“Showing up as a great leader for others first requires showing up as a great leader for yourself. Lead thyself…then, lead others.” – Dr. River
Training and coaching hundreds of emerging and experienced professionals for nearly 20 years has taught me an essential foundational truth: Effective leadership begins within.
Yes, you can attend professional development workshops focused on effective communication, enroll in graduate courses to gain mastery of nonprofit leadership, attend trainings to create healthy workplace cultures or receive coaching to get to the “next level”. These are great learning opportunities, but the most common roadblock for sustained transformative change has consistently been the lack of attention to inner leadership development.
What does it take to create a healthy workplace culture when the space is void of courageous, sweaty-palmed conversations?
How does it feel to receive coaching to take your leadership to the next level when you haven’t yet acknowledged how the current level leaves you depleted, numb, and resentful?
Often, we know what we desire to achieve, but most rarely get curious about what matters most to us and who we need to be to arrive with our well-being intact.
I’ll say it again. Leadership begins within.
Inner-Leadership is about leading from the inside out, centering our whole selves, and practicing radical courage to listen to and learn from the wisdom within. It involves understanding one’s values, emotions, and motivations while navigating challenges, making decisions, and giving to the world. Inner leadership is foundation for successful external leadership, yet is often sacrificed at the altar of obligations, caring for others, and achieving the next professional milestone.
Here are eight ways to begin developing your inner-leadership skills:
- Identify Your Values….and Let Trust Be a Guiding Principle
Teams, family relationships, and organizations all move at the speed of trust. If you don’t trust yourself, then you may be more likely to project that distrust onto others.
- Engage In Courageous Conversations…Internally and Externally.
The extent to which you can have courageous conversations with others depends on your ability to have courageous, sweaty-palmed, “come to Jesus” conversations with yourself.
- Be a Learner…Always and In All Ways.
Life is one big experiment. So, failure only exists when we don’t learn in the process. Learning about yourself, your team, the work, or the people you serve all require a shift beyond the transactional process of simply doing.
- Expand Your Emotional Literacy…If You Can’t Name It, You Can’t Navigate It.
Push yourself to move beyond simply saying you’re “fine”, “stressed”, or “overwhelmed”. There are often more complex emotions waiting for your attention and if you can’t name them, then it’s challenging to navigate them for yourself and those you lead.
- Practice Self-Awareness to Identify Your Patterns…. and Eliminate Those That Don’t Serve You Well.
Leaning into the practice of deep self-awareness to identify patterns require courage (see #2 above). Attending 20 trainings on effective communication as a leader may not address the pattern of avoidance when unstated feelings of resentment surface because your team doesn’t perform as expected.
- Get Curious About What Matters to Others on Your Team…Personally or Professionally.
Here’s the deal with this one….it’s hard to be curious about what matters most to your team if you aren’t curious about what matters most to you – personally or professionally. What are your values? Do your actions align with your stated values?
- Create and Implement Boundaries….for Self and Others.
Your boundaries are only as good as your ability to clearly and consistently a) communicate them to others and b) stick to them yourself! Uncommunicated and uncommitted boundaries don’t count.
- Listen to the Wisdom Within.
Ask yourself powerful questions, take time to meditate and listen to what your body is telling you.