Your Time To Grow

I have been thinking about what leadership means recently. Triggered in part by a question I was asked: how do you know if you're a leader? 

How do you stay accountable for your goals? I've been thinking about my own goals this week and in order to understand why I’ve stalled in my goals, I spent some time looking backwards. I reflected on my previous success and how I'd achieved my past goals. Two things stood out. First, I had a plan. Second, I had accountability.

87% of workers feel disengaged in the workplace. While there are many reasons for this high level of disengagement, employee complaints about employers not listening to them certainly ranks high on the list. In fact, a recent study revealed that more than 33% believes that their employers do not listen to their ideas. Not only can showing your workforce that you are really listening to them, improve employee engagement levels, but it also can boost workplace morale, job satisfaction rates and overall retention. As a leader, you will spend a large proportion of your time managing your team. By listening to your team you can turn your understanding of what they want into meaningful opportunities to connect with them.

We have hundreds of habits, and they can help us out a lot, helping us feel safe and comfortable. This is brilliant if you use it as part of a well thought out journey but what if you've been on cruise control a while? What if you've fallen into habitual actions and thinking that no longer serve you? If this sounds like you, listen on for some tips to help your habits help you.

I remember a time when I was looking for a new job. I knew what I had to do - find job roles that looked interesting, research the company and send in my application(s). The problem was, I was already employed. So I wanted to keep my job search secret. This is a really common situation so here are my five tips for keeping your job search a secret. 

Kindness is one of my core values and that means it permeates my whole life, including how I lead. For me, kindness is a strength, so why not make it part of my leadership strategy? What would kindness look like for you in your leadership strategy?

We all seek validation sometimes, it's an innate drive to be accepted and for the most part, it's ok. But when it becomes a habit we can fall into thinking we're not good enough unless we're validated and approved by others. We trust other people's opinions of ourselves rather than our own. Here's how to let go of the habit of seeking approval and validation from others.

One of the most important life lessons I have had to date is that of being myself. It sounds easy but in reality there are years of 'shoulds' and 'what ifs' to acknowledge. This isn't about giving ourselves more work to do but about removing the expectations we set ourselves and living a more effortless and satisfying existence.

Strap yourself in folks, this is something I've been processing over the last couple of weeks! Let me tell you a story about how I learnt to trust myself. It's a bit of a ramble as I celebrate episode 100!

A change to my normal approach as I give an unedited, free flowing ramble into my thoughts on this year's International Women's Day topic #BreakingTheBias