Characteristics of leadership: how do you score?

Published by Alison Wem on

Businesses that thrive are ones with employees that are equipped to lead themselves. Today’s rapid technological change and uncertain economy requires this. Such a mindset not only creates greater satisfaction for individuals, but benefits the organisation’s customer satisfaction, competitiveness and productivity.

Everyone is accountable for leading themselves. It is a mindset rather than a position.

Having successfully led myself in roles from payroll team lead to Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Change Director whilst juggling being a mother of five; I understand how challenging life can be and how mindset can be pivotal to success. 

Leadership involves creating a vision and then gaining the knowledge and approach to realise it. A leader steps up in times of crisis, and is able to think and act creatively in difficult situations.  Leaders develop their mindset for success by cultivating;

  • focus and clarity,
  • creativity
  • compassion.

Individuals and teams can easily achieve this when given the opportunity to truly know and manage themselves. Such a mindset enables calmness and clarity of thought in a hectic business day. This mindset not only enhances your company’s competitive edge within the marketplace through greater adaptability, but also increases creativity, productivity and a happy work culture.

Learning to ‘lead you’ enables calmness and clarity of thought when often there is chaos around you. Knowing and practising techniques to bring this clarity enables your quality thoughts to be heard.

Quality thoughts will motivate your teams to deliver your vision.

Alison Pooley-Wem – life coach, author and leadership consultant, MBCS CITP, former Business Transformation Director, IT Director, Programme Director who led major transformation programmes for corporate and multi-national organisations such as Amey PLC, Christies. News UK.

Alison is married with five grown-up children. Many of the techniques in her ‘leading yourself’ coaching and courses are based on her life experiences in her professional and family life. She retains a calmness and clarity enabling her to assess the right things to do.

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Life Lessons

War: How do we find peace?

I am writing this article to you on Armistice Day when at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, the peace treaty was signed ending World War I.

How do we achieve peace in the Ukraine and Gaza?

In improving the way humanity chooses to live, I have always felt it will be a bottom-up evolution with the masses deciding what is the right way to live, forcing our national leaders to change the way they behave.

However, there is nothing stronger than the anger of one nation on another nation. We are seeing this in Gaza/Israel and Russia/Ukraine. In these circumstances I feel it will take a special sort of leader(s) to achieve peace.

To achieve lasting peace, it will be necessary for the waring nations to find the Middle Path between opposite views that both sides can live with.

The Middle Path is very hard to determine. In a war scenario there is a very fine line between courage and cruelty.

Heart breaking stories have been reported on families broken and killed in their homes by the Hamas raid into Israel. Yet the bombing on Gaza is equally affecting families.

My belief it takes a good and strong, heart led leader(s) to determine the place between courage and cruelty. Is the action of a nation at war justice or revenge? This pivotal middle point needs to be determined whether it is in a war situation or everyday life or business life.

A good leader must be sensitive to the boundary between justice and revenge in all the decisions they are making.

To be able to do this effectively, the leader needs to be incorruptible, not upset by slander nor desire riches or power from their actions. He/she needs to be able to sense and know what is the right action and to be the healer of human hearts. I believe;

A strong leader is connected to their intuition and can hear their guidance from Spirit.

National leaders bear the heaviness of life and human activity. Purposely I use the term ‘leader’ rather than ‘ruler’. A ruler has jurisdiction over something that is already formed. But a good leader guides a nation forward quite literally into the future, shaping and forming it.

The responsibilities of a leader are great.

In those around him/her, the leader must determine who is speaking from sincerity or pretence. In a highly pressured situation, this is not easy. The leader needs a pure heart to only accept council from those with equally a good heart and thereby be able to bring the good to the people. It is hard to find the right path through the maze of war.

How do our national leaders measure up against these challenging requirements?

I am reminded again of my Middle Eastern friend who said many people will make great wealth re-building Gaza and the people harmed or killed in this war are just acceptable collateral damage.

To find peace, we need to find leaders with pure hearts and a strong connection to their intuition.

If you live in a democratic country, it is you and me who vote our leaders into power. Perhaps you can consider the characteristics of a good leader the next time you go to a voting station…..

Associates

Be the change…..

