Reigniting Your Leadership Mojo

“Renew your inspiration to run. Try a new route, find a fresh path and re-energise your reason to run.” – Unknown

For many of us the last few years have been BIG: Big personally and professionally; big politically, big economically, and big organizationally. Not only has it been characterized by high levels of volatility and uncertainty but also by the rapid pace at which we have had to navigate the path and the ever growing need to do more with less…. A LOT more with a LOT less.

For some it has provided incredible opportunities and seen new levels of success attained, but for others the huge momentum of these times has simply created nothing more than an overwhelming feeling of motion sickness. Whilst it hasn’t been all negative or detrimental, it has seen many leaders left with nothing more than a feeling of scraping through on empty fuel tanks and a lack of energy and enthusiasm to continue moving forward.

All too often as way of keeping up with the pace and developments of these times many have found themselves switching to autopilot mode. Whilst this mode of going through the motions may yield results in the short term it can have a significant impact in the long term on how we think, assess, make decisions and move forward with our roles as leaders and in our careers. It can leave us feeling disempowered and lacking control.

One of the key dangers of the business and leadership autopilot mode is assuming that the past will ensure the future. The reality is the knowledge and skills that have got us to where we are today are not necessarily going to take us to where we want to go tomorrow.  What will is our ability to embrace new understandings, new solutions and new mastery. AND we can’t do this without finding our leadership mojo.

So how do we blow out the cobwebs, switch out of autopilot mode and re-ignite our leadership mojo?

Greg Mckeown, author of Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less looks at why highly successful capable people fail to breakthrough to the next level. His findings indicate that our success can all too often be the catalyst for failure. He suggests that in learning to apply more selective criteria to what we do and pursue we will regain control of our own choices, which in turn allows us to channel our time, energy and effort into making the highest possible contribution towards what really matters to us.

As way of helping you regain your career and leadership mojo I would encourage you to think about the 6 tips below and how you can best apply them:

1. Disconnect to reconnect: In order to have focus we need to create space to focus. Taking time out to consider and evaluate what is truly important to us as leaders, the people who work for us and organizations is critical if we are to build both alignment, clarity and a sustainable forward momentum.
2. Look up and out: All too often we are so busy with our task list we find ourselves always looking down and/or becoming buried in the detail. We miss the opportunities to observe, learn and be inspired by new thinking, new developments and new connections.
3. Define what’s essential AND what is not: Understand what is absolutely essential and eliminate what is not. In doing so you will create time and space to invest in you, your people and your business.
4. Set yourself a personal learning challenge: There is nothing like setting yourself a new challenge that opens up new understandings and new options. Achieving it also provides you with renewed energy, focus and momentum to move forward.
5. Evaluate your network: Conduct an audit on your network: have you got the right people to support where you want to go or are you surrounded by people who are detracting you away from your path?
6. Engage with purpose: All too often we engage in meetings, conversations and presentations as way of completing a task list rather than with open eyes, ears and minds. Learning to identify and engage in the right opportunities should be serving as an enabler that allows you to keep moving with energy, pace and determination.

No leader navigates their career and leadership pathway without conscious reflection and tweaking. To build and maintain your leadership mojo you need to invest in it. Invest in building it and protecting it. When you do, you will not only be rewarded with greater energy and enthusiasm but so too will your teams and the businesses that you lead.

Ask yourself: Is it time to flick the autopilot switch to off?

As always I would love to hear your thoughts.

Margot Andersen – The Career Diplomat