I know what you’re thinking right now! I don’t have time. What’s Winter got to do with Leadership? I reckon there’s a link between leadership and the seasons for sure. If nothing else a season gives us a focus for leadership and I support Winter as the season for Rest, Reflect, Review and Reset. Many see Summer and the new year as the time for this. I’ll argue it’s better in Winter and leave your Summer months for holidays, family and fun!

“The Winter months are about resting and not pushing through. They are about recognising that you might be running close to empty or experiencing overwhelm. They are about resting and resetting your day, your health and your energy. Winter is about returning to and making more time for the things that warm and nurture you.” 
Jo Eady

Today, I want to share some practical ways to support your leadership wellbeing through Winter. These are practical things for you to lean in to for the cooler and slower months. Feeling warm from the inside out is the goal. I often say leadership starts from the inside out so this is even more reason to put in place some Winter wellbeing rituals.

1. Rug up and take a walk – Take a walk. Sitting inside working all day with the heater going and a lack of fresh air doesn’t create a healthy environment. Take time to get outside. Even on the coldest of days, a walk will warm you.

2. Read a book – Grab one of the books you’ve been meaning to read all year and actually open the pages. Curl up on a chair near the window and rest and read at the same time.

3. Go to bed when you’re tired – Bank up some sleep and energy. Listen to your body and head off to bed when you feel tired, even if it is at 8 pm!

4. Eat a warm breakfast – Have a slow morning and make a warm breakfast.  Try rolled oats, a poached egg on toast or smashed avo!

5. Make three nights a week home nights – Block out three nights per week where you stay home guilt free.

Over to You

Do any of these resonate for you? Could any be helpful as you head into Winter days, weeks and months?

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Let’s pause for a minute. I know that the ability to back yourself comes easier to some personality types than others. Regardless, backing yourself is a commitment to putting your best self forward and this is important for anyone wanting to develop their leadership. I saw fabulous examples of leaders doing this and there was much to learn.

“Backing yourself is a commitment to putting your best self forward and this is important for anyone wanting to develop their leadership. It’s about developing a deep trust in yourself, quietening your inner critic and taking action even when things are uncertain. It requires you to live comfortably in the grey and not the black or white of life”
Jo Eady

Today, I want to share some practical ways of backing yourself. No time here to get caught up in your own thinking or listen closely to your imposter. Instead take some actions that really do move you from passive to active, become assertive, support you to take control of your leadership image and become your own loudest cheerleader. Your leadership will shine.

1. Create Your Own Proof Portfolio – Track your wins. Recognise and write them down daily or weekly. The facts don’t lie. Read them often. This will counter feelings of imposter syndrome.

2. Nurture Your Internal Narrative –  Give yourself permission to grow, to make mistakes, to try something before its perfect and to learn. Instead of wanting to be perfect, learn to be imperfect and do it anyway.

3. Stop Saying Sorry – Swap out phrases like “Sorry I just …” to be more assertive ones like “I want to add…..” And never ever apologise for taking up space. If you’re at the table then this is where you are meant to be.

4. Move Comparison to Motivation – It’s so easy to compare yourself to others. Channel your motivation and treat their success as a lighthouse for you and that your goals are achievable. Take lessons from them for your own journey.

5. Hold Your Head High – I remember being told this by my beautiful Mum and I am often reminded of it! It’s similar to hold your ground. It’s all about being proud and showing this pride by how you show up – strong shoulders, sit up at the table and maintain an open facial expression.

Over to You

Do any of these resonate for you? Could any be helpful to back yourself better today than you did yesterday?

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My challenge, as trusted coach, is to make the time in our coaching sessions useful and most of all transformative. To act as a resource and introduce just in time information, constructs, stories, questions and of course some theory too to generate enough interest to support you to “do” leadership and to act, implement, try, stumble and put in place a change – no matter how small – to grow and enhance your leadership. No amount of leadership theory on its own is going to get you to this point but some carefully crafted questions that generate an understanding of leadership and how it plays out in your everyday life and work will. I can say this with confidence as it’s played out to be true time and time again in the leadership and coaching programs I and many of my colleagues facilitate.

Making leadership relevant to the everyday is the focus of these newsies. This issue is all about how to lead with heart. And here are some ways to do just that. No Uni degree needed, no 3 day workshop, no 40 page workbook, just some things that you can consciously do with commitment that  are certain to make a change. You’ll know as people will relate to you in a different way. Watch out for it. Would love to know which of these make sense for you right now (if any) too.

