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Hey there, Maureen Cherna here, founder of the MindSight Academy, neurocoach to executives, leaders, entrepreneurs, and a neuroleadership trainer using insights from neuroscience to help you deliver results by learning to work smarter, be in control of your brain, manage yours and others' emotions, change behaviors, flourish and exceed expectations. Welcome back to another episode of Lead2 Excel Podcast. I am so thrilled to be with you today. But before we get into that, remember to subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to it. Because it will help other people find it and give them the opportunity to understand how they can rewire their own brain to enable them to achieve their goals. So without wasting any more time, grab your cup of coffee or your drink or whatever that might be, put your feet up and listen in. According to Confucius, there are three things that make a leader wise: reflection, imitation, and experience. And you cannot have imitation and experience without positive self-reflection. How often do you self-reflect? Once a year? Possibly in January of the year. When was the last time you really reflected on your career path? Have you thought of and planned out where you want to be next year? Have you identified your strengths, your areas of development, the limiting beliefs that have held you back? You see, in unfamiliar situations or when you need to make decisions quickly in response to external situations, you either retreat from challenges, stand still, afraid of stepping out of your comfort zone or taking actions in pursuit of the new opportunities that are in front of you. There may be times when you just can't get going, unsure of what to do. Or maybe you do know what to do, but it feels unpleasant or even unclear. So what do you do? Nothing. You procrastinate. Andrew Hobberman says they stay put, back up, or go forward. The question is, which do you find yourself doing a lot of? I often say to myself and to my clients that you must go through the wilderness to get clarification. And the wilderness can be dark, it can be lonely, but the best way out is through it. So it's important to take time out to think, reflect, and plan. And that's what we're going to be talking about today. The importance of self-reflection as a leader. The ongoing inflation is creating fears, so much fears around the world that a recession is looming. The UK are probably already in a recession due to higher energy prices, the conflict in Ukraine, Brexit, and the inflationary effect of industries reopening after COVID lockdowns, but the same can be said for so many other countries. This is now the time to strip away all the unwanted things in your personal lives as well as at work and focus on things that really matter. Personal reflection enables us to identify what is crucial for us and what may be done differently. Self-reflection is a humble but effective strategy that aids in performance improvement for leaders and everyone else. It makes you look critically at yourself, which is why many people don't do it or do it wrong. But it definitely helps to identify your true self and identify areas to focus on to enable you grow and develop in the coming year. To be prepared for uncertainties and changes as a leader, you must proactively guard yourself and your role at work, keeping your teams motivated and do what's needed to grab opportunities and be ready to deal with challenges. Henry David Thoreau says, Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. The power of thought is in the starting point. It's the originator of all ideas. You can change your life when you change the way you think. So, with that said, what are your goals right now? What are your long-term goals? What would you want to look back on with the greatest pride when you're old and your body slows down? What would you want to look back on at the end of next year with pride to say, wow, I did that? Okay, back to the present. As a leader or business owner, you've got to think strategically about what you want to achieve, what you would like your next role to be, what you want your business to look like. Keep your network robust and meaningful. Look for additional opportunities. Improve efficiency and organizational effectiveness by forging deeper relationships, deeper partnerships with cross-functional teams or collaborations with other entrepreneurs. On a personal level, which is where it must start from. Let's talk about identity. The new year is a time that many people look at changing jobs, roles, or focuses, and it's a psychological journey. Before you make any big decisions or start acting on goals, you need to take time to get clarity on your own identity. This is about knowing who you are, knowing what you want, and knowing what you need to do to get there. It's about taking responsibility for your own development. Self-reflection is about looking inwards. Self-awareness and self-regulation, two aspects of emotional intelligence, are strengthened as a result of this. Because understanding your emotions, your strengths, your limitations, your passion, your goals and ambition, as well as their effects on the people that you're leading, is only made possible by self-awareness. Self-regulation, on the other hand, is your capacity to restrain or refocus your own emotions and impulses as well as adjust to shifting conditions. And we've seen where so many people, due to emotions, make the wrong decisions in their business, in public settings, and regret it after. If you want to know more about building or improving your emotional intelligence to help you be a more effective leader, or even as an organization, if you want to know how to get your leaders to be equipped, to be more effective, to be confident and build their emotional intelligence, I'll put the link below so that you can have a look at our training or program on emotional intelligence for leadership. It's a powerful one and one that will truly transform you as a leader or your leaders as an organization. Let's talk about mindset now. Make sure that yours and your team's 2023 goals and priorities are aligned with the CEO and the boards so that you can be your best and do your best to achieve the organization goals whilst fulfilling yours. And this is something I always say to leaders. A lot of times leaders are dishing out instructions. But what you've not taken time to do is to understand the values of the people that you're working with. Because if their values or priorities don't align with yours, you're not going to get the best out of them. And you can actually help with this alignment through effective communication, through leading with emotional intelligence, through paying attention to who your people are, through caring, through building trust. Many leaders have now realized that their effectiveness depends more on influence than authority. I have a lot of clients that manage projects, so they don't necessarily have direct reports. But they also still have to mobilize colleagues from other departments across the organization to work together and drive results. So you're still dealing with human beings, you're still dealing with brains. So it's important to connect with your people by spending time listening to them and understanding how they are wired, what matters to them. And you can only do this by understanding who you are first. Confidence is also vital for leaders because it facilitates decision making, influence building, and successful communication. Thinking and reflecting on your skills and how to improve on them will make you a more confident leader and individual. When you doubt yourself, your team will also start doubting you, and you will lose their trust and respect, which will have a detrimental impact