Love Leading Collection - Monthly Update - July 2021
Welcome to the 2nd Love Leading Collection Monthly Update!!
As a quick reminder - the Monthly Update is a summary of the #FridayShares from the previous month. The Monthly Update expands on what was shared, making it a resource for personal development or to inspire you as you develop others..
You don’t have to cover it all in one go, maybe do a section a week. This is designed to help you to keep leaning as a leader, enabling you to Love Leading.
June was Pride Month and I wanted to use this introduction to reflect on this. I am an LGBTQ+ ally and committed to supporting any persons right for equality. I want anyone to be seen for who they are and be comfortable to do so.
As a leader I have a responsibility to create a safe space for all those I lead but that may mean doing things differently.
I need to be deliberate in considering the issues faced or support required by those who are LGBTQ+, in all aspects of their work, development, progress and the environment they have to work in.
I am responsible for ensuring that they feel that they belong for who they are and can be who they are. That is your responsibility too, as a leader.
“Allyship is not monogamous” (great line from Simone Roche MBE), you don’t have to pick one marginalised group and support only them. It is important to pay attention to how deliberate you are in considering the issues faced and support required by those who may be different to you or who may not benefit from the privilege that you do. It’s about recognising, seeking to understand, being a voice and being part of making things change - that’s how to be a great ally.
A great way to start is by understanding what privilege is and to recognise your own - how might you be considering this or not? This great clip from John Amaechi., will help, he focuses on White privilege but it touches on all aspects of privilege: What is white privilege? - BBC Bitesize.
After you’ve watched the clip, have a think about how you may have privileges that others don’t - what might it be like to not have the privilege you do? how can you be a voice and leader of change for those who don’t have the privileges that you do. Also, which privileges didn’t you have yourself, how can you share to help others?
Friday Share 3 - “Motivating by Mastery” - Daniel Pink
The first #FridayShare of June was from Daniel Pink, where he talks about the importance of making progress with meaningful work for personal motivation. He shares what happens when we strive at improving the things that matter and gives some top tips for enabling this in the workplace.
The clip is about 5 minutes so grab a brew and get ready to get energised!
https://youtu.be/wNqOJnA5Ysw
Now that you’ve watched this clip, what are the key points for you?
The key points for me are, that the days you feel most motivated are the ones when you are making meaningful progress, that the desire to get better at something that matters keeps you going. That in a workplace setting creating instant, continuous, informal feedback is essential to understand progress and keep it going. A great way to do this is to be interested in your team, understanding where they need support but also highlighting where they are making progress.
To help you with this in your own leadership practice, consider these questions:
What am I doing to make meaningful progress in how I lead?
How am I enabling others to have meaningful work?
How am I enabling others to feel that they are making progress with the meaningful work?
How am I celebrating progress with the team?
Take some time to consider your answers to these questions, is there anything you want to do differently? What could you try next week that might have a positive impact on your own mastery and that of others?
Capture the actions you want to take and review how you feel about them in 2 weeks time.
Friday Share 4 - “Stress” - Huffington Post Interview with President Obama / Understanding Stress
This share included 2 video clips. The first is an opportunity to understand the impacts of stress and the second was one of my favourite leaders, President Obama, talking about how he handles it and how he tries to reduce the impact of it for others.
As a leader I want you to consider how well you understand stress and how you handle it for yourself and your team?
Both clips together are just over 4 minutes.
Now that you’ve watched these clips, what are the key points for you?
The key points for me are, that stress can be a positive, but too much negative stress is really bad for you and your team, but it can be managed. You can impact how stressed you are by how you manage it, but as a leader, you need to ensure you are not contributing to it or the cause of it! As the President identifies people identify and react to stress differently, just because you cope or avoid stress doesn’t mean others can or know how to. For him, keeping perspective and focusing on what’s important reduces stress.
To help you with this in your own leadership practice, consider these questions:
How stressed are you?
How stressed are your team?
How do you cope when you feel stressed? what impact on others do you have?
How do you help keep your team focused on what’s important?
How do you help your team to keep perspective?
Are you spending enough time with your team to recognise if they are stressed?
Are there any immediate action you want to take for yourself or your team? What might you want to do differently as a result of considering these questions?
Make a note of any key points and consider how you’ll action them over the next few weeks.
Friday Share 5 - “5 Reasons Why Trust Matters On Teams” - Dana Brownlee (Forbes.com)
The last share for June was this great article from Dana Brownlee, on the importance of trust for a team and is a great reflection for any leader. How much trust do you foster in your team? Have a read (or listen) to the article and consider how much trust already exists in your team. Do you see these things happening?
5 Reasons Why Trust Matters On Teams (forbes.com)
To help you with this in your own leadership practice, consider these questions:
What do you currently do to develop trusting relationships with your team?
What barriers currently exist to trust in your team?
Considering the 5 reasons that trust matters - how much do they exist in your team?
What actions do you need to take to increase the levels of trust across your team?
Capture the actions you want to try to impact trust across your team and consider having a conversation with your team about how much trust exists and how they think more trust can be fostered.
Don’t miss out!
If you haven’t already seen it I’ll be talking about How to Love Leading at an event organised by the FJR Group on 7th July - if you are interested in coming along you can register here: https://lnkd.in/dR59XxB