Resonant Leadership

#sustainability #leadership #stoicism

These are my Leadership Journal notes from a book that I read by Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee in preparation from one of our Leadership Team away days. 

Resonant Leadership: Renewing Yourself and Connecting with Others Through Mindfulness, Hope, and Compassion by Boyatzis, Richard E., McKee, Annie (2005) Harvard Business School Press

I really like it's focus on what we expect of ourselves and what others expect of us.  The key phrase I take from this is SUSTAINABILITY.  

I particularly like the breakdown of the defensive routines that aren't sustainable but we can often recognise. They're the behaviours that we go home and think about, saying "I dealt with that badly."  I've often been guilty of making these mistakes, thinking that I have to 'sort it out'. As I'm often told and reminded by people who aren't even interested in my Leadership Journal, "You're not able to look after others, if you don't look after yourself."  This is my regular health warning as a parent.  It emphasises the importance of modelling self-care and also provide consistent and sustainable leadership.

I read a review of this book from someone claiming that it put them off leadership and that, rather than being useful and inspiring to new leaders, it spoke to a 'seasoned leader approaching or in the midst of burnout'. This is where the book has maybe served one perpose of helping someone re-evaluate the type of role they are looking for. One of the issues we face is waiting for a problem to arise before dealing with it, which doesn't sound like good leadership to me. Resonant Leadership is the antithesis of a reactive leadership. Reflection, self-awareness and compassion are integral parts to effective leadership. The personal dimension of leading people is often overlooked.

This reminds me of a graphic I saw which appears in many versions of itself. It ties in with the principles of Stoicism which focus on reframing the mind on addressing what you can control and not stress on that which you can't control. This allows you to be kind to your self and the expectations you have as a leader.

It's clear that as a leader, it is important to lead by example. Leadership asks people to take responsibility for their own actions and there is nothing more pertinent than recognising what we are able to take responsibility for. This frees up our head space to focus on the things that can have the greatest impact. An experienced headteacher once told me how they would often build in time to their schedule to go off-site, away from the distractions so that they could think clearly about strategy and generate ideas. This would often be on the golf course. A lovely idea, though I'm not sure this is a luxury that could be afforded to those they lead. This might not resonate well. However, making sure that we give ourselves room to breathe and dedicate the time, energy and attention to the people and things that need it, is an important part of focussing on the things that really matter.