Become A Fully Present Leader And Human Through The Four Selves

Ultimately, our lives as leaders, our relationships with others and our team dynamics will become more authentic, trust-based and collaborative if we are more consciously connected and aware, and actually take care of our intellectual, emotional, spiritual and physical selves.

The new year will continue to bring us uncertainty and rapid change. A multitude of health, economic, social and cultural factors will continue to test both our personal and professional emotional resilience, stress tolerance and capability to produce sustainable results.

The world has changed and our post-pandemic terms of reference are significantly different than what we and our teams were accustomed to not so long ago.

The act of management will continue to be simplified. Management is about things. It’s like a science. It’s about protocols, policies, processes, systems and organizational structures. The rapid digitalization brought on largely by Covid-19 constraints has inspired us to continue to simplify them.

People and teams, however, continue to be particularly affected by the world in a state of pandemic. Personal lives have been tossed upside down. Professional lives are unrecognizable from what they used to be as recently as two years ago. People and teams are looking for stability and direction. And leaders have a renewed responsibility to help navigate and provide direction in this environment of uncertainty and rapid change.

Leadership is about people. It’s an art. It’s about purpose, values, behaviors and rituals. Each person and team are a world in constant mutation and upheaval. Leadership requires, more than ever, leaders who are fully present and humane.

As we move forward, we expect our leaders to stop and reflect about who they are — the “to be” side of the equation — and how they exercise their leadership — the “to do” side of the equation.

The fully present and humane leaders find their stability and answers in the equilibrium of the four selves: the intellectual, the emotional, the spiritual and the physical. Answers don’t come from a single source, but rather from the integration of these four elements that come together to form the fully present leader.

• The intellectual self?is about what you think; the thoughts, the data and information, the acquired knowledge, the processes, the systems and the models. It's also the collected best and worst practices that help us bring structure to a conversation, make sense of a problem, idealize a solution, propose alternatives, structure an argument or develop a proposal, among so many other possibilities and situations.
• The emotional self?is about how you feel — the combination of emotions that help us understand the underlying root causes and consequences of our actions and reactions, human interactions and how we form relationships and team dynamics.
• The spiritual self?is about where and how you draw inspiration and higher purpose; the connectedness with a higher purpose that defines us and what we stand for. It goes to the root of who we are, why we exist and what motivates our positions, perspectives, points of view, actions and so much more. Different people connect with their spiritual selves in different ways — through religion, art, music, meditation, literature, travel, etc. Ultimately, it’s about finding your inner self and connecting with what will anchor and guide you when you’re dealing with fundamental issues in your interactions and relationships.
• The physical self?is about where you draw the physical energy to move forward — from proper nutrition, to exercise, to meditation, to proper sleep patterns, to a good work-life balance. It is about what nourishes and charges our batteries, giving us the resources to productively integrate the three previous selves in an enlightened space of reflection where we become fully present leaders.

Today’s leader uses the four selves in their interaction/relationship building with others and with teams. They find their center and balance in the integration of the resources from the four selves and then use these resources in the building of relationships with others and with the team.

Together, the four selves provide us with a window into who we consciously are and how we react with different people in different circumstances. We connect with the four selves through good questions. Through inquiry and reflection, we build the insights that help us deal with uncertainty and find the ways forward. You can ask yourself some of the following questions to get started:

• Spiritual:?Who am I? Why do I exist? What do I stand for? What are my most sacred values? What inspires me? What will be my legacy?
• Emotional:?How do I feel about myself? How do I feel about a situation or a person? What makes me happy? Why am I anxious about a situation? Why do I feel self-confident or not? What brings me peace and tranquility?
• Intellectual:?What information do I need to decide? What works and what doesn’t? What options are available? How do I simplify things? What are my priorities?
• Physical:?Why are my energy levels low? Why are my sleeping patterns erratic? How do I get my weight under control? How do I stabilize my mood through nutrition, exercise and sleep?

Leading becomes the art of first listening to one's inner self, being aware that we can only be fully present leaders if we see ourselves as fully present human beings. It is then a matter of bringing others into the world of the four selves by raising their awareness and their consciousness. Our conversations and our team dynamics become much deeper, richer and decisive when we are surrounded by individuals who are conscious about being fully present human beings and fully present leaders in their own right.

Ultimately, our lives as leaders, our relationships with others and our team dynamics will become more authentic, trust-based and collaborative if we are more consciously connected and aware, and actually take care of our intellectual, emotional, spiritual and physical selves.

(This article previously appeared on the Forbes Coaches Council)

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I hope you found this article?useful and that it helped you reflect on some?practical ideas?to focus your leadership in these times of uncertainty and rapid change.

Thanks for reading,

Luis

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