How’s your Gratitude Energy?

November brings a chilled, crispness to the air and a treasured American holiday, Thanksgiving. Let’s leverage the season to delve deeper into gratitude and how practicing it throughout the year (not just in November) can give you an uplifting, energetic boost. And while we’re in that space of enhancing energy, we’ll explore 3 common leadership pitfalls and how to jump off those draining, stress wheels.

An Attitude of Gratitude

We all have two types of energy bouncing around within us at any given time: catabolic and anabolic. Catabolic Energy is the damaging, destructive, conflict-centric, draining energy often associated with stress. Anabolic Energy is the healing, inspirational, bonding, creative, building-up energy associated with little to no stress. Neither are bad nor good, each serve a purpose in our lives. The crux is, are we choosing our energy or are we allowing circumstances, events, people to choose our energy for us? Energy is a filter; it’s like wearing tinted glasses. When we’re leading with catabolic energy, everything we see, do and experience is filtered through that lens. Likewise, when we lead with anabolic energy. When we lead with anabolic energy, we are able to be more open, see opportunities and options, tap in to our intuition and creativity, and influence and inspire those around us. When we lead with catabolic energy we can achieve immediate results and may get a lot done; however, over the long term the forced nature of this energy is not sustainable and will reduce our effectiveness as well as damage relationships. A simple way to tap into your anabolic energy is to think about what you are thankful for or what would land on your gratitude list. Even in the most stressful moments, taking a few seconds or a few minutes to pause, take a deep breath, and reflect on 1, 2, or 3 items that you are grateful for will immediately set you on the path out of catabolic energy. Gratitude is about perspective. Change your energy by flipping your perspective, putting on a different pair of glasses!

Tips to Put into Action:

1. Keep a running gratitude list; update it throughout your day.
2. Every time you take a break, get coffee, etc., think of one thing you are thankful for.
3. Post cues in your workspace, whether at home or in your office; post-it note, pictures, mantras that remind you of the blessings in your life. Schedule a free consultation with me to learn more about Energy Leadership, developed by iPEC.

Become a Coaching Leader

There are three common ditches or pitfall wheels that leaders tend to fall into, outlined by Michael Bungay Stanier in his book, The Coaching Habit. Let’s take a deeper look at each, the energy behind them, and how to get off the wheel.
Creating Overdependence
This can happen due to a “to do it right I must do it myself” attitude, or “giving direction/answers speeds up productivity” thought. Even the over use of good intentions and “overly helping” to the point where you realize you have now taken on the work or burdens of others can create overdependence. Worse yet, in this mode a leader unintentionally creates an overly dependent TEAM. At this point the leader is squarely in catabolic energy and likely, the team will be too from a sense of being micro-managed.
Getting Overwhelmed
Leading an overly dependent team leads to feeling overwhelmed! Being given more and more to do with fewer and fewer resources can also lead to being overwhelmed. Once again, the leader is firmly in catabolic energy making it difficult to see the big picture and properly prioritize time and work. Efficiently working on the wrong things will drive you and your team deeper into catabolic energy.
Becoming Disconnected
Everyone’s working hard but on the wrong things…or maybe the work isn’t aligned across the organization or with the company’s over-arching objectives. Kingdom mentality can create pockets of success but the true synergy of success lies in aligned goals, collaboration, and prioritized work. Catabolic energy drives “take care of myself, my group” mentality.
The Solution
Vow to be a Coaching Leader. Squash overdependence by asking more questions, looking for coachable moments, resisting the temptation to direct; and empower your team to take initiative and get the job done. Reward and recognize their work, resist being critical with a “that’s not how I would do it” thought; there are many versions of “right.” Be mindful of when you’re “over helping” or overextending yourself or your team. If you tend to overextend, set boundaries so that your initial good intention doesn’t drag you down into catabolic energy. Collaborate with your team to ensure the work is aligned vertically and horizontally; prioritize timing, resources, and effort. Most importantly, to be a Coaching Leader, start with yourself. Practice selfawareness and choose your energy; recognize when you are in a stress moment and ask yourself “is this how I want to show up?” Your anabolic energy and leadership will lift your team and inspire them to achieve their full potential.
Still having a tough time getting off one or more of these wheels? Tired of feeling like a hamster? Click the Success image or button at the bottom of this newsletter to set up a personal consultation with me and develop your success formula.

Holiday Specials!

Personalize your gift to the person who has everything by giving them an investment in themselves!
Energy Leadership Index (ELI) Assessment
An on-line, attitudinal assessment that measures your leadership potential based on your level of consciousness (self-awareness). This package includes a 30 minute introductory coaching session, ELI assessment, and 90-minute debrief of results. Offered only by iPEC certified Master Practitioners. Take advantage of discounts now!
Energize2Lead (E2L) Assessment
Ready to take your team effectiveness to the next level? Boost collaboration and trust
by enrolling your team in an Energize2Lead Workshop! An Academy Leadership partnership, this easy to understand and apply personality assessment yields not only individual results but also a customized Team Sheet to leverage in both team development and 1:1 coaching. Leverage discounts now and schedule into 2022; available in-person and virtual; 6-12 participants.

Diane Wilhelm

You can’t always choose your circumstances, but you can always choose your attitude!