Be 100% present – show up with focus on others.

Bring 100% focus to conversations – listen, listen, listen and then talk.

Listen deeply – listen first to understand and only then to be understood. 

Speak with integrity – say what you mean and be clear about it. Luv the quote from Brene Brown. “Clear is kind, unclear is unkind.”

Work ‘with’ people – talk and work ‘with’ people rather than doing things ‘to’ or ‘for’ people. This one is about respect and shared power.

Be a role model – walk the talk.

Ask of yourself what you ask of others – this gives we are in this together vibe.

Be kind – acts of kindness are easily noticed. It can be as simple as saying “you did a great job today” as you walk past a team member.

Tell the truth – say no more – there is no room for lies in leadership.

Show empathy – this is about connecting with emotions. A great place to start is to show you recognise the emotions of others.

Over to You

Do any of these resonate for you? Could any be helpful in your work / relationships today?

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During this time, I played with a beautiful wood Martina racquet (tucked a few tournament and Saturday championships in my pocket) And when I wasn’t playing tennis, I raced around our concrete tennis court, over the cracks and under the net like I was speed skating at the Olympics on my trusty bright yellow skateboard. As I look back, and my family will attest, I’m lucky there were no emergency trips to the hospital with all my skateboarding antics. A couple of skinned knees and elbows for sure.

There were lessons I learned then that I’m sure have contributed to my leadership. Here’s a round up.

1. Persistence – Keep your eye on the target. I spent hours hitting balls (volleys) against the 10th board of our weatherboard house. And weeks perfecting a fast corner turn on my skateboard.

2. Go for Better and Best – Erase expectations from your thinking. Improvement comes from striving to do better, not expecting or going for the win, but doing your best. The wins follow.

3. Technique Matters – Being coached is the way to go. We went to a tennis coaching clinic for country kids in the Summer holidays. I learned a technique for a slice backhand – awkward to start but pretty fast and effective once I got my eye in. Be open to change.

4. Capability – Know you’re enough just the way you are. Know what you’re capable of. How hard can you push yourself, how close to the line can you serve that ball and how close to the corner can you skate before having to turn it hit the grass.

5. Conditions – Know when the conditions are favourable and know when they aren’t. Have patience, your turn will come again. Sometimes you get one chance to make that shot – make it, even if it spins in off the edge of the racket.

Over to You

Do any of these lessons resonate for you and your job, business, leadership role today? Have you leadership lessons from when you were younger? How do they play out in your work and life today?

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I’m prompted to share this with you today because it’s the beginning of the year and I want to encourage you to reflect on who you are and how you’re going to lead this year. Take a minute to stop and ask yourself these three questions about your leadership;

1. What are you going to continue doing?
2. What are you going to stop doing? and most importantly
3. What are you going to start doing?

Go on, stop reading and answer these questions, just one thing for each is enough for now! This will help you sit with your leadership more comfortably for yourself and those you lead. You know when you’re in the presence of a leader – you feel comfortable, at ease, respected, connected and valued. This is what I want for you. Leadership is an everyday thing for all of us, so it makes sense to become as consciously aware of yourself as you can. And everyone benefits.

More to come in a future blog post, but here’s a heads up for you. Two books have got my hear t racing in recent times. The first is Ben Crowe’s new release, Where the light gets in and the other is Neale Daniher’s The power of choice. I hear from others they are both life changers so check them out if this resonates.

Here are 5 ways we know work for those of you wanting to lead yourself better.

1. Become more self aware. Identify what your strengths are – what are you really good at? What are your strengths? And with this comes the opposite, what are you not so good at? Start reflecting on who you are, what your default style is and how you show up.

2. Deepen connection. This is with yourself and with others. Take time to really connect and get to know yourself and others. Connect with others via heart and then head – feeling and then thinking.

3. Be kind. Speak as kindly to yourself as you do to others. Go with strengths and positives first every time.

4. Know your values. Really get to know your values and lean into and live them. They are your guideposts for life and will help you stay on track to being your best self.

5. Take note of others. Other people give insights into who we are and how we lead everyday. Watch how they connect (or don’t) with you. Listen to what they share and say to you (or don’t). As leaders, how we think of ourselves matters and so does how others see and think of us.

Over to You

Take some time to think about what you’re going to do in the next couple of weeks and get cracking. Ohhh and if you haven’t, scroll back up and answer the three questions above!

The post Lead Yourself First appeared first on Ruralscope.

