Be the person your dog thinks you are

I bought a pair of pyjamas recently and on them is the quote, “Be the person your dog thinks you are”. There are cute dog prints over the pyjamas too, but that’s beside the point.?

I have a dog, and sometimes I think that I am probably the most important person in my dog’s world.?He loves the rest of the family too; however, he gets more than the occasional play and pat with me.?Most of the time I feed him, walk him and if I am relaxing on the couch, he will always choose to come to me, and will even climb over the kids who may be next to me to get as close to me as he can.???I can really feel his love and loyalty, and I am sure he can feel mine towards him.?Of course, there are times when he will sense and feel my frustration, not listening when I tell him to come in, or running off with something he shouldn’t, but his love and loyalty don’t change.?He is always in a present state.?Not appearing too bothered about what happened yesterday, or what’s happening tomorrow, just loving and fun right now.

When I saw the pyjamas with that quote, I immediately thought of my dog, and soon after as I was browsing through the store, I couldn’t help but think of the connection to leadership.?What if the quote said, “Be the person your team thinks you are.”?Would that be good, bad, or neither??It got me thinking about what those that work with us think of us.?Are we being the person they think we are??Are we being the person we think we are for them?

If we are unsure about what person our team thinks we are, we can ask.?Asking for feedback can be confronting and you may not get anything back, but if you ask in a way that opens up the conversation, if it is a genuine request and if you create a culture of feedback in your team it will come.?You can also access this data from pulse surveys and engagement surveys to get a sense of what your team thinks about you and your leadership.?

I love the Johari window model as a way of developing an understanding of our blind spots.?Our blind spots are those aspects of our personality and approach that we may not be aware of, but others can see and experience.?The thing about blind spots is that you have to intentionally have a look to see if there is anything in your blind spot before you know it is there.?You can sense something, but you cannot be sure unless you have a look. Having a look is about asking for feedback.?Without it, there could be some things that remain as blind spots.

Giving yourself time and being brave enough to reflect on how others receive you can be tough.?However, it is an important part of elevating your leadership impact.?

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Rita Cincotta writes, mentors, and speaks on individual and team performance, leadership development, resilience and new ways of working. She works with organisations to develop human centred solutions that help people and businesses to thrive.

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