Who’s looking after the leader?

We are all leaders.

Whether you lead a team or lead decisions, first and foremost you need to lead yourself.

Yes, self-leadership is what I am referring to and unfortunately, it is an area that often lacks focus.

Would you believe Australia has the highest reported rate of burnout globally?

We sit at 62%, with the global average at 48%.

Many factors are contributing to this, such as fewer people doing more in the workplace, people working longer hours, unclear role expectations, post-pandemic trauma and an imbalance between our work and personal lives.

There is also the common reality of working within a workplace where the culture focuses on 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 and 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 and where 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 are the least focused on.

Less people are doing more.

This often results in business leaders experiencing overwhelm, burn out and mental health issues.

There may be ad-hoc yoga, muffins, and sugar-hit feel-good remedies but not sustainable, long-lasting practices to enhance connection, collaboration, and purpose among employees.

I believe that energy is the new currency of leadership.

When we don’t look after ourselves and focus our attention outwards this can prevent us giving and living our best selves in and out of the workplace

“Give the world the best of you,
Not what’s left of you”.

We need to create energy and balance in each of the 5 key areas of wellbeing:
• Emotional energy – How we feel.
• Mental energy – How we think.
• Social energy – How we connect.
• Physical energy – How we function.
• Spiritual energy – What we believe and nurture.

We cannot pour from an empty cup, in life and work, we should be giving all of us, not what is left of us.

Over the last 8 months, I have seen so many leaders and executives operating in survival mode, and this is affecting their health, career, home life and overall selves.

Recently, I’ve been working across many organisations and associations, running keynotes and “Skill Pill” size 2-hour workshops on “Who is looking after the leader?” The feedback and responsiveness to the twelve strategies we have been teaching have been amazing. We include a self-rated energy review which is a great starting point to know where your energy is currently at and when was the last time you felt energised across the five areas of wellbeing.

We need to know when we have felt our most energised in order to gauge when we feel depleted.

A few of the strategies we explored and expanded upon include:

Start a ‘NO” list

  • Who and what do you need to say no to?
  • Create a list and review it monthly.
  • Helps to put boundaries in place.

Nurture your support network and mentors

  • Ensure you have a strong support network around you.
  • Aim for 5 people who will support, challenge and be there for you.
  • Be open and honest with your mentor or coach.

Create boundaries-digital/physical/emotional

  • Get away from the screen-diarise a cyber cleanse time.
  • Eliminate people and situations that drain you.
  • Create working hour boundaries and times to exercise and sleep.

Practise gratitude

Do what lights you up

  • Know the things that energise and motivate you.
  • Bring these into your professional and personal life.
  • Kick off Monday with these, as this sets the tone of the week.

Delegate what you like doing

  • Let go of something you have learnt from.
  • Empower and grow others by sharing tasks across the team.
  • Get the time back to do something progressive (leading Vs. managing)

Embrace a Gift Mindset

  • Welcome challenges and mistakes as an opportunity to learn.
  • Take the time to reflect on what you have learnt.
  • Share your lessons with others; this may be a survival guide for them.

Get moving outdoors

  • Diarise the time to walk daily outside – 15 minutes even does wonders.
  • Our brains cannot comprehend the complexity of nature, so it slows us down.
  • Take some time to be alone and present.

How we live and lead ourselves is entirely up to us, but the good news is, we all have a choice and a choice that has two options.

The more we give back to ourselves, the more we can grow and be in service to others.

As always, I’d love to hear what resonated with you!