on the team's productivity and effectiveness. If there's one constant in the world, it's change. And it can be scary because it can put our brain into threat mode, which keeps many people stuck in the status quo. You need to avoid frequent pitfalls in order to envision and investigate an alternative future for yourself. So let's look at some behaviors to avoid. Ruminating. And I've done a podcast on this, so you can have a look and go. We are going to more detail on ruminating. It's easy for your thoughts to wander and get and you get lost in your own head if you lack clarity. Personal and professional progress is achieved easier by doing rather than getting stuck on thinking and evaluating. And what happens is that they get stuck focusing on detail, focusing on perfectionism, and not actually doing anything, and finding out months later, years later that they've not really made any progress. While it's important to think things through before taking action, don't get stuck in action paralysis. Commit to personal development, invest in your own development, learn new skills, or make minor changes in your routine and spend time think about what you want your future goals to be and start putting things into action. I'll say this at this point that this is why it's so important for you as a leader or even as an organization to get your leaders proper training and also great coaching. If you find that you hesitate to make significant decisions, ask yourself why. Honestly consider the reasons behind your avoidance. It will be easier to take action once you've addressed the reason for procrastinating. It also enables you to know what thoughts need to be required so that you can create new pathways, new habits, and new behaviors. I am truly on a mission to transform leadership, one brain at a time, by rewiring the brains of one million leaders and emerging leaders to equip them to lead with the brain in mind. Because this will truly make a difference in the workplace, but also in people's personal lives. Because think about it, it's the same brain you use at home, the same brain you use at work. So whatever you learn from the workplace, it will translate into your own personal life as well. It's okay to ask for help. If you are the person that does not enjoy asking for help since you don't want to appear weak or incapable, so start by setting yourself goals to ask for help for minor things. That starts the rewiring process. And the more you do it, then it will become normal for you. If you see decision making as either right or incorrect, it will stifle your creativity because it will prevent you from learning, it will prevent you from progressing, and also being able to fulfill and see decisions being made. Challenge this mindset and view mistakes as an essential component of growth and progress. So let's look at some ways to help you upskill yourself and develop the ability to truly self-reflect and take appropriate actions. Your growth and progress can stall easily if you don't keep learning new skills. Here are some options. Create opportunities for growth and development for yourself and your teams. Coaching, learning, training. There are many ways to do this without using too much of your budget. It will keep you, but also keep your team positive and engaged while also helping to retain your talents. I've seen so many organizations appoint people into leadership positions with no training. I've also seen organizations that focus training on senior leaders and leave the deputies and supervisors out of the training. What do you think this does to their mindset? They might then feel that you don't feel that they're worth being invested on. It also doesn't make sense how someone can be promoted into a leadership or management role and expected to just learn on the job. They need training, they need coaching, and then all that will then be implemented on the job. So the training and coaching that they are getting, they'll be able to implement it while they're doing the role. But to suddenly expect them to be great with no training or coaching, it's I still find it so mind-blowing how you expect great results that way, or even expect them to stay, or expect them not to be stressed or burnt out. There are several online learning platforms now available that let you study at your own pace. And you can take a look at ours, which is the MindSight Academy, and the link is below. We've got great effective training that truly transforms leaders' performance and teams' performance. Stretch assignments are also really important to enable you to build more skills. Request work from a different division of your company so that you can learn new or more advanced skills and have a chance to prove your untapped abilities. As a leader, give people that you work with stretch assignments. I've had someone say to me, Oh, they overworked. How are you making that decision for them? This is where discussion becomes important. Find out what their goals are, what they want to do, and show them how the stretch assignments that you're giving them or projects will enable them to build the skills they need for their next role or their future goal. And I cannot over-emphasize the importance of coaching and mentoring. The ideal mentor can offer fresh insights into your shortcomings and suggestions for how to close them. So get yourself a coach, get yourself a mentor. Neurocoaching, which is what I specialize in, so it's brain-based coaching, and it's really helping people understand how what goes on in their brain impacts on their behavior. This can help you accomplish your professional goals frequently in half the time because this provides honest and objective feedback to you to help you acquire the skills that you need to move beyond your current limitations and self-doubt. Coaches can assist you to find a better path or simply advance from good to outstanding. Coaching is not just for struggling teams or helping you course correct. Many people feel that they just need a coach when things are difficult, when they are going through challenges. No, you need a coach all the time. Why? Because you're constantly changing, things are happening. So to help you process that and prevent you from going back into doing what is wired already in your subconscious brain, you need a coach to help you navigate through life. When no one knows who you are, it can be difficult to advance in your career. Yet, so many people are reluctant to speak out for themselves or even recognize their own accomplishments. I hear so many people say things like, my work will speak for itself. But unfortunately, that's not always true, especially for individuals who are more subdued or introverted. If you're not one to speak up and push for your own personal advancement, this is where I, as a coach or any coach you get, can help you develop the skills necessary to help you do this. Research shows the habit of reflection can separate extraordinary professionals from mediocre ones. And I'll finish by saying the choice is yours. The question is, what decision are you going to make? Are you going to start your own self-reflection journey? Are you going to get help? Are you going to upskill yourself? How do you want the next year to be for you? I wish you the very best in your professional and personal journeys. Okay, three things before we finish today. Have you subscribed to this podcast? If you haven't, make sure you click that subscribe button wherever you listen to this podcast. Because once you subscribe, you will not miss an episode. And as usual, if you have a topic you would love me to speak about or bring a guest on, do let me know by leaving a review. Finally, do have a fantastic week. And remember that you are limitless. So I look forward to seeing you in our next episode. Bye for now.