 This week Twitter's founder Jack Dorsey resigned and passed leadership over to Parag Agrawal, who has been with the company since 2011.
Now, I'll be honest. I don't know the whole story. And, to be fair, I don't spend much time on Twitter or following how the tech giants run their businesses. So, suffice it to say that I will make some assumptions here. Assumption # 1: Jack knew he wouldn't be around forever and needed someone to take over the helm. Assumption # 2: Parag has been learning and growing since he's been with Twitter. Assumption # 3: Jack and Parag had more than one conversation about Parag's potential and possibly taking over someday. Assumption # 4: Jack has provided growth opportunities, invested in his development, and spent time mentoring and coaching Parag. Are you picking up how this pattern might be similar to yours? While you may not be ready to walk away anytime soon, there will be some point where you are ready to pass over the oars. How do you create that succession plan with an employee you trust and who is ready to pick up your duties? You grow them You develop them You mentor them You coach them You see the potential in them and uncover it day by day. Your job as a leader is to grow yourself so that you can grow your team. When you continue to grow your strengths and skills and reach your potential, you can help the individuals on your team reach their potential step by step. Then, you'll also help them to see their next-level potential and begin to take steps to get there. Let's talk about how you can help your employee grow, develop and reach their potential. How to grow your nonprofit employee When we think about children's growth, we often plot their physical growth on the growth charts. While physical growth is part of it inside, children are also maturing. It's that maturation process that I want you to think about with your employees.
TIP: Get them to start thinking about what's important to them and why. That creates the inner desire to grow and learn and keep them connected to a sense of purpose rather than just a warm body in the role! RESOURCE: To help you get clearer on what's important to you, check out these resources:
How to develop your nonprofit employee When you develop your employees, you are helping them learn the skills, talents, and knowledge necessary for your sector. Mandatory training comes into this area, but not only that. I also want you to think about how to help the employees stretch their knowledge and skill bank beyond their current role.
TIP: Ask your employees one thing they would love to learn that isn't on the must-learn list. RESOURCES: COURSE: Staff Supervision That Transforms How to mentor your nonprofit employee Mentoring is passing your knowledge and expertise onto your employee. You've been through a lot and have figured things out along the way. But, far too often, that knowledge is tucked inside of you and never shared.
TIP: Give your employees time to pick your brain? RESOURCES: To help your employees learn leadership skills, tell them what books to read. You'll find my favourite leadership books here. How to coach your nonprofit employee When you are mentoring, you're transferring your knowledge to others; however, coaching is different. Rather than imparting your knowledge and wisdom to them, in coaching, you are helping them to pull out their inner knowledge and insight. By asking your employees coaching questions, you help them uncover what they already know and apply it to current challenges. In this way, you build their confidence, their ability to think for themselves and help them step into their potential TIP: Learn how to ask powerful coaching questions RESOURCES: To learn how to coach your employees check out these two resources
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 As a nonprofit leader, If you've got a problem employee, you want to fix them. That's human nature.
