Tuning in as a Leader

As a leader are you tuned in? Have you ever gotten so caught up in listening that you forgot to hear your own voice? Being a leader – an effective and skilled leader requires trust. Trust in yourself and in being true to you, even when it is tempting to doubt or to question events. We all have an innate sense in us that guides us or steers us. As leaders we are suppose to guide others and that means we have to be in tune to every bit of communication whether that communication is through external conversations or our own intuition guiding us to listen more closely or to postpone a decision. This past month has provided me with the opportunity to speak in a variety of places for a variety of audiences from breakout sessions to keynote and closing speeches at conferences. The majority of the programs that have been called for this month are programs regarding leadership and understanding our communication.

I meet many leaders who under-estimate their skills, perhaps for lack of self confidence or perhaps they haven’t been given permission to just believe in their skills 100%. Challenges for leaders don’t seem to be going away; rather they seem to be growing exponentially. Our only choice as a leader is to continually seek ways to improve our skills to lead, to establish trust and to communicate clearly with everyone we lead including ourselves. This may sound over simplified, but in a world where life can get over complicated in seconds, perhaps we should count our blessings in that being an effective leader can be rather simple, but it starts with knowing ourselves, trusting and believing in ourselves and listening closely so we can be where we really need to be when we are suppose to be there.
Over the past two months, I have only been in my office 6 days until this week when a cold knocked me flat on my back- literally. I don’t share this information for sympathy, we all get hit by a cold from time to time, but because there several sequence of events that made me appreciate where I am at this exact moment. Since August, I have been in California, all over Florida, New York to name a few places so the cold could have come from anywhere but it didn’t hit me until now – why! This spring I had been ask to speak in Nebraska this coming Friday and Saturday, serving as an opening and closing speaker for an event. It was the right group, right topic, and right fit. But it didn’t seem right and I didn’t know why? The key people were excited, I was excited, but my intuition said not this time? I just had the trust that the question was presenting itself, so I asked the question, “Is this the best time to bring me out?” All was quiet for a moment and then it was like the light bulbs went on and the answer came back, “No- next year would be better!” I don’t know why I asked, but I did and then what we came up with was brilliant, next year is their 100th celebration and they want it to be big and saving me for next year made more sense in so many ways. I didn’t know this past spring that I would even have some of the travel dates on my calendar that came up, so I couldn’t have predicted how my schedule or need for rest was going occur. But I listened to my client; I listened to what they needed from me. They needed me to be a leader to help them find the best path that would serve them. Leading is about serving others and when we serve genuinely we benefit as well. In the end the postponement served us both we discussed their strategies for this year’s event and we are eagerly awaiting the celebration for next year. In the meantime, my body got it’s chance to give in and use energy to combat a cold, that decided to attack and I didn’t feel pulled.
How in tune are you as a leader? What can you do to tune up your skills, so that you live by example and show people how to believe in themselves, how to trust themselves and how to listen on a deeper level. Start by taking time to listen to yourself. Give yourself some quiet time. Gather your thoughts? Ask yourself questions about directions that you need to be going, that your company or organization needs to be heading in and then listen to the answers-your answers? What can you do to help yourself or those you lead to grow? Remember we lead by example so give yourself time to tune into you so you can better tune in to others as they speak with you!