gives me self-confidence outside the competition arena. Like many sports and hobbies, it takes dedication and discipline, and importantly resilience when things don’t go according to plan.

• Learn techniques for calm, relaxation and rest. What’s your happy place? Mine is spending time in nature. I love walking – walking on the beach feeling the sand between my toes and the ocean washing over my feet, or taking advantage of our nearby bush walking tracks. It’s a great way to clear your mind, I find. It can be difficult to feel confident if we’re over-tired, stressed or unhappy, so finding ways to calm down can help.

• Try to learn from setbacks, rather than letting them destroy your confidence. As I’ve written before, sometimes bad things happen – but the question is how you deal with them!

• Seek outside help. If you or your team members are still not as confident as you could be, try taking a course, a new activity or even help from a professional like a coach or a counsellor.

How have you addressed confidence issues in the past?  Let me know in the comments.

For more information or to register for our free upcoming Wholistic Leadership webinar, shoot us an email info@lepd.com.au