A full deck of cards
A full deck of cards
I remember as a child being at my grandmother’s Bach in Northland, New Zealand for the extended school holidays over the summer. My parents had to go back to Auckland to get back to work so my sisters and I got to spend time with our grandmother and enjoy the wonderful east coast beach of Mangawhai Heads. Invariably it would rain at some point of the holiday and my grandmother would try and find us games to keep us occupied. This is back in the day when there was no such thing as the internet, and we didn’t have a TV so it was traditional good old fashion fun. This often came in the form of a deck of cards and she would suggest we play snap or build a house of cards together – something along those lines. On this particular day, my sisters didn’t want to play cards, so I opted for a game of solitaire. I loved going through and working to get all the cards in their suits flowing down to the lowest number. There was something satisfying about the way the cards stacked in their rank and file. I remember spending, what felt like hours on this game, trying to figure out my next move, but I was stumped. I couldn’t create the uniform row of cards and finally, I figured out that I wasn’t playing with a full deck. I remember feeling frustrated and just a bit disappointed. It wasn’t easy to know this at the beginning of the game, I just assumed everything would be there and the game would go without a hitch.
Photo by Timon Studler on Unsplash
As leaders, we are often focused on the end goal and we have our teams and technology around us and we also assume that everything will go to plan. But it doesn’t always, does it? Most of us are faced with needing to achieve more with less – especially in current times. Remote working can make it a little more challenging to know that everyone is on the same page and focused on the things that matter. What we often want is to feel more effective and in control whilst being visionary and inspiring to others. So many things to juggle whilst keeping as cool as a cucumber.
Our Inner Game
How we are playing our inner game is more important than ever. Knowing this will help us achieve the results we want and need. If we don’t have the clarity around our strengths, challenges, and what drives us, it can be difficult to lead with impact and bring our people with us on the journey. It can be like playing solitaire without a full deck of cards. We are possibly a bit overwhelmed and don’t have clarity around where we are headed. Often, we are just trying to get through the day with what feels like a few too many demands.
A Leaders Journey
Many leaders are on a journey when I meet them. They either aren’t quite making the progress they want; they might feel a little stuck or they are really excited about where they are headed but aren’t sure what will make the most impact for them. All of these people are looking for some strategies to become the leader they always wished they had, and to provide their people with what they need.
Understanding how you play your inner game means you will be ten times more likely to achieve the outer game results you want, with more impact not only for yourself but for your team as well.
Photo by Danielle MacInnes on Unsplash
Leadership by Design
Designing your leadership and the future you genuinely want is within everyone’s reach. You just must decide that is what you want and then you need to take consistent action toward that future, every day.
Often leaders will ask me, where do I start?
A few tips to consider:
What is your ‘big picture’ for yourself and why is this important to you? Give yourself permission to ‘dream’ out into the future and imagine the type of leader you want to be.
Simon Sinek has done some fantastic work around understanding your why – this is fundamental for leaders and you can watch his video here.What are your top 5 non-negotiable values? When you imagine yourself in the future, what is non-negotiable in terms of the people or places you work. I see so many people spending more time ‘fitting in’ and being afraid to ‘stand out’. By being clear on our non-negotiable values, we are able to be in integrity with ourselves and not compromise what we stand for.
What’s your ‘awesome sauce’? What’s the unique contribution you bring that sets you apart? We all have something. We don’t always know what this is but there is real value in understanding what this is for yourself.
What’s your focus to achieve your big picture? Cut out the noise and be less distracted by lesser goals. Often, we have way too much on our radar. We let activities, tasks, and people creep in and distract us from achieving the stuff that really matters – be clear on where and how you are spending your time.
Measure your progress/success. What gets measured, gets done. Your leadership goals are no different. We need to be strategic about our leadership and move away from letting things happen by chance.
What key relationships do you need to support you in achieving your leadership goals? Relationships are the number one currency for a leader. You need to identify not only the relationships you need but also do a ‘health check’ on the quality of those relationships and then take action where required.
How will you continue to grow as a leader so you can achieve your future leader goals? It was Daniel Gilbert who said, “human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished”. We must think of our leadership as a journey, not a destination. So what do you need to keep working on to be your future self? Remember that what got you here, won’t get you there, so we need to keep focusing on growing ourselves.
If you have tried to get clear on your leadership journey but haven’t quite nailed it yet and still feel like you can be more, we should chat. I love working with leaders to help them achieve their leadership goals, achieve results and make a positive impact with their teams. If you would like to have a confidential, no-obligation chat about your leadership journey, please get in touch. I look forward to connecting with you soon.