It’s the New Year and an interesting time to think through what you really want from the year ahead.
 
So we’ve been thinking about all the hot topics our clients have discussed with us recently through our leadership programmes and mentoring programmes and we have narrowed them down to the top three things that really work as tools and the top three sabotages that can hold you back. I really hope you find this useful for your New Year planning.
 
Focus
When you are clear what you want and why you want it, then you naturally focus on the opportunities to achieve this. If you’re not clear, then this makes it very difficult for you to spot opportunities, spend your time wisely and feel you getting somewhere. Time out and one to one support are often needed here to gain the clarity you want especially if you are at a career crossroads.
 
Goals
Once your focus is clear then it’s about translating that focus into practical small steps. These can then be carefully considered to make your realistic detailed goals. That way you know when you are on track and you can manage your progress positively. Writing down these goals and discussing them with a trusted someone increases your chance of success dramatically. Mentoring is especially helpful here.

Balance
Ok, your focus is there and you have your goals in place. However, do they however cover a 360 degree focus? When you create balance with relevant goals across all areas of your life you also create great resilience. When we explore resilience in our leadership training. This area is so important as otherwise whatever is achieved can have a high negative cost in other areas.
 
So, we’ve explored here the three top leadership behaviours that get results and create resilience. Looking at the positives here is very helpful. However, when looking at any path there are always obstacles and unless you consider those too, a fall becomes a nasty surprise which causes serious setbacks. So, from our hot topics here are the top three saboteurs of path progress!
 
Time management
Once you’ve decided your goals, allocating the right time to achieve them in is something that often doesn’t happen. Things get in the way. In reality, it’s usually because time isn’t being prioritised or managed to focus on what is important. The biggest risk I’ve seen here is with entrepreneurs who need social media to manage their business. Whilst it is an important tool for them, it only usually needs 15 mins a day for a post and to check replies. However, it becomes addictive and when they realise how much time they are losing on this then it is very eye opening!
 
Stress
If you perceive you haven’t got time, skills or knowledge to achieve something then you are very likely to feel stressed, as you think you haven’t got the resources to cope and an overwhelm can happen. Taking time out to reflect on what you can do rather than just keep going is very valuable here. Resilience training and mentoring programmes are very useful tools to support this.
 
Perfectionism
This mindset needs managing very carefully to avoid issues. The most common one we see with a perfectionistic mindset is procrastination, as the person thinks where they have got to isn’t good enough or the fear of not being good enough stops them even starting. Unhelpful thought patterns are always worth observing and getting to the bottom of, as they affect productivity and positivity. We cover these in our Leading Self and Others Course as well as our Resilience Training. Making any start on a project and setting yourself limits are practical strategies here.
 
Using the tools and being aware of the potential setbacks gives you a great opportunity to achieve whatever you want.
 
All best wishes for your journey success! 😊

Depending on how you are feeling right now, this photo might look like a lovely sunset to celebrate the end of a great day or a vivid picture of the clouds of red mist that are circling within and around your head! 😊
 
So why does anger matter?
Anger matters as when it is not managed well it causes chaos in its path with both people and outcomes, as well as ‘burning’ the angry person themselves.
 
Anger leads to conflict, stress and poor results in every way.
 
The leadership strategy of dealing with anger well works best when it is all about management not control of anger. If you seek to control the anger it will simply ‘burn’ you up from within.
 
Why is anger there?
A useful start is to explore the root cause of why you are feeling this way. Anger is often called a secondary emotion as it nearly always follows another emotion which is the true root cause. Fear is the most common trigger emotion here. This means the anger follows as a type of protection for your fear even though it’s not a useful one!
 
Anger whether it be mild frustration/irritation to full on rage is always like any emotion - it’s there for a reason. When we seek to explore and understand it then it loses the power to control us.
 
Anger in the workplace
Anger in the workplace is often due to conflict. Conflict is an interesting area for both people and organisations as it has such a wide impact in several ways. There are key reasons why conflict is always likely:
 
Emotions - We as humans are essentially emotional beings and therefore we will (whether we acknowledge it or not) have an emotional response to any given situation. This means conflict can happen as everyone’s emotional response is different.
 
Logic - You then look at the rational brain and of course everyone’s experience, skills and knowledge are different so they will then have a different perspective and judgements from others which again can lead to conflict.
 
The common held leadership view is that conflict is a negative thing. Although in fact it is a normal occurrence as we are all individual beings with different perspectives, whether we are at home or in the workplace.
 
Managing conflict in the workplace
Conflict can often be a positive thing when used to gain better results for everyone. If there is no conflict, then people aren’t dealing with issues that automatically arise from being individuals.
 
The real issue is when conflict is not acknowledged or managed positively or when it is personally intended to cause hurt. This is when the negative impacts occur. For individuals, this can cause serious health and wellbeing issues and for organisations, it can cost business, relationships and long-term success.
 
A great awareness of your own leadership style and strengths is the first stage in improving conflict. The next stage of leadership here is being aware of the hot spots and therefore understanding the source. With both those insights choosing the right leadership tools to gain resolution becomes a lot easier.
 
Conflict hot spots in the workplace
The most common areas we see are:
 
Personality clashes
We all have very different personality types and these can simply mean people can’t naturally get along well. When further issues are added such as workplace deadlines, this natural barrier can become intense. A survey conducted by Forbes in 2015 demonstrated a nearly unanimous response that personality clashes were the number one reason for workplace disharmony.
 