Angela was my problem employee. She drove me nuts! My frustration with her created a lot of angst inside of me and spilled out onto my team. When I started coach training, I wanted to use coaching Angela to fix her. But what I learned is coaching isn't about fixing people. Instead, it's to take what's already right with them, their strengths, their potential etc. and help them see that. And to do that, coach someone; they have to be open to it. Angela was not. With Angela, I needed to have a performance or corrective conversation. I needed to review expectations, do a bit of training and then hold her accountable to do the role she was hired to do. But Cynthia was a whole different story. Cynthia was eager to learn, interested in growing and always seeking feedback. She wasn't lacking in her performance. She was ready for the next level! And so, I chose to practice my coaching skills with Cynthia! The difference between a corrective and a coaching conversation is this:
How to coach your employee - 3 steps Before I could have a coaching conversation with Cynthia, I had to do a couple of things. First, I had to think about and identify her strengths and consider her potential and how she could grow into that. Then I had to help her see that as well. I had to point her in the direction, or maybe just open her eyes to what she already knew. After that, it was time to use powerful coaching questions. How to use coaching skills. Before I go any further, let me say this as a coach. To get to where I am, I have taken a ton of training and practised lots! There are many skills involved in coaching, and asking questions is only one of them. But just like you ask your child what hurts as a doctor does, you can use some coaching skills to develop your employee. Learn how to ask powerful coaching questions That's where asking powerful coaching questions comes in. Learning how to ask those questions, what kinds of questions to ask, and when to ask them are part of understanding how to use coaching questions as a leader. Help to learn how to ask powerful coaching questions If you want to coach your employees, you need to learn how to ask powerful coaching questions. Michelle Maloy Dillon, a fellow coach, talks about how curiosity is your superpower when you ask powerful coaching questions in this week's podcast episode. From Michelle, you will learn what kind of questions to ask and a few no-nos that you'll want to stay away from. The 3 steps for coaching your nonprofit employee: To review, here are the three steps that you need to take into account when you start coaching your employees. Identify your employee's potential Communicate their potential to them, helping them see what's possible as they continue to grow and develop. Ask powerful coaching questions to help them determine how to grow into that potential. The impact of coaching on Cynthia Cynthia walked into the first coaching conversation a bit apprehensive. I was honest with her about practising some new skills with her. However, within moments of asking her a couple of the powerful coaching questions, I could sense a shift in her. Cynthia was sitting up taller, was engaged in the conversation, animated with her passion for the work. As I continued to use coaching questions in our conversations, Cynthia continued to grow. She remained engaged in the work, committed to the clients and the role and took over when I left the position! The impact of coaching on me as the leader I quickly learned using coaching skills with Cynthia that I did not need to fix her. I didn't need to have all of the answers either. Nor did I need to solve all the problems. Instead, I could ask the coaching questions and allow her to answer, letting her inner knowledge and wisdom emerge. It took a ton of pressure off me as a leader, and I began to enjoy my job more. Remember to tune in to this week's podcast episode to learn how you can use powerful coaching questions too! Extra help and ton's of ready to use questions If you want some extra help with this and are a member of the Training Library, you'll find a worksheet with three pages full of powerful coaching questions in this lesson. If you're not a member of the Training Library but are curious what it's all about, check it out here. Remember that you got to where you are because you are skilled at some part of the work you've been doing. Each of the pieces of training you have taken along the way has taught you skills. You can use those skills with your employees. Have you learned listening skills, conflict resolution skills, relationship building skills or team building activities? I know that we often think we don't have a lot of training to do our job, but sometimes we just have to be a little more curious about how we can apply what we already know! I think you already know how to ask questions. Tweak them a bit, and you'll find excellent results!  When I moved from peer to peer manager in my nonprofit, I didn't realize how hard it would be on friendships I'd developed over the past several years. Nor did I realize how hard it would be to create new boundaries as a new leader. But it was!
Women leaders struggle with past friendships. Sarah echoed that sentiment at a recent training I did. She'd moved from peer to team lead less than a year ago and was now needing to address performance issues with her friend, and she was dreading it!
You may be nodding your head right now, knowing full well what these ladies are talking about Even if you made it very many years ago, that transition still gets you in trouble if you have not created new relationship parameters with your friends. But research shows you should have a best friend at work. I want to start this conversation by asking you if you have a best friend at work. Gallup measures your response to that question as of the 12 questions it asks to measure engagement in the workplace. Gallup's research has found that women who strongly agree they have a best friend at work are more than twice as likely to be engaged (63%) compared with the women who say otherwise (29%). In their Women in America: Work and Life Well-Lived report, Gallup found that two-thirds of women say the social aspect of a job is a "major reason" why they work. So let yourself off the hook if you have friendships at work and crave friendships at work. It's normal and even, in my opinion, necessary. The key is those friendships need to be developed with different people as you move into leadership positions. And you need to re-define the relationships you have with friends previously. Friendships are different than being friendly. Rather than define the difference, let's look at synonyms because I think it points it out very clearly. Other words for a friend: chum, crony, confidant. Other words for friendly: kindly, cordial, helpful, receptive If you cringed at the first list, I know you know the difference! Friendships versus friendly examples It may be helpful to look at some examples now. Does going to someone's house after work mean you are friends or just being friendly? That depends. Is it just you, or only a few of the employees? Or is everyone on the team invited openly?
