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Improving leadership performance often focuses on improving capabilities and behaviours.  This may range from impacting areas of interpersonal capability right through to technical areas such as the leader’s ability to read a balance sheet.

Typically when leaders are ready to take a significant step shift with their leadership, impacting behaviour will not be sustained if it occurs in isolation.  In order to get a significant step shift, and to sustain that shift, it is likely that the thinking and emotions that underpin behaviour need to be impacted.  As this occurs the improvements can be dramatic.

We all have beliefs and related emotions and where our behaviour is delivering the results we want, and not creating undue stress, we are quite happy to retain these.  Where our behaviour is compromised it is likely that we have limiting beliefs or conflicting emotions. Developing new behaviours and skills will often be required and often the breakthroughs will come from uncovering and shifting or learning ways to manage the related limiting beliefs and emotions.

Take a simple example where a leader is ready to develop new interpersonal skills around understanding what drives their people and how to tap into those individual motivators. If the leader believes all people should motivate themselves or if they feel overly nervous about asking searching questions of their people , then impacting that thinking and having them feel more comfortable are key to ensuring any new skills they develop will be utilised and therefore make a difference.

Performance = Capability – Interference 

The interference is what primarily occurs internally at a mental and emotional level and this interference can often be reduced quite quickly allowing you to perform at the level of your capability. Becoming aware of your interference and your ability to manage yourself is key to reducing interference.

Whatever you are doing to take your leadership to a new level, check your development is occurring at a mental and emotional level, and not just at a behavioural or skills level.

If motivation levels are flagging, despite your career success, you may need to examine some key questions.

Key Values and Priorities

When you as a leader are clear on your work values, you have a foundation for leadership that will allow you, your team and your organisation to benefit. Are you clear on your values and their priority? 

Take a little time to ask yourself the following:

• What is most important to me about my work, my career… what else… what else?
• How satisfied am I that these values are being met in my current role?

What to Consider

The values you uncover are key to your motivation and energy. Your work values will be unique and where these are satisfied in your role you will find yourself getting out of bed midweek with a spring in your step. High workloads and even high pressure will be manageable with little personal cost because your leadership and work is consistent with who you are. Where your values are not being met then this will often lead to high levels of stress and mean that your performance is compromised or not sustainable. Uncovering your values is interesting, finding ways to ensure you can deliver against these values in your leadership is essential for you as a person, for the team you lead and the organisation you work for.

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