Monday, September 17, 2012

Self-Awareness: The Key For Staying Grounded As A Leader

Having self-awareness helps servant leaders develop self-control, set goals and priorities, live with less stress, and recognize selfishness as it begins to first appear in our personal lives, leadership style, and in working with those we lead and our peers. Our toughest job as a leader is to learn how to lead ourselves. Servant leaders have good skills and abilities to recognize selfishness in others, but to become an effective leader, we need to be able to recognize it in our own lives, so we can stop it and stay real to our team and associates. If we don’t, we will start to look like a hypocrite, as we try and help others stay on the right path. Lesson Learned: It’s the biblical perspective that states, we should start with the plank in our own eye before complaining about the speck in someone else’s eye.”

HOW CAN SERVANT LEADERS STAY GROUNDED?
·         Take inventory of the things that you have done or said that hurt someone.
·         What kinds of people cause you to lose your temper or patience?
·         What brings you fear as a servant leader?
·         What brings you the most joy as a servant leader?
·         When you meet people who cause you to struggle, how did you overcome it?
·         When you find yourself in a place that causes you trouble or can bring temptation, ask yourself, why am I here?
·         In what areas of your life do you need to improve?
·         What actions will you take to make those improvements?
·         What upsets you the most?
·         What makes you the happiest?
·         Do you count your blessings every day?
·         Do you have trusted mentors and coaches who can help hold you accountable?
·         Remember, God is in control, so give him the steering wheel and hang on.

When you start to fill overwhelmed or sense trouble stop, ask yourself these questions, and they might help to give you some clarity and understanding of the situation. People don't expect their leaders to be perfect, but they do expect them to be real. Want to be real, look in the mirror every morning and be honest with yourself. Why, because you aren't really fooling anyone.

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