What is Conscious Leadership?
Conscious leadership focuses on being aware of yourself and your team when you’re leading them. This leadership style involves seeking and acknowledging feedback from your team in an effort to improve.
You have to think about various aspects of management when you’re trying to embrace conscious leadership in your position. The most important thing is to think of your team as one cohesive unit. There’s no room for “I” or “me” in conscious leadership. Instead, you have to think about “we” and “us” as you lead.
Take Stock of Your Own Traits
Self-reflection is one of the important steps in becoming a conscious leader. You have to pay attention to how you react to situations to learn how to embrace every situation. Consider these traits of a leader who’s wholly embracing the conscious leadership style:
- Willing to consider multiple perspectives about matters
- Upholds optimal enthusiasm in the workplace
- Continually looks for ways to improve the team as a whole
- Maintains a relaxed demeanor even in stressful situations
- Leads the team with humility and grace
- Shows compassion for all team members
- Cultivates confidence in every member of the team
Your self-confidence can empower each member on your team to do their best. When you’re confident in your abilities, you’re more transparent, which makes it easier to build a cohesive team that functions as a single entity.
Extreme Ownership of All Decisions
Another hallmark of conscious leadership is that you take responsibility for your actions. You also take responsibility for your team’s actions. You must recognize that your team is only as good as the weakest link and act accordingly. This doesn’t mean that you ostracize that weakest link. Instead, you embrace their positive traits and use those to bolster the team.
Extreme ownership can be uncomfortable for the leader sometimes, but it can make a major impression on your team. By taking ownership of what your team does, you’re showing them that you’re right there with them. You aren’t going to throw them under the bus. This creates a desire in them to continue doing their best for you.
Cultivate a Positive Atmosphere in Every Situation
Work can become stressful, but a conscious leader won’t let the stresses negatively impact their team. Even when things aren’t going the way they should, you should still remain positive. Former Navy S.E.A.L. Jocko Willink was known for telling his team “good” regardless of the situation. When his S.E.A.L. team didn’t have the gear they needed, his subordinates knew he’d find a way to make it positive. His ability to find ways to improve difficult situations is one that his subordinates tried to emulate.
As a conscious leader, you must be willing to look at every situation as a chance to improve. Very few things could happen that should make you give up. Even when you don’t have everything you need, you can make the most of what you have. Even if you receive negative feedback, you must embrace that feedback and find ways to correct the problem.
Ultimately, your decision to embrace conscious leadership can improve your workplace immensely. Your team members will feel like valued individuals instead of thinking they’re replaceable pawns. Improved employee retention can strengthen the business and help it to grow.
