The new McKinsey Quarterly has an article dedicated to shifting mind-sets that currently may be preventing you from achieving your full potential as a leader. Joanna Barsh (a director emeritus in McKinsey’s New York office) and Johanne Lavoie (a master expert in the Calgary office) share some of the latest thinking and offer some insights into how to lead successfully.
The article is based on the author’s book Centered Leadership: Leading with Purpose, Clarity, and Impact. The authors claim that not only the visible – practices, behavior and actions – matter. What is really important are your mind-sets. Let’s look at a few tips how to become more aware of them.
1. What are your strengths?
A considerable amount of time is spent thinking about our shortcomings – and this focus on weaknesses creates a mind-set of scarcity. Here is how to overcome it: imagine you are a child, a young adult again... try to figure out what boosts you and what you enjoy the most. What you value most about yourself – those are your strong points. This act of self-reflection generates positive emotions and energy for us, and what is more, it enables us to integrate our key strengths into our daily work.
2. Take breaks – and shift from a mind-set of threat avoidance
It is no wonder that all these tight deadlines, breached budgets and sharp-elbowed teammates may bring about an “amygdala hijack”, when there is too much cortisol and adrenaline in our system. Then there is anger, escape and resignation. How can you avoid this natural “fight, flight, or freeze” reaction?
Take a break. Reflect on your personal values and beliefs. What is most important to you? What are your deeper desires and needs? Provided that you manage to focus on the needs you want to protect, you can react appropriately. With the recognition of our own motivations and sometimes bad reactions, our mind-set can begin to shift. As a result, an access to a greater range of behavior will open.
3. Talk about trust and you will achieve it
When there is an atmosphere of defensiveness, bureaucracy and a lack of trust is perceived, it is vital to recognize the differences in how your colleagues perceive trust. A simple talk about this topic can actually reinforce trust, because everyone naturally tends to adjust his behavior subconsciously once he knows what his attitudes and those of his colleagues are.
-JK-