Heart centred leadership? With valentine’s day upon us it seems appropriate to talk about one of my favourite leadership traits, heart centred leadership. I think it’s time for more of it; don’t you?
Heart centred leadership isn’t the latest buzz word or trend in leadership circles. It’s a recognised way to ‘be’ as a leader, that creates engaged and profitable organisations.
Here I want to share 5 key characteristics to focus on to start your journey to becoming a true heart centred leader.
Take care of your own heart, head and self-esteem first
As a first start it takes preparation as highlighted by Susan Steinbrecher, the co-author of Heart-Centered Leadership: Lead Well, Live Well.
As an athlete, would never run an Olympic sprint without putting in the work first, a heart centred leader should look after themselves in preparation for inspiring and leading their team from the heart.
Your spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health must take priority in your own life. I see it daily in my work as a coach and trainer, the leaders and managers that take care of themselves have a positive impact on the staff they work with. A leader who is always first in and last out, looks shattered and is always too busy to talk and doesn’t inspire those around them.
This also has the knock-on effect of helping increase your self-esteem which is a fundamental building block to be a sustainable leader.
Walk your talk
There are several well-known sayings in the coaching world that are appropriate to share here.
One is; “communication is the response you get” and another “you cannot not communicate”.
The context relates to how we are perceived as leaders and how we communicate and send messages on multiple levels: Fundamentally how we act in the workplace and the meaning that our employees make from that.
Remember everything we say and do has an impact, that is why enlightened leadership teams invest in training and development from personal coaching to style and strengths evaluation.
Personal awareness of who we are and how we communicate will then give us the opportunity to grow and change.
Susan Steinbrecher suggests that it’s good to remember that our teams judge us on what we do, not what we say. Hint, it would be good to re-read that last sentence.
You don’t have to control everything
Really you don’t. Controlling leaders rarely, if ever, come from the heart. A well cared for, inspired and engaged team will deliver more for you then you ever thought possible.
In the words of Brené Brown sometimes it is good to be vulnerable and release all that control you are attached to. Which leads me onto another important point
Go inward
Have you ever been in a situation where you had a ‘knowing’ about the right action to take? It’s well documented that we base our decisions on emotion and then justify with logic.
Heart centred leaders stop, go inward and think and reflect on the best course of action. They do what is right rather than what others want them to do.
Ironically this makes them incredibly powerful which leads to a level of engagement and impact with those around them that many can only dream of and yet it can be so easy to attain; provided you do the necessary internal and external work.
Seek first to understand
The classic instruction from Stephen Covey is even more relevant today. Great leaders always listen first. I share more on how to cultivate your listening skill in this article here.
Everyone has a story to tell and at their core they are desperate to be listened to. Listening will also allow you to establish the true facts in any situation and understand what is important to the individual in question. A leadership culture with listening at its core creates engaged employees.
Engaged employees follow because they are inspired to and as we all know this creates a productive work place that delivers more revenue and profit.
The world is crying out for heart centred leaders will you be our next?
Until next time
Julia
