Imposter Syndrome? Exhausted?

Imposter Syndrome? Exhausted? Lost motivation?

Let's make 2023 the year for growth, connection and greatness! That is what we want for you.

Are you a fake leader?

Are you a successful leader but sometimes feel like it was a stroke of luck instead of hard work that made it happen? Do you think you give the impression of being more competent than you really are, or when you receive a promotion or an award, you struggle to accept it until you see it on paper?

You might feel like you’re the only one who has these feelings, but what you are experiencing is more common than you think. It actually has a name; Imposter Syndrome. Discovered in the 1970’s, the phenomenon described a group of high achieving women who felt they were not actually as capable as other people thought, and showed how that effected their motivation and performance.

Feeling like a fake can hamper performance and stop you from reaching your full potential as a leader. It may hold you back from applying for the next step in your career for fear of drawing attention to your so called short comings.

It can be hard to take credit for achievements or feel confident in your skills, and receive recognition of competency by way of promotion.?But that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve it.

Imposter Syndrome most often strikes when people achieve their first leadership or executive role. That’s when you might be questioning whether the interviewing panel made a mistake when they chose you, or wondering if somehow you were the default choice or just the best of a bad bunch.

If you don’t take inventory and start to recognise your skills and capabilities, it is almost impossible to own your success. Instead you dismiss your talent and achievements and assume they are due to luck or anything else, other than the fact you have worked hard and done well. I write a book called Just Rock It! because I see this all the time.

Taking stock, and documenting your strengths and achievements can take you from a feeling like the fake who is only a short time away from being ‘found out,’ to a leader who feels confident and secure in your role and rewards. Imagine being a confidence and great leader!

Making a list of personal achievements is a good starting point, but this self-assessment may be insufficient for leaders who have doubted themselves longer than they can remember.?OId habits die hard.?Working with an external coach or mentor may be required to stop the feeling of fraudulence from holding back your career climb, hampering your performance and reducing your authenticity due to a lack of confidence.

A circle of people who support you, and have faith in you, in combination with coaching, can help cull the self-talk that feeds the negative feelings.

I love to use technique called fake it until you become it.

Fake It Until You Make It! Act As If You Had All The Confidence You Require Until It Becomes Your Reality. - Brian Tracy

Are you a fake leader? Probably not, but if we can help you undertake a self-audit, list your strengths and recognise why you have achieved your goals to date, we can help break the invisible and sometimes unconscious barriers that are holding you back. We use a range of tools and diagnostics to help you discover what’s real and what’s not about your talents and the way you view them. It can change your whole career and life perspectives.

Remember you are brave and always stay kind to yourself.

YOU GOT THIS!

Leadership Exhaustion

Exhausted? Determination and perseverance are two critical leadership skills that every great leader must possess. But sometimes, no matter how much willpower and drive you may have, there are times when even the most dedicated leader will be tempted to just give in and give up. Unless you learn how to cope with the stress that comes along with the constant change and unending demands that all leaders must deal with on a daily basis, leadership fatigue, and eventual failure, is a genuine threat.

There are, of course, a number of signs that can alert you that you are coming close to your personal limit. You may be close to your personal breaking point if you've experienced any of these dangerous signals: avoiding responsibilities and those who hold you accountable, losing your vision, losing focus of the big picture and getting bogged down by minor details or losing control and becoming annoyed and angry over insignificant things. Left unchecked, leadership fatigue might even lead to self-destructive behavior such as subconsciously sabotaging important relationships or neglecting your own personal self-care.?

The key to maintaining our energy and our ability to make sound decisions, and act upon them, is to learn how to manage those things in our daily lives that literally drain us of our energy and enthusiasm. In order to avoid leadership fatigue, we must learn how to eliminate or minimise these "power drainers" before they reach a "critical mass."

Observing how highly visible, and extremely effective, leaders from around the world avoid fatigue can be helpful in learning how to better manage those things that sap our energy and resolve. ?

