Have you ever struggled with creating change in your organization?
Have you ever felt sucked into the drama and chaos of a toxic work environment?
And what about your own leadership? Would you like to have a more positive influence on your team—and with everyone else up and down the org chart?
Then you need to develop skill with navigating the roadblocks in your path. That means more focus on your intentions, your energy, and your presence.
Anese Cavanaugh can help. Her book is Contagious You: Unlock Your Power to Influence, Lead, and Create the Impact You Want. A leadership and collaboration advisor, Cavanaugh writes regularly for Inc.com.
In warning people about the dangers of our frenetic-paced, easy burnout world, Cavanaugh offers a simple approach: “check yourself before you wreck yourself.”
The first step is two steps that happen at the same time: breath and awareness.
“As simple as this may sound, breath is the key to awareness and awareness is the key to breath,” she says. “They work together. I find that 70% of this work is in our awareness. The other 30% is what we do with it. The moment we are aware of our breath, our presence, how we’re showing up, and where we are—we’re at choice. Being at choice means we have power to shift versus being victim to our circumstances.”
In a nutshell, exactly what does “contagious” mean in the context of leadership impact?
“We are all contagious,” Cavanaugh says. “We can spread our energy and attitudes (for good or bad) to each other like we can spread a cold. And we catch them from others as well. The energy I bring into the room as a leader will be felt by others, and it will either create more positive energy, ‘expansion,’ safety, inspiration, and collaboration in the room, or it will create negative energy, ‘contraction,’ carefulness, and isolation. Just think of the last time you were feeling good and encountered someone in a bad state who’s ‘vibe’ was palpable. If you didn’t ‘hold your state,’ it’s very possible you felt your own energy or outlook drop.”
Cavanaugh says leaders set the tone by how they show up and the intentions, energy, and presence they bring into the room and with everyone they meet. How they’re contagious and what they decide to catch or take on from others is a choice.
So, what kind of questions should people ask themselves if they’re not having the leadership influence they wish to have?
Cavanaugh suggests these five:
- Am I having the impact I want to have?
- Do I feel the way I want to feel?
- Do people follow me (and work with me) because they have to or because they want to?
- Am I living and leading in alignment with my core values?
- What kind of culture am I personally creating?
She says these five questions can help increase awareness and the potential for “authorship” (taking full response-ability for where the leader is and then authoring next steps differently as needed). Once you have this awareness, you can lead more effectively.
Dr. Rodger Dean Duncan is the award-winning, bestselling author of CHANGE-friendly LEADERSHIP: How to Transform Good Intentions into Great Performance. For a FREE copy of his book, click here.
