Trusting Ourselves in Order to Invoke Trust In Others

I’ve been having some interesting conversations with my clients lately on ‘Trust’ and how they can build trust in their teams when they don’t see each other regularly and they aren’t within each other’s eyeline every day. The dilemma of ‘I don’t know necessarily know what they’re doing’ sometimes comes with the hidden missing piece of the sentence being…..’ALL day long’! 

 

This article was planned to be a very practical outline of how we can build trust within our teams which of course is hugely important. However, when I delved a little deeper, into what was truly emerging for me, as I interact with clients and support them during this truly transformational time, is how we as leaders, trust ourselves. Many of my conversations at the moment, are centring around the hope that things will be different when we finally transition out of Covid 19 and a desire to enter into a more regenerative way of operating as leaders. A move away from the old way of doing things and the need to genuinely resource themselves as the leaders they aspire to be. And………. I wonder do we know how to trust ourselves and get comfortable with that inner wisdom, that ancient intelligence of intuition and inner knowing. What I like to call our ‘inner compass’? 

 

One of the core aspects that they’ve share with me is the growing awareness between mental health and spiritual energy. Some are struggling with the need to be ‘always on’ and the energy sapping phenomenon that is ‘Zoomitis’ (despite its huge connectivity benefits…….) Before some of you yell ‘Taxi’! when I mention both of those concepts, mental health and more particularly spiritual energy, stick with me briefly…….. For some leaders there are strong cultural links with spirituality or spiritual energy and religion. They choose to follow that particular path. However, for myself and many other, it holds a different resonance. It’s the ability to go within ourselves, to reflect, to trust our intuition and to tap into ancient wisdoms. This ability to trust our inner intelligence and understand subtle internal messages as a human, is a core aspect of both leadership and mental health. Building this inner intelligence and flexing this muscle is for many about building a fundamental relationship with themselves and ensuring that they resource themselves in terms that are meaningful for them. That can be the natural environment, meditating, reading, reflective practices such as Tai Chi or indeed the simple act of practicing gratitude. All require a slowing down and a going within. The nature of building a spiritual practice is unique to each individual but I believe, absolutely necessary in both sustaining mental health and resilience as a leader. If we are not in touch with ourselves and clear around what fulfils us, what resources us, what energises us, it is very difficult to trust ourselves and understand what nourishes and sustains us. Yet we somehow deny this important aspect of ourselves in a bid to do, do do…………..our mental energy suffers, our resilience is impacted and we become a lesser version of ourselves. We need to ask ourselves what do I need to do to move to a regenerative mindset as a leader? What increases my mental and spiritual energy and how do I build habits around inviting more of this into my life? With this knowledge, I can live the life I want to live rather than living into other’s expectations of me. How do I trust and lead myself, before I can trust and lead others? 

 

The next stage of human development is not going to rely on restoring our lifestyle to where it was both from an economic, social or environmental perspective but from a regenerative mindset. A mindset that understands we need to evolve as leaders and ensure that when we show up with the expectation that others will choose to be led by us, that we show up as our fully authentic self. This means paying attention to all parts of ourselves – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Imagine being able to express all aspects of yourself, your true self with no separation between work and home life, (which is linked to the old paradigm)?. If we truly felt we could bring our authentic self to the workplace, with one flowing into the other, with all our creativity, imagination and resourcefulness coming into play. Being fully aligned within ourselves and trusting our inner knowing, built on healthy spiritual practices and the ability to tap into this powerful side of humanity…………. 

 

Stepping into this arena of Leadership for the New Humanity takes courage and bravery and the ability to understand how you want to show up as a leader, as your full and resonant self, rather than others expectations of you. Acknowledging that the spiritual side of who we are needs to be balanced with other parts of who we are, makes for powerful leadership modelling. We have become so used to expectations around ‘buttoned up’, metric driven, emotionally distant leadership that it has become the norm. Yet when we come across those who are emotionally available, confident in their inner wisdom and willing to say ‘I don’t have the answers to everything, and I sometimes struggle, but I’m trying to trust myself in a different way’ they are so compelling. That leader is open to showing up differently and revealing themselves to the world and guess what….we trust them!! 

 

If we don’t trust and lead ourselves, it is very difficult to trust and lead others………………… 

Inner Compass is a learning and development company specialising in organisational development, and transformational change for teams, leaders and individuals. To find out more about Orla Scott and Inner Compass Click Here.