When is having a conversation with someone about a coworker appropriate for a leader/subordinate conversation? That depends. Who's behaviour are you focused on? Coworkers often vent and gossip about others in the workplace to find commonalities, create connections, and share struggles. The conversation between leaders and their subordinates focuses on the subordinate's behaviour with their peers. The leader often coaches them to be their best self.
So how do you move from being friends to creating some boundaries with your friendships? Here are 4 tips 1) Have an open and honest conversation with your friend that the relationship will or has changed. Acknowledging that the relationship has changed will lay the foundation for a stronger trusting relationship in the future. 2) Get clear on how the boundaries change for yourself. For example, Saturday night wine nights may not be an option now. Nor will the conversations about certain people on the team be appropriate anymore. So what is the line that you now need to draw? 3) Begin to state those boundaries overtly as well as model them. When conversations come up that are inappropriate for your newly structured relationships, steer the conversation in a different direction or clearly state that we can't be having these kinds of conversations anymore. 4) Most importantly, become very self-aware. Moving into new leadership positions will activate imposter syndrome, feelings of being not enough, and highlight your weaknesses. Additionally, you'll quickly learn where you lack competence and experience. All of this will trigger you when things are going on around you. It's often here where you revert to old ways with old friends. Instead, it's time to both build your self-confidence and your self-awareness. It's also vitally important now to create new friendships at new levels. Find others outside of the organization and build new relationships with them. Try to connect with peers at other organizations. You may also connect with peer students in leadership training sessions. Finally, find a trusted mentor or coach to work through challenges with who will hold confidentiality for you. Realigning relationships will help to strengthen relationships with everyone on the team. So rather than having special bonds with certain people and other people seeing favouritism, you'll be creating friendly relationships with everyone. One of the biggest challenges I hear from women I work with is that leadership is lonely. When you join The Training Library, you become part of a community of like-minded women growing their leadership! Learn more here.  How to increase your leadership competencies to meet your nonprofit goals with confidence
Leading your nonprofit organization to hit its targets and achieve its goals can be challenging! Have there been times lately where you wish for a bit more confidence as you run your nonprofit organization? Perhaps when you were going into a conversation, you wanted to feel a bit more sure of yourself. Maybe in a meeting, you hoped the nagging doubt would disappear. Or was it that you put off a project longer than you should have because you weren't quite sure how to tackle it. Lingering doubt, fear and hesitation are all signs of lacking confidence. To feel confident, though, you first need to feel competent. But, do you often wonder what you need to be skilled at? Furthermore, do you wonder how to develop those skills to increase your confidence? Are you at a loss of what competencies you need to learn? Developing competencies to achieve results is critical, but do you often wonder what you need to be skilled at? Furthermore, do you wonder how to develop those skills to increase your confidence? You aren't alone. Many women leaders come into their nonprofit leadership roles not knowing precisely what they need to learn and grow. This often leaves them, and perhaps you, feeling incompetent, anxious and struggling with imposter syndrome. You've probably learned the basics of leadership. You sometimes learn the basic tools and skills you need to do your job, such as using Excel, Zoom, and filling out a performance appraisal. However, many of the more subtle competencies of leadership you may never have had the chance to learn. For example, I remember hearing the term servant leadership but was never taught what that was, how to be a servant leader, and why I might want to. But leadership requires a whole new set of skills, including how to meet goals. Beyond goal setting and meeting targets, consider these examples of leadership competencies you may not have been taught.
