Week 35: Choose Be Before Do

Welcome to Week 35 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 giving every situation an “A” and being curious of what’s right in front of you. 

We need to integrate authenticity with being curious, open, and adaptable. On the other hand, being a total chameleon and changing who we are to suit the situation isn’t the right approach, either. To be viewed as trustworthy, people expect leaders to be consistent.

The practice of choosing be before do allows us to adapt quickly by accessing the different parts of who we already are in order to be fully effective. It allows us to be both adaptable and authentic.

HOW TO PRACTICE BE BEFORE DO

1. Become aware of the fact that you’re stuck, triggered, or in saboteur mode. Pay attention to what’s happening in the body.
2. Get curious about your discomfort or feeling of being stuck. Look inside and find the saboteur voices.
3. Fully acknowledge and experience any emotion that shows up. Take a walk to clear your head. It is hard to explore other perspectives unless we can get ourselves back to center.
4. Once the emotion is experienced, bring yourself back to your center using your iBreathe app and posture. Bring the Director back to stage. Which of your allies do you need to bring on stage? Make a decision on who you’re most inspired to be in this situation. Shift your being in this moment. Then pick the actions you’ll take from this place of being.
5. Take action. Reflect and learn from the experience.

Most tough decisions require us to engage with our authenticity. They are tough precisely because we have a fight within us that calls on us to get curious about our values, our purpose, our fears, and our dreams. These tough decisions cause us to stop and examine who we want to be and also define who we are becoming as leaders—these decisions wire our brains and inform our leadership legacy.

This Week’s Tool:

Today, as you’re faced with an important situation or decision, take a step back and ask yourself, who am I inspired to be right now that will best serve 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.