Lockdown Leaders: A journey to Conscious Leadership

Back in April 2020, when everything was uncertain, I invited a group of SaaS Leaders and high achievers to join a 90day group and individual coaching experience to support them in this period of adaptation. What they all had in common? They all had something in coming they were ready to step into the unknown to transform to come out of this turbulent time winning. 

“Your ‘I CAN’ is greater than your IQ’ – Robin Sharma

This group of 7, was open and ready to change. During this experience they were honest with themselves and anticipated the negative side effects which was getting in their way to turn this negative experience into a positive.  It was a privilege to witness such transformations. I saw them all grow their confidence in believing they could change to the point where big mindset shifts happened.

This article is about how you can execute behavioural or developmental change. All you need are:

• BELIEVE - Believe change is possible
• DECIDE - A strong intention
• COMMIT - Commit to putting the effort in 
• SUCCEED - Surround yourself with the right support to help 

1. Believe change is possible – Believe  

The biggest thing which gets in people’s way is the belief that they can’t change: that they have always been this way, and they always will. This is the Chimp brain protecting itself from change. Your Chimp brain would rather keep dysfunctional behaviour which are known that adopt something new which will serve you better! Our belief limit our reality. When you change what you believe, you change your reality. Simple to say, hard to do! 

2. Have a strong intention - Decide 

As Simon Sinek reminds us, START WITH WHY. Connecting to why we want to make a change will fuel your motivation to work through the discomfort of stepping out your comfort zone. Usually clients have an idea of the behaviour they want to stop, but they rarely connect it to the higher purpose of solving the problem. 

In my first coaching sessions, we go deep into the WHY whether it is individual or groups, the purpose of the change is key to power a transformation.

3. Put the effort in - Commit 

We all know this. Without putting the effort in, we won’t succeed. In coaching, the effort is mostly linked to showing up with an open and curious mindset and trusting the process. By honouring the group sessions, and 121s regularl, the work took place gradually. As one of my clients said, I felt like nothing was shifting, until I tackled a problem with the team in a completely different way without realising. Once we shift our mindset, we don’t go back. We can’t forget new self-awareness. 

The work and transformation in happen in the sessions and is assimilated in between. The biggest effort is to commit to invest the financial and time resources needed and to show up.  That’s it. The rest is simply a question of trusting the process. 

4. Surround yourself with the right people - Succeed

To trust the process, you need to trust the person leading it. Without building a trusted relationship, no transformation can take place. This happens on many fronts; we usually tend to choose our coach for sub-conscious reasons. Different coaches can be appropriate at different parts of our development.  

The main criteria to look for, and one I pride myself on, despite constantly working on improving this, is the capacity to create a safe and non-judgemental space to support and challenge my clients to try something new and become comfortable with the uncomfortable. This is when long lasting learning takes place. 

In Summary 

This initiative took these leaders and I on a journey of self-discovery. They discovered they were capable of much greater things than they had imagined, and thrived during a time of crisis.  I learnt that the transformational work I have done on myself is passed onto clients who seek it. It has made my practice high impact and transformational which was a discovery because prior to lock down I focused on high performance coaching. People were less open to sharing about their well-being. The good side of the pandemic is that it has brought mental healthy and well-being to the surface and highlighted its importance to all. 

Watch these Leaders describe their journey on how they became Conscious Leaders and now make better choices for themselves, their teams and their lives overall.