Leadership and Connections
Paying Attention to the Inside as well as the Outside
Conscious leaders or conscious practitioners create an inspiring environment for others, be they employees, partners, team members. This allows people to blossom as working professionals and as human beings, enabling them to contribute their best, to build trust and elicit genuine engagement. To be able to lead ‘outside one’s sphere of authority’ requires that first and foremost learn to lead ourselves.
At the heart of any conscious process/business/organisation people:
- Take responsibility for their situation
- Don’t compromise human values for material success
- Speak their truth with honesty and respect
- Learn to listen deeply
- Resolve disagreements attending to all concerns
- Honour commitments impeccably
- Are aware of their emotions and express them constructively
These concepts are common sense, but they are not common practice.
They challenge deep-seated assumptions we hold about ourselves, other people, and the world. It requires a fundamental shift in consciousness to instil these processes and values into the way we operate.
Extraordinary Performance
Organisations can obtain great business results in the short term with unhappy people or strenuous relationships yet the gains will not endure. Strong profits are not sustainable without equally strong interpersonal relationships and personal well-being. New leadership styles are needed to develop such organisational cultures.
For those working in loose, collaborative working relationships, the participants can and will walk away from situations that are not based on fundamental agreed, shared values. As individuals seeking to benefit from real relationships with fellow collaborators, we must learn and practice new skills of engagement.
Collaboration is a way of doing business. It is loose, hard to define perhaps, often easier seen in its absence than its existence, and it is very effective as the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Pat Fleming, Integral Mentor and Coach