Personal LEADErship: Unlocking Your Potential Learning, Experimenting, Advancing, Drive, Embracing (3 of 4)

June 21, 2022

Prioritizing your needs is like putting on the metaphorical oxygen mask; your ability to consistently and effectively help others happens after addressing your needs first. It's what contributes to the foundation of your Personal Leadership, which in turn contributes to you feeling motivated, interested, and productive in all areas of your life.

This month's Personal Leadership: Unlocking Your Potential blog series continues by introducing five additional concepts: Learning, Experimenting, Advancing, Drive, and Embracing. Each expands upon the first eight concepts presented in March and April's (hyperlink) blogs: Personalize, Evaluate, Responsibility, Side Tracking, Organization, Necessity, Action, and Lessons.

We recommend getting personal and answering all of the questions provided with each concept. Record your responses on these downloadable pages and continue building your Personal Leadership framework.

L is for Learning: Curiosity builds knowledge

Learning happens when you expand your knowledge and acquire new skills. It may be intentional, such as taking classes, attending workshops, and reading articles, or unintentional, like listening, observing, and taking action. Either way, learning is an essential part of your Personal Leadership.

Curiosity is an impetus for learning and includes asking questions and researching information. It’s a catalyst for behavioral changes, perception shifts, and decision-making. Curiosity also influences your focus and engagement in more of what interests you, inevitably influencing your learning.

Coaching: Geoff is a highly regarded divorce attorney who engaged in coaching because he didn’t know what to do about feeling burned out and frustrated with his job. He spent long hours working on complex cases and had questions that his colleagues could likely answer, yet he refused to ask because he thought it would make him appear weak, incompetent, and unqualified to do his job. Since Geoff did not think about others this way, I encouraged him to afford himself the same respect. Over the next several months, he fought the urge to not worry about other people’s perceptions of himself and allowed this resistance to evolve. As a result, his fixed mindset shifted to a learning mindset.

When thinking about how learning promotes your Personal Leadership, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What are some examples of how I learn, intentionally and unintentionally?

2. What piques my curiosity and how can I learn more about these topics?

3. How will learning about these topics influence my Personal Leadership?

4. How do I feel when taking the time to learn things that interest me?

E is for Experimenting: Getting out of your comfort zone and trying new things

Experiment with what you do and seek experiences you have never had before. Don’t let fear or lack of prior opportunity deter you. Instead, create the changes you desire and welcome outcomes that aren’t predictable and repetitive.

Get out of your comfort zone and consider alternative ways of achieving the same results. Instead of always doing something the same way, experiment with your Personal Leadership and seek alternative paths for getting to where you want to be. Think of this as a fun, exciting, and necessary experiment that can help alleviate stagnation, work through challenges, and address unresolved conflicts.

Coaching: Madelyn engaged in coaching to discuss the possibility of looking for a new job due to concerns about her twenty-year hospital administration role at one organization plateauing. When asked to run an experiment, she agreed, and Madelyn shared her challenge with her boss and other senior leaders. For the first time, Madelyn communicated her concerns and career aspirations. To her happiness and surprise, these conversations parlayed into a promotion in a different business unit that allowed her to learn, grow, and provide value to the organization where she wanted to continue working.

When thinking about how you can experiment with advancing your Personal Leadership, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What parts of my life would I like to be different?

2. What do I need to be doing to make these changes?

3. What obstacles are preventing me from making them?

4. What do I have to gain by experimenting with doing something differently?

A is for Advancing: Promoting your growth and development

Advancing yourself is synonymous with your efforts to achieve and accomplish your goals. It’s a combination of committing to your personal and professional development and willingly stepping outside your comfort zone that advances your Personal Leadership.

Advancing yourself requires self-awareness – knowing your wants and needs, beliefs and values, responsibilities, and goals. It’s not settling for mediocracy nor expecting perfection. Instead, it’s doing hard things, facing challenges, and being happy with the person you see when looking in the mirror.

Coaching: Anika, a small business owner, discussed her decision to terminate an employee who was consistently not meeting his job responsibilities. She avoided doing it for several weeks because of her fear of confrontation and upsetting others. Afterward, Anika reflected upon her realization that the anticipation was far more anxiety-provoking than the actual conversation. She was proud of herself and felt as though she had advanced her Personal Leadership. She is now more self-confident in her ability to be communicative, effective, and authentic in her personal and professional relationships.

When thinking about advancing your Personal Leadership, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What are my core values?

2. What areas of my growth and development do I want to prioritize?

3. What does getting out of my comfort zone mean to me?

4. What will I be doing to advance my Personal Leadership?

D is for Drive: Focusing on what leads to achieving

Driven people are determined to excel. Your drive is an innate quality credited with your ability to focus on doing things the right way. Your drive doesn’t dissuade you from working hard and navigating challenges, nor does it seek quick solutions that help you check the proverbial box.

Synonymous with being driven are words like grit, determination, and fortitude. They all describe you as a person who can focus, learn, create, and deliver successful outcomes, which, in turn, lead to a wide array of personal growth opportunities that inevitably strengthen your Personal Leadership.

Coaching: Layla, a successful senior marketing manager at a prominent financial institution, has a reputation for being hard-working, strategic, and effective. She has five direct reports and holds each to the same standard she holds herself – work hard, ask questions, and deliver your best work. When asked about her drive and strong work ethic, Layla told me that it stems from her childhood fear of becoming homeless. Because her parents couldn't always pay their rent, Layla decided to get a job and help them financially – she was 14. Layla is proud of herself for helping her family, but she is most proud of owning her current home outright and not worrying about putting a roof over her head again.

When thinking about how your drive influences your Personal Leadership, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What am I striving to achieve?

2. What obstacles are making this challenging?

3. What will it take for me to be successful?

4. How is my drive influencing the outcome of my efforts?

E is for Embracing: Creating new experiences

Embrace new experiences and do things you have never done before but always wanted to do. Step out of your comfort zone, do what interests and excites you, and leave behind your concerns about the possible reactions of others.

Embrace new experiences by speaking up to be heard, asking questions when curious, finding a career you love, traveling the world, and making new friends with those who have similar interests. Most importantly, take advantage of every opportunity you can, now and always.

Coaching: As a young boy, Jose dreamed of becoming the third-generation owner of his family's retail business, yet he chose a different career path and spent more than a decade working in a predictable, stable, and lucrative job. However, he always wanted a job that was exciting, challenging, and impactful, which made his parents' offer to become the next owner and President of the family business enticing. During our coaching sessions, Jose discussed his lack of clarity about how to proceed, including the risks, rewards, and life changes that would accompany this change. Ultimately, Jose decided to resign from his job and take over the family business. In other words, Jose embraced the opportunity to do what he always wanted but never before did.

When thinking about how to embrace opportunities, ask yourself the following questions about your Personal Leadership:

1. What have I never done that I’ve always wanted to do?

2. What am I not embracing but wish I was?

3. What obstacles are getting in the way of embracing these opportunities?

4. What would be different about my life if I embraced them?

Next month concludes our Personal Leadership: Unlocking Your Potential series with the final concepts: Relationships, Self, Happiness, Influence, and Process.

Download your Personal Leadership template HERE.