We are now well into the new year and new decade, so let’s make this the one where you achieve the outcomes you desire. In previous blogs, I have been sharing the 10 Pillars to Effortless Leadership ™. And after discussion with my readers and clients, many seem to feel like they understand them all, however, they are unsure of what to actually do, in order to get effortless leadership.
Guess what… that’s OK and that’s exactly what you should feel and think. You may or may not know that we all must travel through 4 stages in order to become competent at anything. And then after that, mastery becomes a possibility. The four steps are (and I’ll just list them here, and will talk about them more in a future workshop);
• Unconscious Incompetence – You don’t know what you don’t know
• Conscious Incompetence – You know what you don’t know
• Conscious Competence – You know how to do it but have to think about it
• Unconscious Competence – You know how to do it without even thinking about it
Back to the 10 pillars, some of us may be at any of these 4 steps above. And some of us may be at different stages with each pillar. However, to become effortless, you need to be in stage 4 for each pillar. And even better, you would have been at stage 4 for a long time, and therefore you are at a mastery level! And what’s the hurry? This is a journey, not a race.
For example, many leaders are at mastery level when it comes to the Pillar of “knowledge”. Having the technical skills & knowledge in their job. For example, the General in an army has the technical know-how on how to read terrain, etc in order to develop a strategy of attack or defense. They would be a master at it. However, is that same General a master at the Pillar called “Bring in The Heart”? If not, then they will struggle to get the same results compared to the General that can get the troops behind them because they connect on a heart-felt level.
Some of you may read this and think “I don’t have time, or patience or the personality to master all these traits”. Well, let me assure you that you do and you must. Otherwise, your leadership efforts will always be much harder, more stressful and less fruitful. Which means you’ll love the hard-fought life everybody does. Instead, if you’d like to achieve immense success and happiness with relative ease, and become effortless, you have to master these traits. It’s not negotiable. And it’s not easy at the start but it is when you know-how! And guess what, this is what we are going to do together. Because remember pillar 9, this is what coaching and mentoring is for!
Now, the first step is to accept that you need to master each trait. The next step will be to break it down and focus. Because like any skill, you can’t master it just by doing it ALL at once. You have to break it down. For example, if you think about Tennis, to become a master in this field you have to be exceptional at serving, volleying, groundstrokes, smashes etc. And then there’s racquet knowledge, crowd management, emotional management, etc. Consequently, a great coach will have their player focus on one skill at a time, and then break that skill down into further micro-skills, and create drills to perfect those. Therefore, they look at the serve and perfect the toss, the backswing, the up-jump, the follow-through etc.
And that is precisely how getting great results in life and in business is done. It all becomes much more achievable when we break down what we have to do into smaller chunks, and focus on that chunk for a period of time. And then move on to the next. Be aware, the only rush you have is the choice you make to stay average. So make the choice to be great, and perfect each sub-skill. That is the single biggest secret to success.
As you can see, this blog ties into a video I posted in January about “what is your torch pointing at?” Because if you are shining a very wide beam, or your beam is jumping around from this to that, then you will struggle to make headway. However if your beam is narrower, almost laser-like, then you will have more success and forward momentum. And also be sure that your beam isn’t pointing backward because that makes getting ahead very arduous indeed!
Now, let’s make this happen. Let’s become effortless leaders. In order to do that we will turn these pillars into traits that you possess naturally. They won’t be an act or a performance, they will be you. And hence you will have the beliefs that will give you the attitude of an effortless leader. And when you get into that space, you will have a mindset that is heart-felt. Because that is effortless leadership, it’s a mindset that is heartfelt and results in attracting opportunity and growth everywhere. That is what teams follow!
So ask yourself, are you ready to become an amazing leader and influencer and enjoy success, wealth and happiness? If your answer is yes, then you will enjoy the next steps of working with me.
As of next month, I will begin to break down each pillar into sub-skills. And then from there we will build a framework of how to practice and implement those skills into your daily life and business routines. And we’ll do that through monthly blogs and videos. In addition, we will also be launching an online membership opportunity wherein you’ll be able to get more lessons on how to master effortless leadership. Once you achieve that, you will be able to lead teams and your organisation to the results you have always desired, whilst having some fun along the way!
