Mind The Gap

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Mind The Gap

We've probably all seen the example of a leader who is responsible for a team but is struggling to get the impact they want and need. Maybe their team doesn't trust or respect them. Maybe the leader doesn't have the insights and empathy that would help them connect with their team better. Maybe it's been a game of egos at one extreme or imposter syndrome at the other. Whatever the reason, the likely outcome is the leader will either move on or there is a significant movement with the team members. The gap in the leadership can sometimes be undefined and therefore it's difficult for any progress to be made.

It's always really interesting when the next leader of this team comes in. The ones that I have seen create success, are the leaders who have a great understanding of how they are playing their 'inner game', how they are doing their leadership from the inside out. They have accepted the current state of play and they have decided and committed to doing something different. They have been ready to do the work.

Our Inner Game of Leadership 

“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.” Lao Tzu

Our inner game is about understanding our strengths, de-railers, or blindspots, and our motives, values, and preferences. But it's more than just self-awareness. It's also an acceptance that how we are doing our leadership from the inside out, is what is generating the results we are getting - our outer game.

It's the leadership behaviours that we display every day that create our reputation. If we are truly congruent with our inner game, we will display these behaviours regardless of whether anyone is watching or not. It's about how we lead ourselves. So how aware are you of the impact your inner game is having on the people and the environment around you and how can you gain more awareness?

The Inside Out Leadership Roadmap

Sometimes as leaders, we spend a lot of time trying to perfect or improve our 'outer game'  - the results we achieve, the relationships we have, the way we implement the strategy or the culture we create.  And have you ever had a situation where you wanted to make a change in your outer game but find that the changes you are implementing either aren't sustainable over the long term or you are doing things in a way that doesn't feel natural to you - it's not congruent?

Well, to ultimately get the impact we want, it's useful to have a full roadmap to follow so the changes we implement will be sustainable over time.

Source: Inside Out: Why Leadership Starts With You - Deb Bailey

So let's unpack the roadmap that will transform leaders from the Inside Out.

Know You

To know you, to understand your inner game, we need to create some awareness of the things in our leadership that we may be doing on automatic pilot. We need to understand and be conscious about what we are doing and the impact it is having on the people and environment around us. We need to look at the leadership habits we have in place to make sure they are yielding the intended results.

Knowing ourselves is being aware of our mindset preferences. Mindset matters hugely in how we show up and the type of energy we are bringing to situations. We also want to consider our relationship with fear and look at how resourceful we are when times get tough.

Knowing ourselves is understanding and accepting the many 'parts' that make us up and how these parts impact our mindset and therefore our actions. We need to explore the various components that make up our identity and who we believe we are.

To understand ourselves better, it can be useful to use quality diagnostics to get a good understanding of how we are currently doing our leadership. Alternatively, we need some really useful questions to help us reflect and do some work on ourselves. Enlisting the support of a coach can be a valuable thing to do as the 'blind spots' in our inner game can sometimes prevent us from really seeing how we are impacting the people and results we are getting.

Your Big Picture

Most successful people are very clear on who they are and where they are headed. What they ultimately would like to achieve.

Some of us can find defining our big picture relatively easy and some of us can find this really challenging initially. One of the key things I believe is useful is defining what you want from a holistic perspective. So, what do you want in your life, and then what do you want in your career. This way, we consider our career as part of our whole self and we don't fall into the trap of our careers becoming our identity - we are all so much more than our careers.

Your Why

Have you ever experienced those days when you feel like you've lost your mojo or just lost your way a little bit. Maybe you're not quite as motivated as you were. Maybe you start to question why you are doing what you are doing.

Understanding you're why to your big picture is essential to help keep you going. It's what motivates you on the days where you feel less than inspired.

Our why is typically bigger than ourselves and so getting excited about how this will positively impact the people and environment around us is absolutely necessary. This is what helps you stick to your goals and follow through on things.

Your Journey

This part of the roadmap is all about your outer game. It's about taking all of the insights from knowing you, your big picture and you're why and creating an action plan that will lead you to success.

Your journey is about creating a doable tactical plan. It's about setting priorities and measuring your success.

We don't often achieve success by ourselves so we need to consider the relationships we have and the quality of those relationships. And, by taking the holistic approach I talked about earlier, we make sure that the important people in our lives get the time and attention they need both at work and outside of work.

So, where do you get stuck on this journey? What do you need to help you make the changes or shift you would like to see?

Need some help

If you would like to achieve more clarity and impact with your leadership, we should chat.
Alternatively, grab a copy of my book, it has been specifically written to provide you with this roadmap to create more impact as a leader.

Something to think about . . .

Lead with impact!