Everyday Leadership

We are all leaders if we choose to be.

Leadership is not reserved for those people up there, higher up in the hierarchy, during certain times of the day, because they have people reporting to them.  Everyone can be a leader, it’s about the habits and practices, behaviors you exhibit EVERY DAY.

Drew Dudley defines everyday leadership as our unique ability to have a profound impact on others by simple, everyday interactions, behaviors, and actions.  In this inspiring TedTalk, he gives the example of everyday leadership, which he coins a Lollipop Moment!

Everyday leadership is about doing the best that you can that specific day and being the best version of yourself every day.  It incorporates the following 7 practices:

1.     Listen and Learn

Listen to those around you, to what’s happening around, listen to understand.  Learn from what you’re hearing.  In his new book “Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know”, Adam Grant suggests we should all think like scientists.  He explains why it’s so important for people to be humbler about their knowledge and stay open to learning and changing their minds: “In a changing world, you have to be willing and able to change your mind. Otherwise, your expertise can fail, your opinions get out of date, and your ideas fall flat.”

It’s also important to learn from your mistakes.  We all make them, if not we wouldn’t be human.  Learn to forgive and laugh at the mistakes you make along the way.

2.     Be Present

Focus in the moment, give your undivided attention to what you are doing or who is speaking.  Considering our average attention spans are not more than 10-20 minutes, this is a practice to build, like a muscle you would build at the gym.  As a coach, I’ve learned to be 100% present during my coaching sessions, and that took time and practice.  I call it my “coaching bubble”.  For tasks, I’ve also just started using the app called Focus Keeper which is based on the pomodoro technique: focus for 25 minutes, take a short break for 4 cycles before taking a longer break.  It helps me keep at bay all of the other thoughts and tasks as I limit that to 25 minutes.

3.     Connect with People

We can’t underestimate the power of relationships anymore.  As a leader, it’s all about relationships.  Management is about complexity and processes, while leadership is about leading change and leading people.  Of course it gets messy, and when you think that all people desire are to be seen, heard and understood, giving your time to building a relationship will go a long way to helping you achieve results.  Sometimes, a 2-minute genuine connection is all that is needed to create a positive effect and environment.

4.     Impact

Leadership is also about inspiration and having a positive impact on others.  Lead by example, influence positively.  As in Drew Dudley’s example, sometimes a small random act of kindness can have a huge impact on someone else.  Tony Robbins states Contribution- a sense of service and focus on helping, giving to and supporting others – as one of the 6 basic human needs (the other 5 are Certainty, Variety, Significance, Connection/Love, and Growth, which you can find throughout these 7 practices).

5.     Meaning

Consider what is meaningful about your actions, create meaning with others and connect with your and their WHY.  As a leader, your vision and describing your Why will help influence others and support you in getting buy in.  Simon Sinek in his book Start With Why states that most successful companies start with the Why- the vision and mission behind their efforts.  In this way, they achieve benefits like more inspired teams, more loyal customers, and long term success.

6.     Perspective

It’s important to remember to look up, to look at the big picture and decide what’s really important here.  Create and feel your vision, as if it has already happened. Breathe.  It’s so easy to get caught in the doing, the endless to dos, the busyness that actually distracts and detracts us from our goals, our priorities, and what’s important.

7.     Treasure Yourself

Be devoted to Your Self.  Connect with your body and your mind, do the things that care for Your Self: eat foods that serve your body, drink water, get enough sleep, exercise regularly, make time and space for fun, meditate. Taking care of your health is the best investment of your time and attention and the ROI is enormous.

We are all leaders; let’s celebrate all the little, everyday things we do that improve each other’s lives.

"If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves." Thomas A Edison 

“Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, it is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light and not our darkness that frightens us.” Marianne Williamson