There is a Chinese proverb that says “Women hold up half the sky”. To me this suggests great ability as well as shared responsibility. And with this comes opportunity to bring a wider perspective to the landscape of leadership.
It is commonly accepted that women face a number of factors which hamper leadership potential. Whilst it is important to understand history and to recognise the underlying factors that might contribute to limited opportunity, this article is intentionally focussed on freeing unseen possibilities and tapping potential for change.
We can end up living our lives according to someone else’s script and believe we don’t have what it takes. Or, with awareness, support and practise, we can pick up the pen and author a different story. One which recognises that we have more control over our lives and leadership pathway than we may first realise.
An important step on the journey is to move beyond the external narrative which tells us it’s not possible and undertake an inner journey to build self-awareness, reflect, develop confidence and take action. Over time we can learn to become the authors and contribute to a different story.
While external barriers will still exist, we can develop the capacity to adapt to challenges and forge our own path, instead of falling into the trap of self-sabotage or putting up internal barriers to our own development.
In this way, we open up the possibility to develop as leaders by tapping into our inner potential.
So, how can we uncover our inner leadership potential?
Discern Purpose and Vision
A key step to realising leadership potential is to discern our own purpose as leaders. This includes being able to tap into what we love to do, what lights us up.
As a starting point reflect on these key questions:
• What really matters to me from the inside-out?
• What am I passionate about?
• What am I pulled towards?
• What are we hoping to achieve?
By understanding what drives us, we can frame how we will approach our leadership journey.
The next step is to consider how our personal purpose links to the organisation’s purpose and vision. What resonates with us about the vision and how can we help create that vision?
A meaningful personal purpose and vision serves as a road map for how well we show up and contribute to the organisation’s future. It is important to take conscious time out to consider what your role will be in achieving the vision and how you will fit into the organisation’s future.
Getting to Know Fears and Worries
Whilst most of us are unaware of it, fear has a habit of holding us back from tapping into our true potential. Fear can manifest in a number of ways including through a lack of confidence, worry, anxiety, tension, a reluctance to take risks or an overly controlling or guarded approach to leadership. It can show up in behaviour which keeps us safe and secure in another person’s perception of us.
A fear of failure, of losing face, of not being good enough, of losing approval or reputational damage can cause us to behave counter intuitively with our own values.
As creatures of habit, we can fall into a pattern of behaving in a way which is unknowingly controlled by our fears and concerns. It becomes our default approach. We are often not conscious of our fears until we slow down long enough to look below the surface our behaviour with the intent of finding out our core inner drivers.
Once we identify our fears and consciously get to know the stories we tell ourselves about what is and isn’t possible, we can learn to manage them so they don’t manage us. It is only then we can understand the signals and discover when our fears serve us and when they don’t.
By being aware of our doubts and fears, we can consciously work with them to behave in a way that is truly how we want to show up.
Engage in Courageous and Authentic Conversations
Relating to others authentically and courageously builds longer-term trust and rapport. Authentic conversations include being more open and transparent with people and having the courage to say the important things that others are afraid to say. These are the markers of greatly admired leaders who lead with integrity and purpose.
It is easy for conversations in organisations to become politicised or manipulative. We can often feel trapped by this form of communication. While we may not support it, we need to learn to work with is as part of negotiating the workplace.
Some of the most effective leaders courageously choose to be honest and genuine, despite the barriers and the politics. They stand up and speak out on the issues that matter and importantly they choose their timing wisely as to when to speak up and not to.
Ultimately, authentic and courageous conversations can be a powerful force for change. People resonate strongly with leaders who are “real”, courageous and vulnerable.
Everyone has the potential to create what matters to them and those around them, and is so doing they become a leader. By uncovering our inner purpose, fears and courage we can start to become conscious as to how we show up as people and leaders. In this way we can begin and continue the journey of becoming the author of our own leadership story.
Roma will be presenting at The Leadership Circle Asia Pacific’s Fourth Annual Conference on Collective Leadership, 15 May 2014 in Sydney, which will focus on collective leadership, culture and business performance.