Leadership and Change
The qualities people must have in leadership are not easy. You know, it’s hard dealing with difficult people and situations, isn’t it? If it were easy, everybody would be doing it.
If it were just a matter of reading a book or watching a video on leadership, and then applying that concept, you’d be a fantastic leader right away, wouldn’t you?
But you know that doesn’t work, don’t you?
Many people have a library of self-help books but haven’t been able to make any significant, lasting changes. If these books worked, you’d only need one, wouldn’t you? They might as well be full of blank pages.
People’s beliefs and behavioural patterns are the issue. These patterns, which are primarily driven subconsciously, are ingrained from a lifetime of experience and events. A Google search quickly shows the consensus is that at least 90% of behaviour is driven from the subconscious.
Whenever you try to change, it’s like a rubber band that springs you back to the behaviour that you had before. You can change the behaviour, but it’s generally a slow process and it’s on an individual level.
It requires becoming conscious of unconscious patterns and their unintended negative consequences. This is why it’s so important to look at paradoxical behaviours and see the person versus each paradox.
People will say, “yes, I knew that, but I didn't really want to admit it to myself”, right?
The truth is, these patterns are built in very deeply and they are the things you need to work on to progress. As an example, look at servant leadership, which has been the buzz for a few years now. We see that a lot in self-sacrificing, don’t we? It’s a very popular concept for people who are passively imbalanced because it absolves them of taking responsibility for holding others accountable. It takes insight, self-awareness, and consistent action for lasting change.
So, with these imbalances, where Shadow behaviours lurk, it only takes one or two to put you in trouble. As another example, you've got to be able to not worry about what people think but at the same time worry about what people think.
And it's a pretty high level of person who's able to be independent, have their own mind, have their own direction, and not worry about if they’ve upset somebody, but at the same time, really try not to upset somebody. Right?
Understanding your own behavioural patterns is a great starting point, and is something that we, at The Productivity Coach can help you with.