How To Use Introspection To Up Your Leadership Game

From Guest Author Linda Hyden 

Leadership is a people watching sport. We watch leaders, we read about leaders, we get excited about leaders, we tweet about leaders, we get disgusted with leaders and we follow leaders who share our values and beliefs about life. If people are watching you then it makes sense that you should watch you too. How long has it been since you took time to reflect on your true beliefs about leading people?

What do your beliefs about people have to do with your leadership success? Absolutely everything! Your deep seated, core beliefs about people define your every thought and action as a leader. Do you believe in the basic “good” in each person or do you think people are basically conniving and manipulative at heart? What you believe, deep down inside, is plastered all over your leadership approach. Don’t think that people don’t see your real motivation because they do. And they are watching.

Understanding your deep seated beliefs about people significantly impacts your ability to lead and more importantly to lead in a transformational way. People will follow leaders they respect and trust. People will follow leaders whose values system resonates with their own. People will follow leaders who believe in the basic goodness of the human being and lead accordingly.

To be a transformational leader you have to include a little introspection. Here is where it gets uncomfortable for some leaders. I mean, who really wants to take time out of their busy life to be still and reflect? Who has time for that? How will it benefit me? How long will it take? Will it hurt?

Introspection is one of the most underutilized leadership tools in our “tool boxes” today. Reflecting and gaining insight about our beliefs about people is a process, not a one time event. From times of reflection come those little “ah-ha” moments that can define who you are as a leader and how you will influence this world for the greater good. The more we know about ourselves, the more we understand about ourselves, the more power we have to influence and lead. Does introspection hurt? No, but for some it may feel uncomfortable at first. Don’t let that get in your way. Get started now honing your introspection leadership skill.

 Five Steps to Using Introspection to Strengthen Your Leadership Skills

1. Be intentional and make the time
   Developing leadership skills takes time and practice. Introspection is a leadership skill. Find a place that is quiet and where you won’t be disturbed. Start out with once a week and allocate fifteen minutes. Build the time and place for introspection into your weekly routine. Put it on your calendar.

2. Ask yourself the question
   

What do I really believe about people? This is the question to ask yourself as you begin to let your mind roam and you reflect on past leadership experiences, thoughts, beliefs, emotions, conversations, successes, conflicts, challenges and feelings. Be honest with yourself. What do you really believe about people? How do your past leadership decisions demonstrate your beliefs about people?

3. Learn how to reflect
   
   Think about introspection as having a heartto heart conversation with yourself. Let go of your to-do list for a few minutes, shut off the phone and take a deep breath. Let your mind wander as you think about past leadership experiences, thoughts, beliefs, emotions, conversations, successes, conflicts, challenges and feelings. As your mind moves from place to place consider the thoughts and memories you are having. How have your beliefs about people shaped your leadership style? What would you like to do differently? What would you like to do more or less of in the future?

   

   4. Stay focused

   Introspection is not rocket science. It does however take focus and practice. Think about staying focused as facilitating a group. The facilitator has to keep things on target and bring the conversations back to point. As you allow your mind to explore past leadership experiences, thoughts, beliefs, emotions, conversations, successes, conflicts, challenges and feelings don’t wander too far from the task. Stay focused on getting a better understanding of your core beliefs about leading people and how these beliefs influence your leadership style.

   Pick one of the following statements each time you start your introspection time to help you get focused. Say the statement to yourself a couple of times. Then let your mind start to roam. Be honest with yourself. What do you believe deep in your heart?

   1. People want to do a good job. They want challenging work and opportunities to learn and grow.
   2. People want to be listened to and they want to contribute. They want to understand that what they are doing is important to the organization.
   3. People want to be recognized for their deeds – through non-monetary and monetary means.
   4. People want to be involved. They want to belong and feel a part of something.
   5. People want to be trusted and treated fairly and they will respond with trust and fairness.5. Take action. Make introspection your strongest leadership skill

To capture the power of introspection and use it to catapult your leadership abilities from good to transformational you have to take action. Learn from your time of reflection. Learn about yourself and how you treat others. Learn what your actions tell other people about you. Think about how you lead and what you’d like to change. Capture those “ah-ha” moments and use them to strengthen your leadership ability.

Introspection in the Shower

I was consulting with the President of a prestigious community college whose goal was to build a strategic plan for a comprehensive cultural change initiative for the college. This was a man who was highly regarded locally and nationally, of high integrity, a leader of change, a believer in the good in people and passionate beyond words. We were in the middle of one of our usual deep dive discussions this time about the real value of people in this new college culture. I admit that I was pushing him a little. Saying words like…people are our most important asset or we value people first and foremost…sounds great but doesn’t make it so. Building a culture that really values and engages people is not easy. It does not magically happen. Frankly it takes guts on the part of the leaders.

The more we talked, the more exasperated he became. With his building frustration I sensed he was also on the verge of one of his “ah-ha” leadership moments. He said to me, “Linda, you are killing me! You always want me to be introspective. Don’t you know that people hate to be introspective? I hate to be introspective! I’m not good at it.”

There it was. He had articulated the underlying issue with which he struggled. He knew he needed to take some time to reflect and see if his words, beliefs and actions lined up. He knew this was critical to his success at leading this new cultural change initiative. He wanted to take action. Taking time for introspection didn’t seem like taking action. He was undervaluing the leadership power of introspection to the success of this cultural change initiative.

I said, “Introspection is taking action. It is an investment in strengthening your resolve. It gives you ammunition to respond to the naysayers and to clearly define how you will lead this cultural change. Without reflecting on where you’ve been, what has worked in the past and dreaming a little about the future you are at risk of repeating past mistakes as well as making new ones that are avoidable.”

I asked him, “Where do you think you do your best reflecting?” He paused. Then he grinned. “In the shower, I suppose. It’s one of the few times in my day that I’m by myself and no one is bothering me.”

Introspection can take place in the most unlikely places. Don’t limit yourself when you build time into your week to reflect.   The more we know about ourselves, the more we understand about ourselves, the more power we have to influence and lead.