Thought Patrol Podcast

Mindful Leaders know the team. If your leader I just want to challenge you for a moment, how well do you know your team? Do you know what makes them tick? What are their aspirations? What really motivates them? If we don't know our team well, then we will tend towards micromanagement. “I love to be micromanaged” said nobody ever.

 

If we're not mindful of an individual’s agenda, we'll end up with low engagement, and therefore low productivity. But, if we can connect with those around us, in a way that is authentic, and releases them into their passions and their desires, aligned to their talents we will create engagement and high productivity.

 

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Mindful Leaders respect Partners. Organisations are complex systems that don't necessarily just sit in four walls. If we only think of our organisation in terms of those employed by us, then we are limiting our scope. The whole idea of organisations being a linear contained entity is rapidly being dissolved. Contractors, micro-contractors, broad ranging stakeholders, globalisation, hyper connectivity, and the digital revolution are all causing our organisations to become less distinct. Those that are embracing a multi-stakeholder view are doing well.

 

If we don't have this perspective and focus on the short term, then whilst we may get some initial gain, in the long-term or even in the medium term, we're isolating ourselves, limiting relationship, and arguably diluting possible competitive advantage. Certainly, in the longer-term, relationships and partnerships with multiple stakeholders is the only sustainable model.

 

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Mindful Leaders understand authority. We all, regardless of our roles, have people who are in authority over us; those we report to. Even when I was running 40 countries or leading a listed company, I had boards, their Chairs, Owners and shareholders to report to. If we don’t manage these relationships well, we end up with misaligned priorities, and misunderstood agendas. It results in low, or no trust, relationships can begin to polarise and productivity shuts down.VIEW MORE HERE

Mindful leaders know their strengths. As leaders we are unique, we are individuals, we have certain strengths, things we are good at, and certain things that we're just not good at. If we are trying to be the perfect leader, we will ultimately fail.

 

Being mindful of what we are good at, recognising that, being comfortable with that, allows us to operate in our strengths. If we don't do that, we will be in effective, or at least not as effective as we could be if we operated in our strengths. This also allows us to encourage others around us with difference strengths to operate in theirs. 

 

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Mindful leaders know their capacity. We should know what we're capable of and obviously what we're not capable of. We all have a level of capacity that if breached, at least lowers our operating potential, and at worst can lead to a dangerous cycle into stress and burnout.

 

We're all capable of working hard for a certain amount of time. I work with some particularly strong-minded entrepreneurs who have an incredible amount of resilience and strength, but even they have their limitations. If we're aware of our capacity, we can manage it appropriately, which leads to long term effectiveness, consistency and sustainability. 

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Mindful leaders are present, they are aware of what is happening right now. They are in the moment. Have you ever talked to someone and it's like there is no one else in the room, and you know you have their undivided attention? That is what I mean by being present, in the moment self-aware, deeply aware of others and the environment. 

 

When we are rushing around in a sea of busyness or even looking too far into the future, we are less engaging, we don't connect fully, and we lose something in the relationships with those around us. If we operate like this, the most we can get from our team, is compliance not commitment. VIEW MORE HERE

Today I'd like to talk about mindful leaders; this is the start of a new series. I want to explore why it is important for leaders to be mindful; mindful of themselves, mindful of others, and mindful of the environment they operate in. Matt Tenney described a simple mantra for inspiring, effective, mindful leadership: “Cultivate peace of mind and go about doing good.” 

 

If we as leaders go about our business not being mindful of ourselves, others, and the environment, we are operating on assumptions that are not necessarily true. Whilst most of us don't deliberately ignore what is happening around us, or even within ourselves, our busy lives, deadlines, and the inevitable sea of e-mails, DMs, and calls, make us so reactive that we don't take time to consider the ramifications of our actions. This can manifest in us not managing ourselves well, the misunderstanding of others, and a failure to see the environment shifting and changing which it is inevitably doing.

 

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Sustainable leaders reflect regularly. I am challenging myself today as much as I hope I'm challenging you. There is definitely power in taking the time to reflect on how effective we are or have been. However, the discipline to do so has somewhat eluded me over the years. Like all of us I am still on a leadership journey and this area is one that I'm wanting to improve in.

 

This I do know. It's healthy to stop and pause as we've discussed previously, but it's even better to stop pause and reflect. At the centre of this reflection is taking the time to ask yourself the pertinent questions. This is not about self-reflection with a critical spirit. That can be a minefield for those of us who lean towards a desire for perfection, which can lead to paralysis by analysis. I'm talking about a balanced time of self-reflection.

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Sustainable leaders find space. Do you feel like you are always working working working, with little or underwhelming fruit? Does your workday leave you feeling tired, ineffective and unfulfilled? This is actually very common in leaders and their teams. Sometimes we have to slow down to speed up; and build some white space into our hectic schedules. But finding that space is sometimes quite difficult.

We are not wired for a sprint; we're built for a marathon. Like all good runners we have to pace ourselves if we want to win. As the great piece of racing advice says, "to finish first, first you have to finish".

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Sustainable leaders stay connected. Leadership can be a lonely pursuit. It's tough at the top and crowded at the bottom, as they say. Most leaders I know, in their more candid moments, will talk about the loneliness of leadership. It’s a tough job to deal with the paradox of competing stakeholders and the lack of people to connect with who have no agenda.

 

If we are not connected as leaders, we don't have the benefit of good counsel. We can become unbalanced in our view, if it is not checked and counted by our peers or wise advisors.

 

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