Response-Able!

I was listening to a podcast over the weekend that talked about what it means to be Responsible.

Normally I think about being responsible as being accountable or answerable for something. In fact, that's how it gets defined by Dictionary.com:

adjective

1. answerable or accountable, as for something within one's power, control, or management (often followed by to or for):He is responsible to the president for his decisions.

2. involving accountability or responsibility, as in having the power to control or manage:promoted to a responsible position in the firm.

However, as I listened to the podcast, the person talked about it as being Response-Able. In other words, able to respond to whatever is in front of them.

They went on to say that when they are doing what they need to do to take care of themselves and function from a place of centeredness and calm, then they feel ready and able to respond to whatever may be coming at them. However, if they aren't paying attention to their inner space and working on taking care of themselves, then when life brings the unexpected (which we know it does), they don't really feel Resonse-Able!

What an interesting way to think about being Response-Able! It changes my perspective from feeling like I have to have everything figured out before I face the circumstances life is bringing to me, and I just need to focus on my inner space and making sure I am functioning from that place of inner calm and centeredness. Then, no matter what comes, I am able to respond in a way that is balanced and ready!

If you were going to live this week from a place of being Response-Able, what practices would you need to engage in to help take care of your inner space? What choices can you make to prioritize strengthening your internal calm and centeredness?

Here's to being Response-Able this week!

Be Well,

Stephen

Center was created to support individuals and teams so they can live from their Purposeful Center. We specialize in executive coaching and leadership development and we’d love to support you! Click on our Services page to book a free consultation.

Leadership is Serving!

One of my favorite authors on leadership, Simon Sinek, recently posted this on his LinkedIn account.

This is a powerful reinforcement of one of the central ideas I believe about leadership, that at its core, leadership is service. When we figure out how to serve those who are around us, we are better leaders. When we focus primarily on ourselves and what we are getting, or how well people are following us, our leadership is weakened.

So, what does it look like to serve others as a leader?

I'm so glad you asked!

In order to serve others, we have to come to a clear understanding of who are "the others." First, it's easy to think about serving those who are above us in the org-chart. After all, if we do a good job for them, we will eventually be rewarded. But when we serve those above us with that mindset, we are still serving ourselves! Instead, we need to learn to simply serve them, helping them succeed for their own good!

It also seems easy to think about serving those who are around us in the organization - our peers. But we need to be careful that we don't fall into a quid pro quo mentality here - I'll do this for you, expecting that you will return the favor sometime. If I'm only ever helping you, expecting that you will one day help me, that won't ever feel like my help is genuine and it won't be long before it may be refused! Instead, we need to learn to simply serve them, helping them succeed for their own good!

Another group that is more challenging to think about in this way is the people we are actually leading. Our tendency here is to think that these individuals ought to be serving us! After all, when we give them tasks to complete, isn't that what they are supposed to be doing, getting that done and bringing it to us?! While that is technically true, I believe great leaders look for ways to encourage, support, and help those they are leading. It's embracing an attitude that says, "I care about you, not just the work you can/should produce for me!" We need to learn to simply serve them, helping them succeed for their own good!

The final group we can serve are the people who are our customers or clients. Now this might seem like a no-brainer, because we even build this into the language we use. "We are providing them a service." However, I have seen a lot of organizations be so focused on the "service/product," they forget it is for a person! The truth is, this customer/client has a name and a story, and one of the greatest acts of leadership service we can provide for them is to actually see them, not just give them our "service." We need to learn to simply serve them, helping them succeed for their own good!

Got the pattern yet?! Authentic and genuine service in leadership is about looking for ways to "work with each other, for each other," helping others succeed for their own good, and it makes our culture stronger. Thanks for the reminder, @simonsinek !

Here's to looking around this week and seeing how we might lead by serving!

Be Well, Stephen Center was created to support individuals and teams so they can live from their Purposeful Center. We specialize in executive coaching and leadership development and we’d love to support you! Click on our Services page to book a free consultation.

My Energy Bucket

I was recently working on a seminar related to tools and strategies for helping lead and manage yourself, and was reminded of this saying on the topic of self-leadership:

Leadership is about managing your energy first, and then helping others manage their energy.

Most of the time in leadership our focus is almost entirely on others - How can we have the greatest impact on the people around us we are leading? (By the way, I believe one of the purest forms of leadership is simply influence, and we all have places where we do that, which makes all of us leaders!) While focusing on others is a critical component of leadership, we can't forget that unless we are paying attention to ourselves and helping to make sure we are functioning from a place of balance and stability within ourselves first, we can't ever hope to influence and help others.

That's part of the reason why I like this saying - it focuses on the idea of managing energy. In particular, it acknowledges that my energy is the only energy I can really directly manage and control, so if I start there and make sure I am managing my own energy well, then, and only then, can I turn my attention to helping support others as they work to manage their energy. It's kind of like the safety briefing on an airplane when they tell you that if the oxygen masks come down you should put yours on first, and then help others around you.

Another way I illustrate this is by using the metaphor of an internal bucket. Each of us has an internal bucket of energy and there are all kinds of things that are either filling or draining that bucket (and sometimes, something or someone can be both filling and draining!). But if we are only ever focused on the people and circumstances around us (the pouring-out or draining process), and we ignore the filling process, it won't be long and we will be running on fumes and approaching the possibility of burnout. This is why we need to monitor and spend time focused on managing our own energy, and in particular the things that fill us up, if we are ever going to function in a sustainable way as leaders.

So, how are the levels in your energy bucket? When was the last time you took an inventory of that energy? What are the things that fill you up? What could you do this week to engage in one of those practices, and what kind of an impact could that make on your ability to support others in the management of their own energy?

Here's to managing our energy and filling our buckets this week! Be Well, Stephen Center was created to support individuals and teams so they can live from their Purposeful Center. We specialize in executive and personal coaching, as well as leadership development resources and consulting. We’d love to support you, so click on our Services page to book a free consultation.