One way that great leaders manage their stress and energy levels, while increasing the productivity and creativity of their team, is through delegation. While it's tempting to try to do "it all" as leader, you must accept that your energy is not limitless. Learning to "let go," and delegate will not only help you to reduce your leadership fatigue so that you have more time and energy to spend on other, more important tasks, it will also allow your team to put their talents and energy to the best use.

Jack Welch, Chairman and CEO of the Fortune 100 Company General Electric, was known for his endorsement of the power of delegation as a tactic to reduce leadership fatigue and boost employee morale. In a 2005 speech at Northwestern Kellogg School of Management, Welch continued to encourage leaders to avoid the urge to micromanage and instead, "err on the side of delegation. It makes your employees love being at the company and helps them flourish." In addition to reducing your stress and leadership fatigue, delegation increases engagement and satisfaction while producing original solutions and increasing performance.

The former 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, is another world leader that practices delegation to get more done and reduce his stress by reducing his workload. According to an article at 99u, former President Obama has over 100 assistants that help to keep him on task, briefed and informed so that his time is free to devote to more critical tasks throughout each day. This is a sharp increase in delegation from just 50 to 75 years ago when former U.S. President Harry S. Truman needed only 12 assistants to get the job done.

Former President Obama didn’t stop at delegation to help him manage stress and keep leadership exhaustion at bay. In addition to delegation, he also managed his stress and fatigue by setting aside time at the end of each evening to get a head start on the next day's work. He practices good self-care by making time to exercise each day. He also took the time to renew his spirit and energy by spending quality alone time with his daughters in the evening during their dinner.

The former President has also used a tactic to reduce his stress similar to that of Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and founder of Facebook and Steve Jobs, former CEO and founder of Apple. All three reduced their leadership fatigue by reducing the number of decisions they must make every day. Obama has adopted to only wear blue or gray suits, just as Jobs always wore a black turtleneck, and Zuckerberg a gray T-Shirt, every day to work so that they don't have to waste time, or energy, deciding what to wear each day.

Other successful leaders in the public eye use techniques that are similar to what President Obama does to manage stress and energy levels. In an online article, the billionaire media personality, Oprah Winfrey, wrote about how important it is to manage her stress and conserve her energy by making healthy food choices, surrounding herself with people who build, rather than sap, her energy, and taking regular time off to recharge and rejuvenate by doing something that she enjoys and finds relaxing.

As a leader, what are you doing to manage your stress levels and avoid leadership exhaustion? ?Are you setting yourself up for success by getting an early start to your day and practicing good self-care habits? Have you examined your daily schedule and looked for ways to delegate tasks and eliminate or minimise unnecessary decisions that drain you of your time and energy? In turn, I am a great believer in knowing and reflecting on your values and leading from your values is the key too.

While you might have done a good job so far juggling all of your tasks and responsibilities, and have somehow managed to "do it all," without having a physical or mental breakdown, pushing yourself will only get you so far. You might be a good manager, but you will never be a great leader unless you take the time to create the support structure that you need to help you manage your stress and ward off fatigue - more so now than ever.

If you truly want to succeed and excel at leadership, at some point, you will need to take a moment to stop and take a critical look at your daily life and make some decisions about how it is organised, and who and what you allow into your life and what you devote your time to, in order to have and maintain the power that you will need to achieve your goals, new habits and dreams. Use the time over Xmas to discover this!

Get in touch today to learn more about how to defeat leadership exhaustion and set yourself and your teams up for success!

Executive Coaching - Helping You Refine Your 2023 Leadership Focus

How does your leadership focus fare? As many of my clients can attest to, maintaining your leadership focus and keeping an eye on the more important aspects of leadership can be difficult. It is so easy to get lost in the small details, changing tracks at a moment’s notice without thought. In truth, you need to be able to adequately manage the large and small details consecutively, or at the very least, surround yourself with individuals who can.