1. Lead With Self-Awareness

When I interview leaders they tell me that knowing yourself is super important. Given that self-awareness is the foundation of emotional intelligence, it’s important you understand your strengths, things that trip you up, your default communication style (we love using DISC for this) as well as biases and blind spots. So, how do you become more self aware? Key is the ability to self reflect so that after a meeting, speaking in public etc you can take an honest stocktake of how it went and then change things to improve next time. Consider using tools like personality assessments or leadership coaching to deepen your awareness. The self-aware you are, the more grounded and confident you’ll be.

2. Language is Important

Leadership has a language. This includes the words and key messages you choose and use. They must be responsive to the people you lead and the context in which you are in. Clear communication builds trust and alignment. Be intentional about what you say and how you say it. Always listen more than you speak. Use plain language when you speak and avoid industry jargon. The goal is to inspire and motivate people to act and create change – this requires carefully crafted messages that always link to the “Why”.

3. Flex Your Communication Style

We all have a natural or default communication style. The way you use this or develop your understanding and confidence to use the four dominant communication styles – Direct, Influencing, Stabilising and Conscientious will determine your effectiveness as a leader. Knowing your communication style and flexing into the others as the context demands is a skill you can learn. Click here for more information. We offer this training in small groups and also one on one sessions. Please reach out, if this is of interest.

4. The Wholehearted Inventory

We use this inventory with many of our clients. It helps to assess your strengths and opportunities for growth. It’s a Brene Brown tool and we find our clients love it. It’s free so go ahead and check it out here. If you want to discuss where to from here, once you complete it, please just book in for a Leadership Laser Hour session with us.

5. Lead With Purpose and Values

Leaders with a clear sense of their values and purpose inspire loyalty and drive real change. Do you know what your values are? If not download our free Values booklet here. Do you know what you stand for? Do you have a leadership vision? Do you know your leadership “why” or purpose? Leaders who know this are able to communicate it and engender spirit in others to come on board or go forward with confidence. This is the ultimate leadership goal.

Over to You

Levelling up your leadership is available to you right now. It’s defined by how you show up, how you grow, and how you help others to thrive and grow into their leadership. So increase your self-awareness, work out your leadership language, flex your communication style, take the wholehearted inventory and review your values and leadership purpose. Start applying these five practices today and watch the transformation unfold. Reach out if we can help.

Until next time!

The post 5 Ways to Level Up Your Leadership appeared first on Ruralscope.

Skill 1 – Coaching

Leaders must be guides and supporters. It’s no longer about being directive, it’s about empowering others to be the best they can be. A key function of the future leader’s role will be to empower and develop the skills of their team via coaching.

Skill 2 – Adaptability

Having the ability to be adaptive creates an edge for leaders to manage change and adversity. Individuals, teams and organisations see opportunities and growth when they are adaptive. Investing in leadership and training yourself and others to be adaptable will be a great investment.

Skill 3 – Tech and More Tech

Being fluent in digital literacy is going to be a must in both life and work. You don’t need to be an expert, but you do need to know enough to have conversations and make decisions about technology use as an individual, for your team and or your business.

Skill 4 – Human Centred or Non Technical Skills

We believe non – technical skills is a better term for human or people skills. These skills are like glue. They are the skills everyone needs outside of their technical knowledge and technical skills. Think emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills etc. I’ve seen some research that’s saying non – technical skills will outweigh technical skills by double. And I often say that there will be no room by the end of this decade for leaders that are technically proficient only. In fact, the future belongs to leaders who can lead the expertise in their teams without having to possess the technical skills themselves.

Skill 5 – Agility

Training and retraining will be required to keep pace with societal changes. Having an agile mindset is much more important than a set and forget type mindset. It must be open and curious at all times. You can become a better leader by being agile and embracing new and changing skill sets depending on the job or project you’re working on.

Over to You

So how do you stack up? Jot down the 5 skills above and give yourself a rating of your current competence out of 5 (Where 5 is the highest). See which skills you could develop and get about it. It doesn’t mean you need to find a training program (this is often what people think they need to do). Do some reading about the skill, share with colleagues the skills you want to develop and ask them to think of you for future projects, google the topic and see what you find, write up an action list and finally keep an eye open for any training that will support you.

Good luck. And please feel free to reach out to me here if you think I can help in any way.

Until next time!

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Firstly, let’s look at what it actually means to step into your own space. When you own your space it really means that you show the world that you belong, you have value and believe in this value, you are unique and have a lot to offer others. This translates into having a presence and being recognised for the knowledge, skills and expertise that you have. Have you ever seen someone walk into a room or join an online forum and think to yourself wow, I really want to meet them and hear what they have to say? Well, if you have, this means this person definitely owned their own space.

