Published on July 10, 2021
I was asked a couple of days ago why I had not posted any stories of late. I felt the last couple of stories all had a negative context to them and I would prefer to write something positive.
Sounds simple, but when all the news you see and read has such a negative slant, how do you keep a positive mindset. Following on from these thoughts, I reflected on situations where I, as a leader, projected in a positive and negative way and how my behaviour impacted on others.
I have many stories where people spoke to me about the advantages of working in a positive environment and how positivity, encouragement and trust builds both a more productive workplace as well as individual feeling of being relaxed and happy once work was done.
What are the signs you have to indicate what you may be ‘projecting’ onto others, do you request regular feedback from people around you? I had a few really useful ‘tools’ which indicated my impact on others and thought I would share them;
Request feedback
I always had conversations with my ‘Boss’ and requested feedback, in particular, I mentioned positive feedback is nice and made me feel good but the valuable feedback was telling me where I was missing something or where I had to improve, saying this to others does not necessarily make it easy for others to give uncomfortable feedback, nor make it easy to hear, but it set up an environment where these conversations were ok to initiate.
I held small sessions of 20 minutes with any team members upon their request, where I would concentrate on listening and ask them who they were and what was important to them.
Setting expectations
I was fortunate to become an executive leader and on commencing, I wrote a document which was titled ‘Mal’s User Manual’ which I included sections on who I was, my style, what my values were, how to communicate with me, how to help me and what people misunderstand about me. I shared this with other leaders and Managers in the team and asked them to share further if they thought it would could help their teams.
Independent sounding board
Having an independent person was extremely important, having a coach and mentor outside the business who I felt was a great ‘fit’ for me helped me talk and receive feedback from a person not politically aligned to the business on a day to day basis, someone who could push my thinking and tease out alternatives turned out to be instrumental in me finding my feet and growing my confidence to perform in my role.
Reflection
You can never underestimate the power of personal reflection, give yourself the time and opportunity to review and reflect on yourself, decisions, behaviours and other indicators you have to be successful.
Please keep a positive mindset, look for opportunities, elicit feedback both positive and uncomfortable and in these times of physical isolation, video meetings and remote working make sure you remain socially connected to those that are important to you and look out for others who may just want someone to talk to.
Mal Connellan
Optimal Coaching and Mentoring