An effective leader needs to do more than just lead. They need to be able to plan strategically for all future eventualities and make the most of any potential opportunities around the corner. While it may not be a skill that is naturally present in many individuals, it can be learnt through executive coaching.

Executive coaching is useful on so many levels, from understanding others to planning your time sufficiently. One-on-one coaching is particularly helpful at analysing your personal leadership style and what drives or motivates you. A good leader should be able to understand why they make the decisions they do; self-reflection is a tool for growth in all areas, both on a business and personal level.

Modern technology can often hinder rather than help our concentration. Society, as a whole, has become very adept at being able to switch from one email or window to another without thought. One notification on our telephone or email account and we immediately stop what we are doing, to see what it is we might be missing. Because of these ‘constant interruptions’ we are changing our working habits, putting less focus on quality and more focus on getting the work done as quickly as possible. These interruptions add to the stress and frustration of getting the work done in a timely and impressive manner.?

With self-reflection through executive coaching, you can understand those areas which are driving you to distraction and break out of these cycles. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. A coach is the independent eye you need to help you be accountable for your actions. They have your back and will not allow you to be anything other than the best you can be.

Executive Coach, Keynote Speaker, Author and CEO of LeadershipHQ, Sonia McDonald says,

“For most people this self-reflection involves changing their awareness of themselves. It is about realising that there are a variety of choices to make that build up over time to create the big picture.”

Deep down we know we may put off the difficult tasks until later or procrastinate on an issue but in the long run, this does not help us in any way. Tackle those challenging tasks first and take pride in your accomplishments regularly. Executive coaching will allow you to see where you are going wrong. It may be a case of needing to split your tasks up into smaller, more manageable pieces. Or perhaps you need to sit down and direct your attention to your to-do list a few times over the course of your working day? Whatever the answer is to get your direction back on track, you can be sure that an executive coach will get to the bottom of it.?

Leaving no stone unturned, an executive coach will benefit those leaders who are not afraid to start working inwardly to achieve outward results. Investing in the future of your leadership career through executive coaching and keeping your focus in check is one of the smartest things you can do this year.

Find out more at [email protected] or 1300 719 665 TODAY

Make 2023 The Year! Always stay kind and courageous...x

Merry Xmas with love and happiness from the teams at LeadershipHQ?and?McDonald Inc., Outstanding Leadership Awards

By?Sonia McDonald?– CEO Of?LeadershipHQ?and?McDonald Inc., Outstanding Leadership Awards, Leadership Coach, Global Keynote Speaker, Entrepreneur, CEO And Award Winning Author

Sonia is passionate about her voice. When Sonia speaks, everyone in the room feels like she is having a conversation with them as her audience will feel as if they are the only one in the room. She speaks from the heart. She is brave. She wants everyone to be brave. She is an impactful and motivational leadership expert and speaker that creates a life-changing experience. People call Sonia sassy, inspirational, real and a speaker who leaves a lasting impression. Her high-energy, authenticity and humour combined with actionable and practical advice, empowers her audience and provides them with great drive and confidence to take courageous actions and inspire great leadership in all aspects of their lives.

Sonia also is founder of LeadershipHQ and McDonald Inc. and is also a renowned and award-winning author, having written several of her own books, Leadership Attitude, Just Rock It! and First Comes Courage as well as being a regular contributor in The Australian, HRD Magazine, Smart Healthy Women and Women’s Business Media. She was named as one of the Top 250 Influential Women in the world as well as Top 100 Australian Entrepreneurs by Richtopia.

Through her leadership advisory and coaching work at LeadershipHQ, and founding the Outstanding Leadership Awards, Sonia is internationally recognised as an expert in leadership and culture, organisational development, neuroscience, kindness, and courage.

Sonia is also a full-time single parent and has a passion for women in business and teenage mental health. Sonia travels and speaks across Australia and Globe, and she is on a mission to building a world of great leaders and leadership.