You must be the change you want to see in the world- Mahatma Gandhi

When you alter your thoughts, change your beliefs, how you feel and actions you take, you change the world around you. As your actions become your habits, your inner world shifts and you start viewing the world through the same lenses. What we see and how we experience the world is through our tinted glasses.


I might not be in control of what happens around me, but I am in total control of how I react to it. You are in control of how you think, feel, perceive and respond to someone or something around you.

Be in control of your thoughts, feelings and actions.


If you want to achieve change effectively and permanently, change needs to come from within you. When we try to change ourselves, not congruent with our inner self, we tend to slip back into old patterns and self-sabotaging habits. When we carry negative emotions, fear and limiting beliefs within us, it creates stumbling blocks to the process.
When you eliminate inner conflict and become authentic, you create a world you desire you can sustain.


Imagine for a moment and reflect:
 Have you ever tried to change you?
 How long did it take you?
 How easy or difficult was it?
 Were you successful or failed a few times before you got there?


Before you expect CHANGE or get disappointed with someone for not changing, take a moment to answer these questions
You are not what others perceive you to be; you are what you think, believe and become.


There is only one person you can change, and it is YOU!!!

Menaca Pothalingam-Joji

Guest author Menaca Pothalingam Joji

After successfully practising dentistry for over 20 years and building a practice in London, she now advises healthcare professionals on their client skills and how to build a successful business.

Menaca would love to hear from you. She can be contacted at menaca.kaliyai@gmail.com

#leadershipdevelopment #empoweredwomen #women #leadership #migrantentrepreneurs #empowerwomen #empowerglobalwomen #menaca #successtogether

Mindful leadership

7 levels of leadership consciousness: rate yourself and your organisation

Richard Barrett’s model

We are all leaders albeit of ourselves, a team or a company. To develop yourself, you need to understand where you and your organisation are now in the range from Crisis Manager to Visionary. 

Rate yourself, organisation and community against Richard Barrett’s model – ‘7 levels of human consciousness’.  Click on the link below to read the model.  Identify where you think you are.

The ‘7 levels of human consciousness’ model unpick human behaviour allowing people to assess the degree to which their values are;

  • lived out in behaviour
  • in line with those of their organisations/community.

Basic needs: something that is important to get, have or have more of in order for you to feel safe, happy and comfortable in your existing physical and social environment.

Growth needs: something you would like to have in order to feel; a sense of being at peace with yourself, a greater meaning to life by making a positive contribution in your world.

We feel anxious or fearful if we are not able to satisfy our basic needs, but once they are satisfied, we stop thinking about them.

Growth needs are needs which do not go away; when satisfied they give us a deeper sense of meaning and purpose – allowing us to feel more fully who we are.

Follow these steps to assess yourself;

  1. Identify your values against the 7-levels model,
  2. Identify the values and behaviours experienced by your direct reports/colleagues and family/friends.
  3. Identify any gaps in theses levels.

Gaps between the value levels and behaviours experienced indicate areas for development.  Levels 1-3 include potentially limiting values as they contain potential fear-based behaviour.

Level 1 – Survival fear, I do not have enough

Level 2 – Relationship fear, I am not loved enough

Level 3 – Self esteem fear, I am not enough.

You can perform the assessment steps also for your organisation and community to see if they are living their declared values.

Now list;

  1. your top 10 personal values
  2. top 10 values you experience in your workplace
  3. values you would like to see the organisation you work for focus on in the future

The greater the match between your personal values and your employer’s/community’s values, the more you are able to bring your whole self to work or into your community.

Bringing your whole self to work gives a greater your sense of personal satisfaction in your work, greater engagement in what you do and improved productivity.

A mindful leader is someone who embodies leadership presence by cultivating focus, clarity, creativity and compassion to reach common goals that maximize the well-being of all stakeholders.

 

Alison Pooley-Wem – life coach, author and leadership consultant, MBCS CITP, former Business Transformation Director, IT Director, Programme Director who led major transformation programmes for corporate and multi-national organisations such as Amey PLC, Christies. News UK.

Alison is married with five grown-up children. Many of the techniques in her ‘leading yourself’ coaching and courses are based on her life experiences in her professional and family life. She retains a calmness and clarity enabling her to assess the right things to do.

We would love to hear from you.  If you have a question or want to book an appointment with Alison Wem contact us here

Available face-to-face or via Skype depending on location.