The Discipline of Leadership....

In this blog I'm going to start to explain the context behind the Discipline of Leadership.

So, firstly Leadership is about a state of mind, a way of being.
Secondly, it is about being Heart centred and people orientated.
Thirdly, it's about taking action that holds people with respect and in high positive regard.

In this day and age when technology is critically important, it is also a commodity - yes, a commodity!

What is important is how we deploy the technology in order to maximise our return on investment.

Lets us not forget that, it is the people who deploy the technology, so it goes hand in hand to say, if we are going to invest in technology we have a responsibility to invest in the people who deploy it. 

We must as Leaders invest in and grow the human capital within our Organisations be them, small or large businesses, whatever industry and whatever level of person.  We, as Leaders, have to nurture and grow our people no matter how high or low their position within the company.  We also have a responsibility to invest in our own growth and development too.

The basic principle of the Discipline of Leadership is that, it is, a people centred model that embraces paradox.

Firstly, we have to welcome creativity and innovation, including breakthrough thinking, whilst also having the structures and practises in place that enable our inventions and developments to become sustainable and have longevity.  Too much innovation and nothing actually becomes usable and too much process and structure and there is no room for creativity and innovation.

The second Discipline is to take the time to be still and present to our employees and the market so that we can be curious about what is happening in the system.  Whilst at the same time being aware of the natural cycles of life both in terms of people and business, this includes being tuned into the inter-relatedness and timing that effects the cycle of growth in people and business and how inter-related each of the cycles are both independently and collectively.

The third Discipline of Leadership is to balance the being and the doing of Leadership.  Who you are being and how you are showing up, all has a huge impact on the actions you take and the decisions you make. You have to have the capacity to respond when faced with conflict, diverse views and when challenged, after all, this is what creates deep understanding, more meaningful relationships and more creative solutions to issues.  We have to be able to separate personal from business in order not to be reactive and lash out at people.  We have to know ourselves and have done enough personal development work to be calm and present in the face of challenges.  All of this is in order to be present and to have the capacity to respond as well as to discern what the right action is.

The forth Discipline of Leadership is to know who you are and what you stand for.  To know what your purpose is and to feel like you are working and living 'on purpose'.  Once you know who you are and what your purpose is, not only do you trust yourself to take the right action, we also have the energy and passion to take risks, we give ourselves permission to play big and to be willing to challenge the 'status quo'.  For the sake of having a bigger impact in the world.  Whist at the same time inspiring and motivating those around you to do the same. 

We hold that the Four Disciplines of Leadership create a paradigm shift that creates exciting changes in the world, it inspires people and motivates them into action, whilst also taking time to care for and grow the individual for the sake of what we can collectively create together.

More to come on the Discipline of Leadership in Future Blogs, this is just a starter for 10.

How does your Leadership measure up?
Where is your growing Leadership edge?
Are you having the impact you know you can?
Are you playing to win and taking risks?

Thanks for reading and giving me the inspiration to keep writing. Rx

What is it to expand your range and why does it matter?

In Leadership training and Coaching we talk a lot about expanding our range.  In this blog I'm going to explore, what's important about that? what does it give us? and why does it matter?


How big is your range as a human being?
How do you measure it?
You might of heard of the Johari Window, this is a simple model to think of how to expand your range.  See below.....

Joharis Window

The Johari Window was developed by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingram, with the idea that through disclosure and feedback, individuals can learn more about themselves and build trust between themselves and others, improving their relationships and ability to work well together.

In a supportive environment, using the Johari Window can be a good way to get feedback from others to enhance your understanding of yourself and how other people perceive you.

The Johari Window model is a four quadrant grid that looks like this

 Each of these quadrants would contain personal information about you. The smaller the unknown quadrant, the higher your level of personal awareness.

The Open Area is the information about your feelings or motivation or capabilities that you know about and others also know about.

The Blind Area represents your blind spots. To open up this area, you need to obtain feedback. This feedback will relate to both your strengths and weaknesses from other people’s perspectives.

The Hidden Area represents the things you know about yourself  which others do not know. Some of this information, you may keep to yourself, some you may wish to share especially if you want to persuade someone that you have capabilities they are not aware of.

The Unknown Area is the area that is both unknown to you and to others. It may be a skill or a quality you and others we quite unaware you had - it emerges as your experiences increase and may be something you discover yourself or something you discover about yourself with others.

- See more at: http://www.mystepto.com/article.php?section=know-your-capabilities&subsection=assessing-yourself&article=joharis-window#sthash.tfxfuMXh.dpuf

Joharis Window

The Johari Window was developed by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingram, with the idea that through disclosure and feedback, individuals can learn more about themselves and build trust between themselves and others, improving their relationships and ability to work well together.

In a supportive environment, using the Johari Window can be a good way to get feedback from others to enhance your understanding of yourself and how other people perceive you.