Before you read on. Ask yourself this question. Do you own your own space? Owning your own space requires a healthy dose of self confidence.

“People think that confidence comes from receiving a lot of external validation and recognition for your looks, strengths or gifts but in truth, confidence is a natural byproduct of accepting yourself at the deepest level.”
Unknown

Here are some suggestions for things that you can do right now to own your space. Take a look and see what you can put into place today. You can do this no matter what age or stage you are at in your career. We know the earlier you do it, the better!

1. Step into Your Leadership Space

You can only step into your leadership space and own it when you recognise you are worthy of this space. You need to believe in yourself! Know your strengths and know that what you have to offer is of value.

2. Know That You Belong

Take up your place. Meet and sit among other leaders. Sit around the table. It’s time for you to know this is where you belong and that others recognise your leadership. You will know you belong when you have ideas, knowledge and or skills that others don’t have.

3. Shine

Become super aware of what makes you unique. This will be knowledge or skills that you have developed along with your experience. Recognise the value of these. These are yours and yours alone. Allow these and yourself to shine in this space. This is not about big noting yourself or trying to show that you are better than anyone. It’s about identifying and owning what makes you unique and then stepping in and owning this space. You are taking up your own space, you’re not taking someone else’s. It’s not a competition, it’s about charting your own unique path. Your confidence in yourself gives others confidence in you. It’s a win win!

4. Bring Your Positive Energy

Knowing that you belong will give you positive energy. It’s about believing in yourself. This energy radiates from within. Everyone loves being around those who have clear, clean and positive energy. Do an energy check right now. If 10 means you have clear, clean and positive energy and 0 means that you don’t have any positive energy at all, how would you rate yourself? What number would you give yourself. If it’s less than an 8 then ask yourself how can I develop more clear, clean and positive energy to attract others to be around me and listen to what I have to say?

Over to you

You’ve read this far, so choose a few suggestions and put them into practise soon. Reach out if I can help in any way. I’d love to hear how these work for you. Email me here. Good luck and keep supporting your own leadership development and journey and own your space! You’ll be glad you did.

Until next time!

The post Leaders – It’s Time to Own Your Own Space appeared first on Ruralscope.

Here are some suggestions for things that you can do right now. Take a look and create a post leadership program plan to put them into action for maximum impact. Or go freestyle and choose a few when it suits you. Either way, it’s about maximising outcome for you, your work and business / industry.

1. Reflect on your program and ask yourself the following questions;

1. Did you give it your best?
2. Did you take every opportunity?
3. Did you show up as your best self? If not, go over the material again and create or add information to your leadership pathway plan now. It’s never too late.

2. Be accountable to yourself as well as others. You’ve made a huge investment in time and energy and money in a program. Or your business, employer or industry etc has invested in your development. Be respectful of this. Commit to taking post program action to gain benefit for yourself as well as the investors in you.

3. Maintain energy around your leadership development and journey. There’s no stop / starts here, it’s all onward.

4. Write down two or three key messages about your leadership program experience. Chat to others about the program. People are usually genuinely interested in what you’ve been up to and how you’ve been spending time to further develop yourself. And they get to learn how to gain the most from this type of experience in their future.

5. Use your social media. Write some posts about your experience. Or at least pick some posts from other people’s accounts and repost them. Choose people carefully. This is also a great way to shout out a thanks to whoever made the investment in you. Tag them so they see it.

6. Write a short paragraph or two. Make this about learnings (dot points are great) rather than a kind of “I did this and I did that” story. Mmmm, next what to do with it! Offer it up in a post on social media. Pop it into your next work newsletter. Talk about it at a team meeting etc. Email it to your local paper or industry journal with a high quality photo and ask them if they’d like to do a story or print it as is.

7. Write a letter of thanks to those in your program that inspired or taught you the most. It could be another participant, a facilitator, guest speaker, an organiser /coordinator or a mentor. (Actually, if you had a mentor as part of your program, then absolutely craft a carefully thought out email or letter and send it off).

8. Check out some podcasts related to your industry, your workplace, your work. Ask yourself if there’s anything from your leadership program that might be worth talking about. Or a gem worth sharing to benefit others. If there is, reach out to the podcast producer and offer yourself up for an interview.

9. Send photos you took, or were provided with to those who might benefit from seeing them. Create a call to action with the pics and make this suggestion to who you send the photos to. This is really useful if you have been on field visits and saw things that are innovative, leading edge and you have some first hand intelligence around it.

