Conscious Leadership: Five Steps To Becoming a Conscious Leader
Before we examine five ways you can become a (more) conscious leader, let’s look at what a conscious leader is. In short, conscious leaders lead with authenticity, speak with the utmost integrity, whilst at the same time holding themselves completely accountable, which they achieve by being in tune and fully aware of the environment around them. Conversely, unconscious leaders often allow their ego to run the show and are typically very reactive. The question is, how can you be more ‘conscious’ than ‘unconscious’ where leadership is concerned? Well, in today’s piece, we’re going to furnish you with five steps to becoming a more conscious leader.
Five Steps To Becoming a Conscious Leader
#1 – Self-awareness
Absolute self-awareness is often touted as the single most effective and beneficial thing a leader can do to improve their leadership style. What does this involve? Well, it begins by getting to know yourself as a person as well as a leader. Sure, you may already be au fait with your strengths and weaknesses, but are you fully aware of your feelings, emotions, motives, and thoughts? Once you are able to monitor these, you’ll have the ability to manage them. Start the process by checking with yourself and answering questions such as, “What five things do I love most about life?”, “How can I bring more happiness and joy into my everyday life?|, or “In what areas am I falling short, and how can I rectify these?”. Don’t allow this consciousness to merely exist inside your own head though; bring it into conversations with colleagues and in work projects.
#2 – What/Who is Your Influence?
It’s often said that we, as people, are the product of the four or five people we most associate with. Although we are individuals, our closest circle of friends/colleagues plays a major role in both our success and character. Write down a list of the four or five people you spend the most the majority of your time with, and detail their views of the world, their attitude, and their behaviours. Following that, ask yourself if you are 100% satisfied with being the average some of that group of people. If the answer is no, make some changes and alter your closest network.
#3 – Meditation
Meditation is a vastly underrated tool for conscious leadership. Several studies have indicated that mediation can help to decrease levels of stress, enhance creativity, boost REM sleep, improve brain function, and can even enhance focus and concentration. Even though there are numerous benefits, the actual act of meditation helps to deepen our consciousness. What’s great about meditation is that there are numerous forms of this ancient traditions; therefore, if sitting in complete silence for 20 minutes a day isn’t your cup of tea, you can find a form of meditation that suits you much better.
#4 – Being Intentional
Conscious leaders have success because they bring intention to absolutely everything they do – be that the way they spend their money, apportion their time, where they travel, who they spend their time with etc. Being intentional is certainly the preface for living life completely on your own terms. Why not spend one day this weekend thinking about your intentions and setting intentions for areas of your life that you’re not completely satisfied with.
#5 – The Four Agreements
Don Miguel Ruiz suggest there are four agreements by which a person can transform their life and gain personal freedom. Conscious leaders view these four agreements as an opportunity to improve their personal leadership. These are:
1) Be impeccable with what you say, i.e. say only that which you mean and don’t engage in gossip or negativity.
2) Never take anything personally. Things other people do isn’t because of you; it is merely a projection of their own reality.
3) Never name assumptions. Instead, ask questions and communicate.
4) Do your best. This may alter from day to fat, but always doing your best will help to avoid self-judgement.
Following these four agreements can help you to forge a new path to a conscious way of leading your life, your team, and your business.