Welcome to Week 26 of the Authenticity@Work Leadership Tool-kit! My intention for this series is to share a quick tool each week to help you lead with more authenticity, adaptability and inspiration so we can together create workplaces where we bring the best of ourselves and inspire others. So grab a journal and an accountability partner to make these practices even more powerful for you!
In last week’s post we discussed letting go of taking things personally. Did you notice the impact on yourself and others when you take things personally? Did you journal about your experiences?
In leadership, we are often challenged by “difficult” people and situations that don’t conform to our expectations. When we resist accepting situations as they are and get stuck in frustration or resignation, it actually prevents us from being most effective in those situations. These challenges are wonderful opportunities for us to let go of our resistance to what is. What we learn to do is take a step back and examine what parts of ourselves we can call upon in order to be most effective in these situations.
Andrew is an executive coaching client who tends to resist certain situations and people who don’t act in accordance with his own values and expectations. He works in the Middle East in an organization culture where accountability (making a commitment and keeping it in terms of timelines and deliverables) is not a core value. Yet for Andrew, accountability is one of the most important parts of his own value system. He finds himself frustrated and angry when people don’t keep commitments. I recently asked him, “So, Andrew, you want everyone to adjust to your values when they are dealing with you and then just go back to doing what they normally do, right?” We both started laughing. And yet, this is so normal for each of us to expect others to conform to our expectations of how things should be.
This Week’s Tool:
Think about a situation or person where you are resisting accepting what is. Once you accept the situation for what it is and step into your authentic self, what new approaches open up for you to achieve your goals in this situation? What allies might be useful for you in this situation?
Get the latest resources for Authenticity@Work (this tab will get updated with all kinds of cool resources). Curious to know more about the book? Read the reviews about Wired for Authenticity here.