10. And last one. Maintain contact with those in your program that supported you and your leadership. It’s amazing how often you might be in the same place at the same time or you could always arrange to catch up. Time and time again I’ve heard of post program catch ups between some of the participants. I know in one mentoring relationship we facilitated, a mentee was invited onto an overseas trade delegation with their mentor – what an experience huh? And another was hearing about and following the journey of a group of program participants who set a date for a trip to the west to visit a new part of the country and meet up and a group did this into the north as well. Continue to build relationships and networks.

Over to you.

You’ve read this far, so choose a few suggestions and put them into practise soon. Reach out if I can help in any way. I’d love to hear how these work for you. Email me here. Good luck and keep supporting your own leadership development and journey beyond the leadership or mentoring program. You’ll be glad you did.

Until next time!

The post Maximise Your Outcomes from a Leadership Program appeared first on Ruralscope.

1. Be a Dreamer

Have you heard this John Farnham song?

Some people are dreamers, they live for the future

As if it would work out, just as they dreamed it

Would work out – somehow

Others get caught in, yesterday’s papers

Too busy reading, to get on with living …….

I say a BIG YES to having a dream. And then to transform your own dream and the vision of others to make it happen – this is leadership. The song goes on;

Just give me a reason and I’ll come running

When I have reasons, I know the way

I’m pointing my feet in the right direction

Give me a reason

“Most of your people live for now, waiting to be given a reason. When they are given the reason, they can do what needs to be done, and they will want to do what had to be done. It is not folly to have a dream about the direction in which your group, or your team, or your work centre, or your organisation is heading. It is folly to keep it in your head and not tell others about the dream or how to make it a reality.” Ken Parry

2. Transform

Having a vision (visionary leadership) is a key part of being a transformational leader. The transformational leader sees potential in others and motivates them to do more than they would normally be expected to do. It’s the followers that are transformed in terms of confidence and through buying into the vision, they work to achieve better outcomes than anyone of them thought possible. This is achieved by;

• Raising a follower’s level of awareness about the importance of the work they do;

• Switching out the self interest of followers for those of their team or organisation;

• Altering the follower’s motivations by assisting them to see what’s possible.

3. Transformational Leadership

So let’s define transformational leadership. It’s future and change oriented. It questions the status quo. Transactional leadership is oriented towards maintaining the status quo. Transformational leaders take the time and make the effort to envision the future. What will the future look like and how they, the business and their work will need to be and what it will need to do to be successful. They communicate this with their followers and make their visions clear. As a result, people want this future and want to be a part of this future. Transformational leaders personalise their interactions and lead and develop their colleagues to higher levels of ability and potential. They support followers to have a go and step outside their comfort zone, experiencing what a new normal can be like for them. Once followers have this experience they want more and they want the same for others. Can you see how transforming occurs? It’s super powerful.

4. Managers Versus Leaders

Generally, I see;

Managers = transactional leadership.

Leaders = transformational leadership.

Transformational leadership incorporates visionary leadership. Take a look at this list from Ken Parry. Both managers and leaders have their place. Effective leadership is about transformation, so if you are in the game of wanting to create future change then check out the Leaders column. In fact, go a step further. Tick off which of the following actions you do in your every day work. Then see which ones you want to develop. Make an action list of these.

5. Make a Choice

Leadership is something you can learn once you have your own idea of what it is! I hope reading this article is helping you to decide if you want to fall on the transactional or the transformational side. Both are important and achieve a great deal. But it’s important to choose as this will help you decide on what job/s you may wish to have / do. Leadership isn’t just something you are born with. Everyone can learn and practise the knowledge, skills and behaviours of great leadership. If you choose transformational leadership then start right here;

1. Be a role model
2. Motivate others
3. Develop, paint and share a future oriented vision (in the words of John Farnham – give me a reason)
4. Individualise the needs of others

Over to You

We include activities about transformational and transactional leadership in many of the Programs we facilitate. We see people’s eyes open and question their current leadership skills and behaviours and then smiles all round when they realise that they have a choice to develop their transformational leadership. As a result we see people leave Programs and progress their careers, become leaders, work with others better than ever before and feel gratitude that they pushed themselves out of their comfort zone and made a choice to be a transformational leader (if this is what they wanted). I want the same for you. Please take one or two or maybe even three things from this article and put them in place today. Good luck. And please feel free to reach out to me here if you think I can help in any way.

Until next time!

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