Those are all skills that lead to the competencies that make you an effective leader, and without them, you may have noticed you feel incompetent at times and struggle with your lack of confidence. How to learn the key leadership skills This week I've been teaching my students how to develop the competency of systems awareness. Being skilled in systems awareness allows you to see the bigger picture, connect the dots, and ensure your work is related to your bigger purpose, thus leading to feeling like you are doing meaningful work. I thought you might like to have a peek at the lessons
There are 5 essential leadership competencies for nonprofit leaders Each week I'm adding more to the Library to help YOU gain all of the skills I spoke about in the podcast: Episode # 62 - The 5 leadership competencies you need now for impactful nonprofit leadership. For your reference, those competencies are:
Listen to the Podcast This week, I dived deeper into the competency of achieving results. You can find that episode here: Episode # 64 - How to get results in your nonprofit. With all of these competencies, I'm teaching you, the way to learn them is to do the inner work. You need to be self-reflective. That's why I always give exercises and worksheets to my students. There is no cookie-cutter way to think strategically, no best time and no mandatory topic. You need to find your way in your nonprofit leadership journey. As you learn more about yourself via the introspective work, you'll find that perhaps you like to journal or meditate. Others will go for a walk to think strategically. I had a client yesterday tell me that when she drives home, she shuts off the radio and lets everything settle in her mind. That's often when she connects the dots between things in her day and her role. If you'd like to dive into the exercises inside of The Training Library to grow your leadership competencies, you will find your access to a 14-day free trial here. But, if it's not for you, you can end your membership before you pay a dime! The bottom line to become a confident leader is two-fold. First, where you lack confidence now is often an area where you've received no guidance, training or mentoring. Therefore you lack competence. So until you increase your competence, it will be hard to build your confidence. Second, the types of skills, competencies and mastery you desire as a leader are different. To gain these require an inner knowledge and aptitude that comes only with self-reflection. Do the inner work! It's worth it!  Do you struggle with anxiety?
I do. Not diagnosed anxiety but every day, I struggle with anxious thoughts. And I often feel anxious. We probably all do! Anxious thoughts like worrying, fretting or wondering if things will go the way we want are "normal." However, when these thoughts take over, we may feel nervous, jittery or uptight and struggle to do what we need to do. Sound familiar? Karen struggled with anxious thoughts too! When Karen came to me for coaching, she struggled with overthinking pretty much everything in her day. Her mind would swirl with anxious thoughts:
Anxious thoughts turn to physical problems Sadly, these anxious thoughts were manifesting physically in Karen's body! You've probably felt that happen to you too — tension in your shoulders, headaches, tightening in your chest etc. We get ourselves wound up tight as a top! You're in a painful cycle Anxious thoughts make us pull in physically. Feeling strain and stress in your body leaves your mind jittery and has you switching from email to text to the document you were working on, back to email again. Then you are heading down the hall (or into chat) to check with someone about something. And, often that "something" could have waited! This is not helping your productivity The problem with this muddled mess is that you have a lot to do! So going round and round in circles is not helping you. When Karen realized her anxious thoughts were causing her to feel less productive and consequently less confident and capable, she realized it was time to get control of her thoughts. How do I do that? She asked! I suggested Karen use the magic pill that I use When my thoughts start to pull me in multiple directions at once, make me feel scattered, or create doubt, fear and anxiety in me, I tell myself back away from the computer! Then, I sit down and take a few deep breaths. That chair you've seen behind me in videos is the chair I use. When I am deep breathing, I activate my parasympathetic nervous system and get grounded. Karen finds this moment extremely helpful Karen put the technique to the test and told me that she could feel her body relax when taking several deep breaths. Karen finds this mindfulness activity activating her parasympathetic nervous system. As a result, she is so happy she can regain control of her thoughts and thus her focus. Why this works The opposite of your parasympathetic nervous system is your sympathetic nervous system, better known as fight, flight or freeze mode. The way I think of this is that your sympathetic nervous system has sympathy for our "tough situations." Our body thinks it will help us by
Why it makes you a better leader Unfortunately, those sympathetic responses are not so helpful in leadership. Instead, we need to calm our bodies down by taking deep breaths, thus triggering our parasympathetic nervous system. This calmer state allows us to activate our critical thinking abilities, think strategically and have perspective. It also arouses empathy, compassion and caring, all essential in developing strong working relationships. I think of this like an Archer ready to pull her arrow back. If she's shaking, she's not going to hit the target. But if she can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, she can become laser-focused on what matters most, which is what you need to do to achieve your mission and have a strong team culture to do just that. How to do this Although we know that taking "3 deep breathes" helps, you may not be doing it in the most effective way to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, thus making you a better and calmer leader. To learn how to breathe in a way that activates the system, check out the Webinar Breath Magic: Breathe your way to being a calm, composed and in control leader! I know this sounds like a soft skill. I suppose it is. Yet, this soft skill will give you the capacity to have the courage to do the hard stuff! Try it, and let me know how it works!  Staff meetings can be draining. They can be for you and everyone involved. By the end of the staff meeting, many people feel depleted and just ready for it to be over. Ending a meeting with a low vibe is not a good thing! How not to end a staff meeting While ending a meeting on time is important, let me first describe three ways not to finish a staff meeting
Tips to make meetings better You can do many things to have staff meetings be more efficient and energizing instead of energy-draining.
