Today’s leaders copping it harder than predecessors

The leaders of today are facing more challenges than in years past. Here’s how your business can respond.

According to experienced executive coach Karen Stein, today’s leaders are busier than they have ever been.

Ms Stein, who has just released her new book, Be Your Own Leadership Coach: Self-coaching strategies to lead your way, spoke to HR Leader about how leaders can navigate the headwinds being thrown at them at the moment.

“Being busy has become the new norm, with it being an automatic reply to people’s interest in your wellbeing; ‘How are you doing?’ ‘Busy! What about you?’ ‘Yeah, me too! So busy!’ Conversation ended with a nod of the head and a shared understanding. We’re too busy to say much more!” Ms Stein said.

“In today’s busy world, leaders tend to respond by multitasking, juggling lots of demands and priorities. Managing time against the ever-growing range of tasks and goals is difficult. Layer in the intrusion and fast pace of the flow of information from digital and social media, and the leader of today can easily become overwhelmed with choices, data, decisions, and priorities.

“The push and pull factors in our digital era have created a continuous flow of information, conversation, expectations, and too little time for deliberation. The boundaries of being switched on and available for work have become blurred, impacting the wellbeing of leaders and that of their teams. This is significantly different to the pace of work from years gone by.

“With this in mind, leaders are needing more support than ever to be of their best and have a longstanding positive leadership impact. Building their self-coaching practices is a key strategy in support.”

Equipping leaders with self-coaching strategies ensures key staff will be able to deal with obstacles that pop up at any given time, rather than relying on a coach or someone else advising them on what to do.

“It is well understood that the world has become more complex, uncertain, ambiguous, and volatile than what we have experienced before. These changing dynamics have created ongoing adjustments and challenges to be faced by business leaders. What emerges can create obstacles and barriers, challenging the leadership impact which a business leader aspires to have. The burden of knowing precisely what to do and how to do it can weigh heavily on a leader,” Ms Stein said.

“Coaching is very effective in supporting business leaders in response. It is a process of exploration and discovery where a leader identifies solutions to challenges which they face. It increases their self-awareness and creates a deeper understanding of their behaviours, emotions and cognitions, allowing them to be more informed in respect of the choices and decisions which they make. It helps to identify what is in their control or otherwise, and how they can have the leadership impact they hope for.

“However, typically, a coach is not always available to a leader in the moment when the challenge arises. Access to a coach may be constrained due to logistics or financial reasons. Self-coaching can be relied upon in response to support leaders to thrive in the workplace, in the absence of an ever-present coach.”

Ms Stein has outlined three key tips for those looking to bolster their leadership capabilities through self-coaching:

1. Book time!

“The most self-aware leaders book a weekly recurring non-negotiable hour in their diary to invest in themselves and use this time to build their self-awareness. This time can be used to consider the assumptions and biases you are carrying and assess whether they are, in fact, true. You can reflect on the perspectives you hold and the basis for their determination. This can help you learn about what you are doing in support of your leadership and what is detracting from it,” Ms Stein said.

“Self-reflection provides space for you to identify any patterns in your behaviours, emotions and thinking, and examine whether they are helping or hindering you as a leader. We all have a view of how effective we are as a leader; however, this view can change when you stop to notice more of yourself – what is working well, and what could be even better? What are you doing in support of yourself, and in support of others? Which of your strengths are you utilising, and how can you further energise and engage yourself? How are you creating a psychologically safe work environment for your team, and role modelling appropriate behaviours?”

2. Seek feedback

“To expand your reflections even further, seek feedback from trusted colleagues and team members to help you identify blind spots so you can better see and understand your impact,” Ms Stein said.

“Be sure to unpack the feedback to better understand it. What do they mean by what they have shared? What are some examples of the impact of your behaviours? Don’t step away from the feedback without truly understanding it.”

3. Practice

“Once you have noticed more, select your focus areas for the week ahead to improve your leadership impact. Create an action plan to practice your new way of being and create new and improved leadership habits,” Ms Stein advised.

“Change takes time and can result from incremental steps towards the goal which you have. Exercise persistence and patience in building these new habits so that your leadership impact becomes positive, long lasting and enduring in your absence.”