The Johari Window model is a four quadrant grid that looks like this

 Each of these quadrants would contain personal information about you. The smaller the unknown quadrant, the higher your level of personal awareness.

The Open Area is the information about your feelings or motivation or capabilities that you know about and others also know about.

The Blind Area represents your blind spots. To open up this area, you need to obtain feedback. This feedback will relate to both your strengths and weaknesses from other people’s perspectives.

The Hidden Area represents the things you know about yourself  which others do not know. Some of this information, you may keep to yourself, some you may wish to share especially if you want to persuade someone that you have capabilities they are not aware of.

The Unknown Area is the area that is both unknown to you and to others. It may be a skill or a quality you and others we quite unaware you had - it emerges as your experiences increase and may be something you discover yourself or something you discover about yourself with others.

- See more at: http://www.mystepto.com/article.php?section=know-your-capabilities&subsection=assessing-yourself&article=joharis-window#sthash.tfxfuMXh.dpuf

 So as an explanation we will start with the simple top left hand section first.  The known to self and others.  The more you ask for feedback (or feed forward as I like to call it). Questions like where do I excel and what could I do to have more impact? the more you will expand the pane that is unknown to self.  The second way to expand that section is to disclose more of 'who you are' to others, and you can do that by being more vulnerable or just knowing and living by your Values.  Energetically, you will evoke the field around you and it will be clear to people 'who you are' and 'what you stand for'. I've talked before in my blogs about having conscious intentional impact and this would be a place to check in with people.  This is what I intended, am I having this impact? 

So, what does all of this have to do with range?
I'm coming to that, the next thing I want to address is how do you expand the bottom right hand box, which is unknown to self and unknown to other.  Well by doing the former, that will help, of course.  However, the best way to become aware of that area is to expose yourself to new experiences, go and spend some time as a volunteer, or take a sabbatical and travel the world, do things that are the opposite of the things you think you enjoy and notice the impact on you and your energy when you do.  So, if you like to be warm and dry, put yourself in a situation where you are wet and cold, see which version of yourself shows up then, are you still resourceful when you are wet and cold or do you turn into scarey-eyed bread knife monster???  (I am of course, referring to your Gremlin when I say that).

I'm serious, how can you ever know what your true capacity is until you get outside your comfort zone and see what happens when you are stretched.  Of course, you could get a Coach or go on a Leadership training programme and it can be easier than that too. 

I remember when I volunteered for the Olympics and Paralympics, I basically didn't have a clue what I was doing, having never worked at a major sporting event before.  Yet, I'd loved sport all my life and I worked with people all my life, so how hard would it be to bring the two of them together.  I walked 100's of miles in those 4 weeks, worked every day bar 3, was exhausted and totally and completely fulfilled. I loved every minute of it, even when people shouted at me (and that happened a few times) and I learned from it and didn't take it personally.

So, what does this have to do with range?
Well, the more access you have to your full emotional range, the more you can experience life, and the more people you can interact with.  When people first start to become aware of their values they can take a perspective on them which is one of 'my values are right and yours are wrong, because yours are different than mine'.  The reality is of course, that no values are wrong, they are just different.  So, how do you take a stand for your values when people around you do not share the same values?  The more you can do that, in different circumstances the more you can increase your range.
How do you keep hold of yourself on the 'inside' when you are surrounded by chaos?  Or don't you?

The key to expanding your range is being willing to get outside your comfort zone to explore the zone of your unleashed potential, and to keep hold of yourself in the process. 

How are you expanding your range? What is your impact? What do you want your impact to be?
Enjoy the exploration.
Rx

Conscious II and the 'ripples' we create.....

So, picking up from where I left off....

In order to have any idea of the ripples we are sending out we need to be conscious to what perspective we are in at any given time.  Are you aware of the perspective you are in?  Or do you just dive out of bed every morning and let the world get hold of you on the outside before you have gotten hold of yourself on the inside?

Most leaders in life have some kind of daily practice that helps them to get centered and grounded and intentional about their day, that is, before they jump into the doing of every day life.  I know for me personally it took me 10 years of personal development (moving towards consciousness) and 2 years of solid commitment to practice every day in order to have any chance of being conscious and aware of my ripples. 

Of course, the art is not to try hard at being conscious all of the time, the art is to notice when you have drifted off and just bring yourself back (or more puppy training as I referred to it in the last blog).

Are you living you life in a 'life affirming' way? with good intentions and trusting that (although you might not like everything it deals out) life is unfolding just the way it is meant to.  Life is just perfect as it is and we should avoid at all costs, being a perfectionist! That was what one of my teachers used to say to me....

So, lets start with Self,
What is your attitude towards yourself?
Are you kind and considerate of your feelings?
Do you nurture yourself?
Are you 'fair' in your internal dialogue?
Are you life affirming in your dealings with yourself?
Are you aware of your value system and the things that are important to you?
Do you have a vision of the life that you are creating for yourself?
Do you know what your purpose is?
Do you have goals that helping you to take steps towards it?
Do you know how to be in relationship with yourself and others?
Are you able to be present to the now and experience life in each moment?