Getting the work done At some point, you need to get some business done. Your team is likely working on projects. Changes are happening. You are also dealing with the next steps of decisions that have been made. Moving forward is critical. 3 things to end the meeting with
To ensure things are moving along, always and your meetings with three summarizing points written down: Who said they would do what by when? WHO WHAT WHEN Then make sure that summary comes back to the next meeting for accountability's sake to see where things stand. That list should be a review item of the next meeting. What did get done, what didn't and what still needs dealing with? Having that check-in will make your meetings more productive. TIP: If it feels like everything falls on you, then something is not right. You are the leader but not the almighty doer. Delegating, building collaboration and developing upcoming leaders are things you need to be working on to cultivate a strong team, a thriving culture and for your own sanity!
The 1 BIG thing to do at the end of the meeting But there's one more thing you need to do before you end the meeting. How are you and the meeting will dictate what people say about how the meeting went. It's what they leave with that they remember most. The FINAL thing you need to end the meeting with is specific appreciation. Don't be general! I am not talking about general comments like these: Thanks, everyone, for doing your part! I know we're going through tough times.
I appreciate everyone doing their best
Belinda, good job on the proposal last week.
The key to being specific is to be specific! Try comments that are more specific like these ones I appreciate working together to ensure we saw as many of our clients as possible this past week. We were up 10%
Jessica, thank you for helping me pull the data together for the application last week.
Denver, I can see that you are working to create fun experiences for your clients, like visiting the corn maze. It's great to see you being so creative and including your coworkers and their clients too.
Why is this ending important? There are two reasons why ending staff meetings with appreciation is important. 1) Appreciation and recognition create engagement. Gallup has identified that when we receive regular recognition, we are more engaged at work. And by regular, they are talking once a week!!!! 2) It creates good mojo When you feel appreciated, you get a hit of dopamine which makes you feel good! That lifts your mood, your spirits and your energy. Leaving a meeting with a good vibe brings energy and positivity to the rest of your day, your team's day and thus to those around you. That's a good thing! Staff meetings CAN be reenergizing. The way to do that is to be a bit more strategic about your energy, especially at the end of the meeting.  Do you wish you had more time or energy? Or perhaps both?
