What is the Energy of How You Lead?

Energy is defined as the strength and vitality required for sustained physical and mental activity.

Energy is:

• about how you hold yourself.
• the strength and vitality you embody from the inside out.
• a presence you emanate from your state of mind, the stature of your body and the openness of your heart.

When you are in a state that you don’t like and choose not to change, you begin to tolerate that behavior, which takes immense energy. By making a shift to change that state, you become energized, positive and relaxed.

It is important to notice your body as you navigate different challenges as a leader. For example, when you observe yourself being defensive, what is the stance of your body? How does it feel in your body? What thoughts are you thinking? Defensiveness is based in fear; fear resides in the head, not the heart. The moment your energy moves toward defensiveness, you can feel yourself tighten up. The key is to relax and to release. How often are you tolerating certain behaviors within yourself as a leader? What behaviors are serving you, and which ones are not?

 

By being aware of the behaviors in your leadership style that you are tolerating, you have the ability to delete, change, or accept them. This simple state of awareness will move you into serving as a more energized, inspiring leader.

Wise leaders remain aware and centered enough to let go every time their energy shifts into an unproductive behavior. Letting go allows you to release yourself from the grip of the reaction (behavior), rather than become entangled in it. When you free yourself from the hold of that energy, you can experience the energy of expansion and freedom within yourself. This allows you to relax, and invites the people around you to join you in the same place. Isn’t that where more innovation and collaboration happen? As foreign as it may feel to let go, try to take the risk, knowing that it will serve you and your team better. It is this way of being that gives you energy and creates a culture of positive growth for everyone.

 

By making the conscious choice to acknowledge what behaviors you are tolerating within yourself or your team, you then have the ability to change, delete, accept or work with them, and no longer allow them to take your energy.

Ultimately, the energy of the leader determines the energy of the team they lead and the companies they run. Create the vision of how you want to feel as you lead. Notice where it feels uncomfortable, and handle the behaviors you are tolerating that take your energy to shift yourself and your team into more productivity, less stress and more passion by practicing behaviors that give you energy.

 

Lead Effectively,
Katie