Being Your Own Best Leader

Over the last number of weeks I have been part of an amazing journey of self-awareness and management development. I have to say if your place of business offers a course like this take advantage of it. Over the next few weeks I will share some of the keytakeaways that I got from the courses. I would also like to thank Robb Braun for his great work as I know over the last number of months he has inspired countless people.

To kick things off I want to start with a concept of being your own best leader. This is a choice that you make daily. As a leader we are met with numerous opportunities and challenges on a regular basis. The one thing you need to realize is you’re being observed as a leader all the time so how you react to these opportunities is always being measured. One topic that seems to come up a lot these days is the opportunity of dealing with change and how you handle that change. Here are a few quick steps on how to deal with change.

1. Face the Change

2. Prepare for Change

3. Explore Options for Change

4. Be Proactive - Take Charge of Change

5. Monitor Change

There are a number of different changes that an organization will go through so remember that…Always with Change there is a Gain and a Loss, and Always with Loss there is a Grieving Process.

Another part of leadership that I have observed too much of late is how work can be full of stress, and certainly during times of change it can feel overwhelming. It is important that we try to find ways to cope with that stress.

Here are a few quick tips on Keeping Your Stress Under Good Management:

1. Plan ahead to avoid stress created by rushing unnecessarily

2. Develop a support group or have a “go to” person

3. Get good regular sleep

4. Focus on one task at a time - multi-tasking could lead to mistakes and frustration

5. Address conflict

6. Avoid talking about work during breaks

Please keep looking out for future posts on my Management Development Journey.