I've been talking to several clients lately who are struggling to fit everything into their days, and they are finding it draining. Yet the truth is, if we look at the slots in our calendar and match that up with our to-do list, we will never fit it all in. There's just no way. Focus on energy rather than time But instead, if we look at our energy levels and what's draining and boosting our energy, we may find some hope. We all start each day with a battery level of energy. Sometimes our batteries are full. Sometimes not so much. Some things happen in our day that drains our battery. Other things boost our power back up. Consider these examples Nancy told me about a meeting she attended that sucked the life out of her! But, Nancy also talked about a meeting she attended where she felt very excited for the next steps when she left. Olivia finds her one-to-one conversation with one employee draining, and her conversation with another employee tends to lift her up. What's the difference between one meeting to another? Or from one relationship to the other? Why is it that one drains us and the other boosts us? There are a lot of factors! However, many of us believe we can't control the factors when in truth is we can control some of them. Here's how they've regained energy For example, Rebecca knows that if she's had a draining meeting, she needs to make sure she schedules some buffer time to recharge after. So she plans to go for a 15-minute walk after to increase her battery level. Anjali has realized that many of her employees find value in 20 minutes touch base meetings rather than a full hour and that it's less draining for both of them. They use an ongoing document for creating the agenda ahead of time. This document also allows them to cover as much content outside of those meetings as possible, such as program updates. As a result, the meetings are less draining and much more efficient! The 3 energy drainers and how to recharge What drains us falls into three main categories: People projects and problems. Below you'll find tips to help keep, maintain or recharge your energy level. PEOPLE While you can't get rid of everyone in your workspace that drives you nuts, you can change how you engage in a relationship with them. DO THIS: Consider which might work to shift the energy drain you experience from some relationships.
PROJECTS We often find projects very overwhelming, and many of them have time constraints around them. DO THIS: Break the projects down into smaller pieces, so you're not as overwhelmed. Rather than write the big project on your to-do list as one gigantic, overwhelming item, create tasks from the smaller project pieces. Seeing smaller parts makes a shift in your mind that engages you to get them done rather than pushing away. Time management guru David Allen reminds us that projects and tasks are different. Tasks belong on our to-do list. Projects belong on a weekly strategic review list. PROBLEMS Many problems are energy drainers because we spend so much time worrying, fretting, and wishing them away. It's like we have open tabs in our minds that continue to draw power and energy on us all day long! No wonder you feel drained physically, emotionally and mentally at the end of the day! DO THIS: Schedule time for strategic thinking. Taking time to intentionally do some critical thinking, weigh the evidence, and consider other perspectives helps you to make a decisive decision. One of my clients does this at her kitchen table, another on the run. A tip here is that we rarely do good strategic thinking with our hands on the mouse. It requires a different way of thinking, which happens in the shower, cutting vegetables or tending to the garden! So schedule that time in as WORK TIME!!!! I bet you'll feel reenergized, clearer and liberated from that stuck place you've been in! Put yourself back in control of your energy. First, be conscious of what drains you and how to regain your energy. Then, monitor it regularly and do what you need to keep your battery at a level that allows you to lead with impact AND have energy left for the rest of your life  I am deep into the Apple ecosystem, so I was a little alarmed when my newsfeeds showed me an Apple security issue. I immediately headed over to install the update that came out to deal with that security breach.
Do you do the same inside of you when something INSIDE of you needs updating? Your internal operating system may be at risk of being hijacked Here's the thing, knowing my devices may not run as I want them to, I updated things. But what about me? Will I run smoothly without being hijacked when new responsibilities, roles and experiences enter into my daily experience? Will you?
This is what your internal operating system is: Your internal operating system is what makes you, you. In Scaling Leadership, the authors describe your internal operating system as
What happens for most leaders, though, is that they continue to expand their responsibilities, roles and expectations of how they are doing things... but they never upgrade their internal operating system. Most leaders neglect their internal operating system Let's take the Covid world for a moment. Two years ago, we were not supervising staff via virtual conversations. To make the switch, your organization likely installed systems on your computers, updated the microphones and equipped you with a webcam. You've probably figured out a strategy for sharing virtual call links, agendas and how to share screens.
This Executive Director is learning to do updates When I was talking with Phoebe yesterday, she spoke of a difficult conversation she was having with a client. I asked her if her screen was off or on. Phoebe smirked and shook her head no. She is reluctant ever to turn on her screen. I reminded Phoebe that it's important to read what's happening for the other person during a difficult conversation. I suggested to Phoebe that having cameras off or on is not a switch. Instead, it's a dial. So perhaps we don't start with cameras on. However, when you have really learned to tune into your internal operating system, you can sense when something is off, a bit more sensitive, or there is a need to connect deeper. When that happens, your internal operating system is guiding you to have the courage to say, "Hey can we turn the cameras on for a few minutes." But that takes awareness inside you to know what you're sensing, what you're feeling and perhaps what the other person is experiencing. You didn't necessarily need that skill two years ago in the same way that you do today with virtual calls. Then, you could read into someone's body language when you were sitting across the desk from them. Now you need an upgrade on your internal operating system. How to update your internal operating system Here are the steps to update your internal operating system so you can lead your nonprofit with effectiveness. 1) ASSESS Look at your inner world and see which parts are working well and which need upgrades. Take time to examine:
I strongly suggest writing these down.