An investment in leadership training and awareness in the areas of personality profiling, team design and emotional intelligence will help prevent and manage costly challenges here.
 
Bringing personal problems to work
Work is only one part of a person’s life. Any challenges outside of this can make work life difficult to virtually impossible for many people. Stress is something that costs millions in lost days and output for business and can cost individuals their health.
 
An investment in resilience training, awareness and support systems can help protect against this risk. More resilient employees means better performance overall for any business.
 
Bias
We all have positive or negative bias towards other people whether we recognise it or not. Our bias focus can range from all areas including religion, age, ethnicity, gender, disability, capability, background to education.
 
Some biases are clearly protected by law whilst others are less obvious. All bias means conflict is possible with this type of conflict being of a very sensitive and difficult nature to resolve.
 
A zero-tolerance atmosphere to biased behaviour plus bias/unconscious bias training alongside protocols are the best foundation to avoid conflict in this area. An investment in unconscious bias training plus awareness is very helpful here. Assertiveness training can also have value so people feel more confident and less aggressive when sharing different perspectives.

Jealousy
Any action, opportunities or workloads seen as unfair will quickly breed a very toxic atmosphere where conflict is likely to flourish.
 
Openness especially to feedback, transparency, clear protocols, sensitivity and great communication skills are needed here in all leaders. Mentoring can be a helpful tool here where it is set up as open to all.
 
Change
All businesses have to change in some way for both factors that are within their control as well as any external influences. This change can leave people feeling disengaged and threatened. Some examples are job security, restructuring and IT changes. The feelings here can trigger conflict very easily.
 
Openness, engagement, timing, support, training and explanation are all critical here. Leaders will get the best results by focussing on a positive outlook and highlighting the reasons for change, as any change can be stressful which is another trigger for conflict in itself.
 
Three golden rules for any conflict
 
1. Set boundaries - Everyone deserves to be treated with respect — even during a conflict and it’s ok for someone to have a different opinion to you. 
2. Truly listen – This is to: Find the Real Issue. Typically, arguments happen when one individual’s needs are not being met. These needs are often not clear unless you really listen. 
3. Compromise when possible – This looks like considering everything. If you can take a neutral viewpoint then it’s easier to think through all perspectives and possible solutions. 
 
Wishing you a happy and harmonious time ahead! 😊

I always find it interesting when I am delivering our leadership training which we share in very different leadership environments, how the same underlying issues appear. The quickest and easiest journey to high positivity, professionalism and performance is when leaders seek to really understand and lead themselves before leading others.

So often though these leaders realise through the training that they have forgotten who they actually are in the effort to fit into their organisational culture and become a leader within it. They’ve hidden their true colours.

To understand and lead yourself means many things. The top areas I see which have the most practical results for leaders are:

Understanding your own thoughts – Taking the time to really understand your thoughts in areas such as why the role matters to you, what you want to achieve with your role, what’s driving you and equally what might be holding you back.

If there is any conflict between what is actually happening around you and what you truly want then you will feel unsettled. Sometimes we unconsciously hide what we want and avoid thinking about it because deep down we know this means we probably have to make some difficult decisions. Mentoring and training are really valuable tools here.
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Managing your own thoughts – When you are being you and authentic that doesn’t mean sharing brutal honest comments the moment they pop into your mind. It’s being authentic in a positive way. So if you feel that something isn’t right then that means making sure that you’ve understood your own emotional response to the situation so you can share the issues in a positive way. If you are feeling in yourself a ‘grey’ day for example, then being authentic doesn’t mean explaining that to everyone in the office and spreading the gloom. It means seeking to understand why you feel the way you do. This takes practice and we cover these skills in detail in our resilience course.

Being assertive – This is about having the confidence to share your needs and to respect your thoughts, ideas and beliefs whilst respecting others too. If you don’t feel you can share your views then that is showing you cannot be yourself. Longer term this block will cause you low mood and the feelings of not being valued. You don’t have to swing your colours from the highest flagpole singing to be assertive 😊 It’s just about giving yourself permission and courage to share your input in a positive way. Leadership training can help here especially if you are lacking in confidence or have team challenges. .

Understanding your values – This is about exploring what is important to you and why is it important. Are your personal values in alignment with your leadership role and your work? If not, how can you shape or influence your work or start planning an exit to a role that is a better fit for how you feel? If you submerge your true colours to fit in then this leads to longer term disengagement and poor results for the organisation and very likely stress related symptoms in yourself. How you feel is just as important as to how you think. If you’ve made a logical decision and overridden how you feel the red mist of annoyance is likely to be firing away! There are always other Career options to explore rather than burning away.

Understand your skills and knowledge – Have you taken time to review what works for you? What are you naturally good at? Where are your colours sparkling? Are your talents visible and recognised by the team? What areas are really hard work for you? What learning goals do you have? How does this all fit with what your role needs? If you have any areas where you feel you have insufficient knowledge, skills or time to achieve them compared to your inner resources then that is very likely to lead to stress. On the opposite side if you have great experience and skills then by using them through a structured mentoring programme you can gain even deeper leadership skills, satisfaction and help others too.

Happy Leadership 😊