“Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.” – Unknown
What helps you to have clarity as a leader? My daughter has been interviewing for scholarships and college applications. She is learning an important lesson of being at internal peace to have clarity. When at peace, she can hear the interview question clearly, process her response and respond with authenticity. She feels confident as she leaves the interview.
Sometimes being in leadership is like being in an on-going interview. We are constantly processing questions from others and within ourselves. We are always looking for how to maximize the vision, how to problem solve, how to remove obstacles, and how to help our team be their best. This requires clarity, and internal peace is an important leadership quality for this to happen.
So how do we develop and maintain internal peace to be an effective leader with clarity?
Practicing Peace
Part of leadership is being surrounded by challenging circumstances. It is leading and inspiring others to overcome challenges towards a mission. I was talking to a leader who had pressures at work and home at an overwhelming level. Can you relate? With this pressure from the outside, she was feeling the pressure on the inside and was not at peace. She was lacking clarity and the sign of this was the impact on her team. Her interactions with staff were lacking clarity, which was impacting the team’s health.
We can all relate to this kind of pressure. But, what can we do since circumstances are often outside of our control? Well, we control the one thing we can, which is ourselves. Amid challenges, we can choose to be overwhelmed or to see it as an opportunity to practice peace. Peace is a character trait that can be developed. Challenges are the training ground to develop it.
How will you practice peace?
Focusing Peace
What is one of the greatest obstacles to peace? If we can choose to practice peace, what keeps us from this? A negative mindset will keep us from peace. Tom is a leader in a global organization. He brings many talents to the organization. However, focusing on negativity when faced with challenges is his greatest obstacle to effectiveness. He is learning that a negative mindset is so detrimental that it actually negates all of the talents he provides. It brings him down and everyone around him.
Our attitudes are a product of our habits of thinking. You can have great knowledge and skills but your attitude is a multiplying factor. If it is positive, it multiplies your leadership (10 x 10 = 100). If it is negative, it negates all the strengths you bring (10 x 0 = 0).
What is the content of your habit of thoughts? We can choose to stop negative thoughts. We can choose to replace with thoughts of gratitude, proactive problem solving to solutions, and hope.
What are your habits of thinking?
Applying Peace
The Attribute Index is an assessment that helps people to understand how they think and make decisions. One of the attributes is called “self-control.” We often think of self-control as self-discipline. We think of it as just working harder to make something happen. As I debrief the Attribute Index with people, it is not uncommon to see a lower score on self-control. People are often surprised by this and describe all the ways they have discipline and perseverance. However, the Attribute Index defines self-control differently. It is the ability to be calm on the inside while a storm is going on the outside. When people hear this definition, they often have a self-realization.
Self-control is the ability to be still on the inside, hear and have clarity for direction. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are because these are all on the outside. What matters is the peace on the inside. Nurturing and maintaining this peace on the inside is a key leadership quality for highly effective leaders to cultivate.
How will you cultivate your inner peace?
Before we can lead others well, we first must lead ourselves well. Cultivating inner peace is a key leadership quality to lead yourself well. Invest in developing inner peace, and you will not be disappointed with the benefits of clarity and leadership impact.