2) SHOP AROUND Not all updates are the same. If your current assumptions are getting you into trouble or you are being triggered by someone regularly, assuming someone else needs to change is probably not going to work for you anymore.
3) UPDATE Do the inner work to grow your level of awareness and emotional intelligence. Take time to examine your thoughts, beliefs and assumptions regularly. Choose new mental models. What got you here in your leadership will not get you to the next level of leadership you desire. So it's time for an update! It's also time to commit to regular updates. Finally, you need to put personal and professional development into your routine. Ongoing personal and professional development is your path to success in both leadership and life! Help to update your INTERNAL operating system If you need help to update your internal operating system, I strongly encourage you to find someone who can support you on this journey. ► In this article, you'll learn how to hire the best coach for you. I provide some questions you can ask a potential coach to ensure you are finding a good fit! Remember, as your organization grows, the world evolves, and the sector swings back and forth; you too must grow. So don't neglect your internal growth. Commit to ongoing personal and professional development, and you'll thrive in both leadership and life!  There are a lot of nonprofit personal and professional development courses out there. But are you taking advantage of them?
Many nonprofit leaders put courses, webinars and training on the back burner and never get back to them. In this article, you'll learn how to shift your mindset and get you back on track with your professional development. Here's the thing, how many of these or similar comments have you made lately?
If those comments sound familiar or all too true, you aren't alone! AND, they are not just signs of living in survival mode, but warning signs of burnout! Do you know the signs of impending burnout? Feeling run down and drained physically and emotionally, irritated with life, a sense that you aren't getting anywhere are all indicators of burnout. But before burnout is often long periods of survival mode. The majority of women leaders that work with me say they've been in survival mode for much of their career. Ugh! That is NOT how we want to live and lead! How are you doing? Start by looking back at yesterday. Were you thriving throughout your day, or did you spend much of your day in survival mode? Grab this worksheet and then consider over the last week, how much of your time were you just getting by, going through the motions, grinding away at your days., thus in survival mode? Now, if I asked you where you want to be by mid-November, what would you say? Do you have hope that it can be different? Do you believe that you can get to thriving? I then asked you these three questions, how would you answer?
Here's why those questions are important ⬇️ Understanding how hope works Research has shown that those that are thriving feel hopeful. Hope is made up of three components: First, hope is the belief that tomorrow will be better than today.
Second, hope is an expectation that it's possible that you can reach that goal. You need to have the confidence that you can get there. Remember, confidence starts with competence.
Third, do you have a plan of how you're going to do that?
Having hope will change your daily experience! When you have all of those three components of hope, belief, expectancy, and pathways, there's a better chance you're going to be regularly thriving by mid-November. At the end of the day, what you need is to create your plan! How will you get there? Learn the steps to create your plan In this week's podcast, I break down planning for your personal, professional development this fall. That's not what sector-related skill you're going to learn this fall, necessarily. But how are you going to grow and develop as an individual and as a leader? What will you do to do that, and when will you put that into your calendar. The next question is how you're going to create that plan, and my guess is you might need a little bit of help with that. Get help to create your plan! In The Training Library, my membership site, I have a course to help you create your plan. When you join, you'll get immediate access to the Webinar Create Your Quarterly Goal Setting & Planning Strategy as well as every single other webinar and course to help you thrive in leadership. This is what your peers created: Below you'll find components of two of my student's plans that they have created after completing the webinar Create Your Quarterly Goal Setting & Planning Strategy. Sasha's plan for thriving included:
Becca got serious on her plan, with lots of details!
