Every time we don’t take the chance to shine, it’s a missed opportunity.
Taking the time to shine means stepping up to any situation with an open mind and a commitment to comprehensively understanding the problem and others’ perspectives, working collaboratively to achieve the best possible outcome and solution.
As a leader, our roles’ essential function is to exhibit the behaviour we want to see displayed throughout our organizations. We set the tone and the example of how we expect our teams to show up every day. If you are not taking the time to shine, putting your best behaviour on display repeatedly, how can we expect our teams to do the same?
Knowing that taking the time to shine has massive and far-reaching benefits, what would prevent us from taking that opportunity and doing something great with it?
Does it come down to a lack of Time? Prioritization? Or ‘Busyness‘?
Time and Prioritization
We often hear from executives that it is all ‘fine and good’ to want to be the best leader you can be, but who has the time to invest in this process constantly? A common phrase we hear, ‘It’s exhausting, and I have my work to do!’
However, we try to encourage leaders to look at it like building a community or a family. Think of all the time and effort you need to invest into raising your children into beautiful human beings. The same applies to the humans in your organization. We all need guidance, structure, feedback, care, and support. It is in this type of environment we will excel and measure up to expectations.
We also ask our executives what they can leverage to other team members. If you have said the words, ‘it is faster if I do it myself’, then you are probably guilty of not leveraging when you should. Yes, it is quicker to do it yourself in the short term. But think how many times you will have to continue to do the same task if you don’t empower a team member to do it permanently for you? Freeing up your time from tasks you don’t need to be performing means you will have more time and space to lead, inspire and shine in the face of opportunity.
Busyness
We know we are not telling you anything new when we say that stress does not always bring out our best behaviour. In addition to the harmful effects on your health, it can heighten anxiety around workloads and demands, create conflict and backlash, and bad temperament.
We also know that we are more productive and creative when we are relaxed and have improved memory and focus with the right amount of downtime. Below are some easy tips to help you achieve this:
- Self-care. Make it a priority in our day-to-day routine to stop working, get outside for a walk, exercise, garden, play with your kids or your pets, or have a visit with a friend. It sounds easy, but many of us will often put this at the bottom of our to-do list. Simple tricks to ensure you make some time for self-care are to block your calendar time and treat it like a hard and fast work commitment.
- Mindfulness. Being aware of your actions, your thoughts, and your words. An easy way to become more mindful is to meditate. Meditation comes in many different forms and can be accomplished anywhere, anytime. Mindfulness creates the space and energy to focus on what matters to you the most and prioritize what is important to you.
As leaders, we set the pace, standards, and expectations for our teams; what we do and say matters every day, every time. If we utilize some of the tips above, it will free up our time and our minds to bring our best selves to work every day. It will become second nature to step up and shine when we give ourselves the permission, space, and time to do so.
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