Is the answer yes or no to these questions?

If yes, I'd imagine that life feels exciting and alive and that you can't wait to get out of bed in the morning. Your ripples will be positive and you'll generally be a joy to be around, you will be balanced in your work and life and you will work to live rather than the other way around.

You'll be in internally validated and you'll be playing to win. Although you may not win all the time you will not focus on your failures, you will take time to reflect and contemplate them, you will take the learning and you will put it in your pocket and move on, making sure that you appreciate the experiences and use the learning moving forwards.

You do not dwell on the past and regret things you can not change, you do not make bad things up about the future and frighten yourself to death based upon something you just 'made up'. You do not try and control others, you are not compliant either and you do not isolate yourself or separate yourself from others.  This would mean you are externally validated and are 'playing not to lose'.

What ripples are you sending out to the world, just by how you are being in relationship with yourself.  Are they positive, life affirming ripples of contentment and confidence that make others feel safe in your company?

Or are the ripples or command and control that feed your ego and make people feel threatened and insecure around you?  Are the ripples of dependency and insecurity where you ask for more than you need because you do not trust yourself or those around you?

How is your relationship with yourself and what ripples does it send out to those around you?

Enjoy being curious?  and be kind to yourself at the same time... no matter what you find.

Consciousness and the 'Ripples' we send out

It's about ripples....

Imagine a large lake with clear still water and imagine you are standing on the bank, you pick up a stone and throw it into the center of the lake and then, with a 'plop' the stone lands in the center and disappears, yet the ripples it sends out are there for some time once the stone is gone.  I believe our ripples last long after we are gone too!

I believe we are all, always sending out ripples, I know I am and I know sometimes that I forget especially when I got back to habitual motion or when I go unconscious.  Just a little 'side bar' for a moment, I was just reminded of a beautiful metaphor that I stole from my Sister....  It goes like this...

When we start this work of consciousness our brains are like a puppy, they wander off all over the place and all we have to do is to notice that we have wandered off and bring ourselves back.  I giggle all the time about this metaphor as often my puppy has broken free and is off in the distance somewhere...  rather than running hard to catch it, I have to simply remember that I can call it back and it will come - that usually entails a couple of deep breaths and centering of my energy. 
How are you guys doing with your 'puppy' training?

Anyway, back to ripples, energetic ripples, what ripples are you sending out?  I know for myself, I have not always being conscious about them, what I also know is there are more ripples than we think. There are the situational ripples which of course are important and there are the ripples of how you live your life.  Are you living your life in a life-affirming way, for the good of humanity, yourself, your relationships, your workmates, your colleagues, your community, your world?

Are you even conscious of the ripples you are sending out?  So, lets explore some scenarios, my other favorite (other than the puppy metaphor) analogy of the moment is the one of the Drama or Tricksters Triangle.  You see it in every fairy story and most films and the roles are that of, the Victim, Villain and the Hero and by the way NONE of these roles are positive roles to play in life or work and yet we all do play them and most of the time unconsciously.

The next thing to say is you may not even know you are being cast in any of these roles, because other people put us in them, and also we normally do have a favoured role that we step into.  So, to explain further; the Victim's perspective is, it's not my fault, I can't change anything, it's being done to me and it keeps happening - I have no power!  The Victim, creates the Villain - the person who is doing 'it' to them, more often than not, this Villain is an Organisation, you know its 'them'.  Similarly, the Victim also wants to be rescued, so they will always cast someone else in the Hero role, this is the one who gets parachuted in to fix the problem (or to feed their Ego), when we do this, when we play the role of the Hero we ensure that their are plenty of Victims around for us to Rescue, and where there is a Victim there is always a Villain. 

So, the place to look is, which is your most common or favoured role? Where do you step into the triangle? and who do you cast in the other roles?  Also pay attention to who casts you in certain roles, as a people manager or a specialist you can often be looked to as the Hero.  The thing is that Hero's don't empower people, they dis-empower them.  Oh and one other thing is that these roles do not stay the same for long, because more often than not we step into these roles in order to place blame or be defensive and the minute we do that, we become the Villain or the Victim!

So, the point is, the only way to get out of the Triangle is to be conscious (get puppy training!) and to see what is happening, in your family system, at work, in your community - in any relationship!  Once you are conscious, then it is all about asking yourself ; What is needed for the sake of the bigger picture?  For the growth of the employee; for the desired outcome of the project; to improve Customer Satisfaction....

I'll come back to ripples on another blog as this is a longer post than I had planned.  Start to get that 'puppy training', start to notice where you go unconscious.... and find a way to bring yourself back and once you are back, start to pay attention to where you see the Drama or Tricksters triangle play out in your life.... It can be fun to notice it, and be aware the hardest role to step out of is the Hero! and that's because our Ego loves to be the Hero!