Becoming a Conscious Leader

What is A Conscious Leader?

He opened the call by saying that he was as upset about this as we where. He was sad about the decision that he had to leave, but he felt it was right because he had stood up for what he believed in.

Unfortunately, he continued, it didn't go the way he had wanted. He was in tears and we were all moved. He said; "I have tears because I feel sad about this, this was not how I wanted it to end, but I belive it is the right decision". "In the five years I have been here we have gone from being a department people didn't want to work in, to a department that people wanted to be in and work with. I am proud of what we have accomplished together".

I kept my camera off for this call. I was moved, and at the same time I was inspired by this leader. He was real, authentic and even when emotional he was giving value. Influencing effortlessly until the very end.

One by one people from all over the world turned on their microphone to say a few words, some with tears in their eyes sharing that this leader had taught them to bring their emotions to work, to bring their whole true self to work. That we are whole human beings and that we are allowed to be fully who we are.

I was amazed by the openness, depth and connection that was there was unlike anything I had experienced before at this scale.

What I was witnessing was a man that dared to step up, put himself out there, lean into his courage and stand for what he believed was right, and while doing so he inspired a whole organisation to do the same.

Only a few times, have I experience this kind of leadership, and when I work with leaders in coaching, this is the kind of leaders they want to be. They want to embody openness, be able to create real deep connections, have confidence and courage.

What is A Conscious Leader?

A Conscious Leader embodies openness, innovation, inclusivity, and collaboration. They take accountability for both their conscious and unconscious choices. In essence, they embrace radical self-responsibility.

In essence, a Conscious Leader is committed to their own lifelong learning and development, and they extend this commitment to the growth of their team. They facilitate an environment where people show up as their full self.

A Conscious Leader refuses to be controlled by circumstances or fall into the trap of unconscious patterns. They break free from defensiveness and the limitations of a traditional Management mindset.

A Conscious Leader acts with deep awareness, understanding that choices always have an impact with ripple effect. Having this awareness drives them to lead with integrity. Values act as their boundaries and they acknowledge the complexity, and interconnectedness in any system they are part of.

Becoming A Conscious Leader

I had a conversation with that leader, and he shared with me the amount of inner work he had done. With his emotions and to develop himself, and he shared that because of all the work it had required of him, he became an admirer of others that do the same.

He was then and is still a practitioner of The Human Element and used that actively with his leadership team. 

Raising our own awareness, finding our center, our purpose and mission is what being a conscious leader is all about.

Now the question for you is;

• Who do you want to BE? and

• Who are you BECOMING?

Tools 

With the Conscious Leadership Model, I have gathered tools that I use in my coaching and that I have used myself over the years and found effective both when working with clients and my own development and growth. See it as a guide for which steps you can take in the inner and outer dimension as well as the personal and collective dimension. There are several resources available for you to explore what you can do for yourself;

• Join my FREE Circle of Friends Community where we meet monthly to practice, learn and grow

• Work with me as your coach or join my membership program.

• Or simply subscribe to my bi-weekly newsletter, where I teach you more about the model, and the tools that you can use.

• A simple thing that you can do today is to notice your emotions in your body, when they occur, and what they are communicating.

  • Can you name it and express it?

  • Do this as often as you can

Learning from Conscious Leaders

I am interviewing conscious leaders for my podcast, and the intention is to learn from their challenges, their successes and what they have done to become conscious leaders. What advice can they give others aspiring to apply conscious leadership principles in their personal and professional life?

I would love to get your contribution for these interviews and encourage you to submit questions you would like to have answered from conscious leaders.

And should you know of anyone that falls into this category, I am happy to get suggestions of podcast guests. I aim at releasing interviews monthly and will announce them in my newsletter.

Submit your podcast question or interviewee suggestion here!