Leading In Chaos - The Center Within

In April, I had an amazing opportunity to facilitate 5 mini, 1-hour workshops during a 3-day professional development meeting for the leaders of a national organization. Each leader took a strength identifying assessment, and we took a dive into how each participant’s strengths enhanced their qualities of an impactful leader. We built skills in self-awareness, emotional, social, conversational, and spiritual intelligence.

These leaders were so inspiring! They demonstrated willingness, engagement, trust, vulnerability, and commitment. It was heartwarming to see them encourage each other, reflect deeply, and choose the next steps to uplevel their leadership skills into their daily lives.

We had fun, and applied these principles of optimal leadership to ourselves, the people we manage and serve, our families, and communities. These are life skills for being human!

Each of us is called during this time of turbulence and uncertainty to step up and live our best life and contribute positively to society as we transition into this new era. YOU are being called to be a LEADER!

My working definition is:

Anyone who is taking responsibility for their impact on the world,
Who optimizes and sets conditions for transformation,
Influences movement towards greater states of wholeness, consistency, and cohesiveness,
So everyone on this planet has the opportunity to flourish.

One tool you have available is a resource packed 5-part online on demand CE course:

Individual, Relational and Organizational Health & Wellbeing Your Guide to Optimal Personal and Professional Health

This May, we are offering a discount on this course: $55 in May, regularly $145. If you are an NBC-HWC, 5 CEU pre-approved is also available.

Click here to register for this course.

Here are some key leadership qualities you can develop to expand your capacity to positively impact the world. You could focus on one a week, journal about them, or reflect on your abilities to embody these important aspects of being your best self.

Integrity: Leaders need to demonstrate truthfulness and consistency, acting with honesty and maintaining high ethical standards.
Self-Awareness: Understanding one’s strengths, weaknesses, values, and biases is crucial for effective leadership.
Empathy: Leaders who can connect with and understand the feelings of others build stronger relationships and foster a more positive team environment.
Communication: Effective communication involves clearly conveying ideas, actively listening, and fostering open dialogue.
Adaptability: Leaders must be able to adjust to changing circumstances and embrace new ideas and approaches.
Accountability: Taking responsibility for actions and outcomes, and inspiring others to do the same, is a key leadership trait.
Vision: Leaders need to be able to see the big picture, set a clear direction, and communicate their goals effectively.
Resilience: The ability to bounce back from setbacks and challenges is essential for navigating the inevitable difficulties of leadership.
Delegation: Effectively assigning tasks and responsibilities to team members, empowering them to grow and develop.
Active Listening: Paying close attention to what others are saying, understanding their perspectives, and responding thoughtfully.
Creativity: Leaders who can think outside the box and come up with innovative solutions are valuable assets.
Decision-Making: Leaders must be able to make sound judgments, weigh options, and make timely decisions.
Problem-Solving: Leaders need to be able to identify problems, analyze situations, and develop effective solutions.

In addition, there are key aspects of emotional, social, and conversational intelligence. You can see they often overlap and enhance leadership qualities.

Self-awareness: Understanding one’s own emotions, strengths, and weaknesses.
Self-regulation: Managing emotions, impulses, and behaviors.
Social awareness: Understanding the emotions and perspectives of others.
Relationship management: Building and maintaining healthy relationships.
Empathy: Understanding and sharing the feelings of others.
Communication: Effectively conveying information and ideas.
Active listening: Paying close attention to what others are saying.
Conflict resolution: Addressing disagreements constructively.
Adaptability: Adjusting to new situations and people.
Perseverance: Maintaining effort and focus despite challenges

Spiritual intelligence is an ability to access higher meanings, values, abiding purposes, and unconscious aspects of the self and to embed these meanings, values, and purposes in living richer and more creative lives.

Spiritual Intelligence and Spiritual Leader Development are fostered by 12 principles:

Self-Awareness: Knowing what I believe in and value and what deeply motivates me.
Spontaneity: Living in and being responsive to the moment.
Being Vision- and Value-Led: Acting from principles and deep beliefs and living accordingly.
Holism: Seeing larger patterns, relationships, and connections; having a sense of belonging.
Compassion: Having the quality of “feeling with -co“
Celebration of Diversity: Valuing other people for their differences, not despite them.
Field Independence: Standing against the crowd and having one’s own convictions.
Humility: Having the sense of being a player in a larger drama, of one’s true place in the world.
Increasing tendency to ask the fundamental why questions: Needing to understand things and get to the bottom of them.
Ability to Reframe: Standing back from a situation or problem and seeing the bigger picture; seeing problems in a wider context.
Positive Use of Adversity: Learning and growing from mistakes, setbacks, and suffering.
Sense of Vocation: Feeling called upon to serve, to give something back.