Encouraging gentle, sustainable and joyful leadership
We witness it year after year…the intense energy that leaders and businesses enter into a new year with…only to see it starting to dwindle by the time March comes along.
In this blog, we intend to introduce some ideas for different leadership paradigm. One which is sustainable not for 3 months, but over the course of a year and beyond.
What are we talking about?
Some invitations for you to consider that we believe (and have observed) lead to more enduring engagement and performance over the course of a year and beyond:
Pacing yourself and your people: noticing when you are overloading yourself and your teams with ALL of the priorities, ideas and inspiration that has bubbled up over your Christmas break / end of year planning and pacing this out over the year with clear prioritisation
Reducing pressure: setting clear focuses, direction and standards but removing pressure and unrealistic expectation
Resisting the new year intensity: it is only another day, month, quarter so move away from short term energy cycles into something that feels more sustainable over the longer term
Listening to your body and riding the waves of your energy: the year will come in ebbs and flows so avoiding pushing when energy is not there and riding the energy when you feel vibrant and resourced and ready to go (and acknowledging that in January, everyone’s energy may not be as summery and vibrant as yours…it is still the depths of winter!)
How might you reap the rewards of this?
If you can avoid driving yourself and your team full throttle from the first week in January…we promise that you will see the benefits play out. You will avoid mid year burnout, lethargy and disengagement and enjoy a more engaged, connected and creative team for the whole year. We challenge you to try things differently and notice what happens!
How to: 5 Practical ways as a leader to practice more gentle leadership
Resist the urge to give everyone 100 things to do in January or to try and nail all of your team priorities in Quarter 1. This will only lead to overwhelm and people overstretching themselves.
Q: How can you phase your priorities?
Q: How can you help your team to get some quick wins and build momentum?
Utilise your 121s to check in with where team members are at - some might be raring to go, some might be feeling heavy after a tricky festive period, some might be exhausted, some might be fully recharged.
Q: How can you provide a trusting space so that your team feel like they can be honest about where their energy is at right now can you leverage the different energy levels and dynamics within your team?
‘Slow’ and ‘fast’ can both have a role to play. When energy is a bit lower, power hours can work a treat…as long as they are combined with effective rest and slowness.
Q: How can you support your team to prioritise ruthlessly and use their energy for effective power hours?
Q: Where can you incorporate the slow into your week?
Find your resources and tools to regulate your pace - in a world that only knows one speed (FAST!!!) you need to be extra vigilant to slow yourself down and find a more sustainable pace for yourself. e.g. calm playlists (we love Ludovico Einaudi), 2 minute meditations sprinkled into your day (simple tool Laura uses), short walks outside between tasks, stepping away from your computer / emails / devices when having a cup of tea.
Q: Which tools can you utilise to slow yourself down?
Build accountability into this intention to help you counteract the pull to do more and to do things quicker than your internal systems are ready for.
Q: Who can you share your commitments for more gentle and sustainable leadership with and how can you hold each other to account?