It's your turn! If you want to really create your sense of hope that things will be different by the end of the year for you, start with envisioning it, then cultivating the confidence to get there by developing your competency and finally creating a plan to do that.  You want to excel in leadership and make a big difference, but you feel like you spend more time chasing fires than moving to excellence. Therefore, you need a plan to ditch survival mode and move in the direction of confident, composed and impactful leadership.
Let me tell you a story to help you create your plan! Eva came to a coaching call wanting support to be a better leader. She wanted to know where to begin. Eva knew that to be an excellent leader, it was important to her to be making a difference. She wondered if she should start with building her team? Eva was also a bit worried as she was aware that an excellent leader leads with integrity, and she'd received some feedback lately that suggested her team didn't trust her. On top of all of this, Eva's board was pushing her to grow in the sector. The lay of the land was changing rapidly, and the board was worried about the program's long-term sustainability. Eva needed to shore up her understanding of the political scope, new research and changes in reporting. Where do I start? Eva asked. It's so overwhelming! Catching courage! After acknowledging many leaders feel very overwhelmed (maybe you do too!) I encouraged Eva to pause and acknowledge her courage to ask for help and take steps to develop her leadership. It's tough to look hard at yourself and then do the work to develop areas. It takes courage, vulnerability, grit and time! Reaching out and asking for help is something many leaders resist. They think it implies weakness. So instead, I explained to Eva that it's a sign of incredible strength and confidence! Completing the Assessment Next, I explained to Eva that we would start by assessing leadership competencies to get a clearer sense of where to begin. When everything is muddled together, and we are in reactionary mode, we keep putting out fires. Slowing down and intentionally assessing skills and developmental areas helps clarify the underlying challenges, what strengths we need to shine a light on more and thus, and where to begin. As we know, it's essential to have a strong team. So I asked Eva some questions to help her look at her skills to identify where she may need to grow. Of course, you can do this too!
If any of those made you cringe or a bit anxious, perhaps those are areas to start. Eva knew she needed to look at how she was mentoring her team members. It was an area she felt she lagged in. As Eva identified her board wanted her to understand the sector better, we looked at the following questions. Again, you can answer these questions too.
To get a deeper understanding of where Eva landed, she and many of my students complete a full assessment from The Leadership Circle, which includes 360 feedback from their team, peers, boss, board and community. It's a very robust tool. You can try the free version where you assess yourself here. Eva's assessment came back with information that helped her narrow down what she needed to work on and how to do that. Just as she suspected, she needed to build mentoring relationships with her team to help them grow and develop. The assessment also pointed out how Eva's habit of being a perfectionist got in the way of her team feeling supported! Creating the Plan After we reviewed her assessment, the next step for Eva was to create a growth and development plan. Eva and again, many of my students develop a curriculum plan to go with their developmental goals. For example, Eva looked at how she would increase her skills in team building?
With her assessment complete and a plan in hand, Eva already felt more confident that she could not only handle all on her plate but do so with increased competence and composure. She knew that she was ready to build a team that trusted her and could adapt to changes to provide long-term client support. What's your next step? So many leaders rely on not so helpful performance appraisals that their organization does. Most of the time, it's really not helpful. It focuses on what the organization needs, not necessarily what you need. And for many leaders, this document is nonexistent! They can't remember the last time they received valuable feedback. For these reasons, I strongly encourage my students to get their own feedback and create their own plans from now on! An excellent leader takes into account all areas and continues to grow and develop in them. An excellent leader is self-aware. They take time to reflect, develop their emotional intelligence, do the work to integrate work, life and wellness and commits to ongoing personal and professional development. What are you doing to be that excellent leader? Start here Which of these do you need to work on?
Just like Eva, you'll increase your confidence and find that you are making a bigger difference when you have a plan and begin working on the plan. Do the inner work. It's worth it! If you need help to create your personalized curriculum for leadership development, start here. |
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Kathy ArcherWomen leaders often hit a point where they find themselves in over their heads and wondering if they have what it takes to lead. Archives
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