International Women's Day 2023: Thriving With Self-Leadership
You probably need no reminders from me, but the last few years have been a bit of a rollercoaster. Even though 2023 seems relatively calm so far, and there has been some great progress in getting back on track, it’s also natural if you feel a little challenged at times.
After everything that’s happened, some ideas you had for yourself and your career might have taken a backseat. This could be especially true if you’re a woman.
So, what can we do about it?
Looking ahead in 2023, there will be many lessons learned about how we best work as teams and the role of leadership - and, more crucially, the vital role of self-leadership.
For International Women's Day 2023, I wanted to shine a light on how self-leadership can help women thrive professionally.
International Women’s Day 2023: #EmbraceEquity
I want to take a moment to consider the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day. It’s such an important topic, and seeing it being acknowledged is great for us all.
The theme for this year is #EmbraceEquity, which seeks to highlight the differences between equality and equity. The two words often get used interchangeably, but they mean very different things.
Equality means each individual or group is given the same resources or opportunities.
Equity recognises each person has different circumstances and allocates the resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.
The #EmbraceEquity campaign starts a conversation about why "equal opportunities are no longer enough". So in order to really embrace equity we should take a step back and think about where we are in the world and our lives right now and where do we want to go? And then what do we want/need in order to get there. This is self-leadership.
Thriving With Self-Leadership
Self-leadership is simply the way we lead ourselves. It is how we apply leadership skills to relating to, guiding and directing our thoughts and actions, and it is something that you don’t want to ignore. Although we often look for exceptional leadership from others, we overlook being the best leaders to ourselves.
Empowering, transformative self-leadership is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. It can significantly change the quality of your life in all areas.
3 Ways to Get Started With Self-Leadership
Although we may think self-leadership is a good thing to cultivate, we may not know how to improve our self-leadership skills. It’s also natural if we let some of our positive self-leadership capabilities slip during covid, in order to cope with everything else that came our way.
To get back on track, we need to return to self-leadership skills and intentionally build them back into our daily routines. Here are three to get started with:
Be aware of any negative thinking patterns you may have developed: Simple awareness is a critical first step in improving your self-leadership skills. After all, if you don’t know what to fix, how can you become a better leader of yourself and others? Conducting an honest self-audit can help you uncover patterns of thinking that may have crept in, like negativity, being judgemental or impatient.
Become more self-directed: By this, I mean being focused on living your life according to your values and aspirations. Many of us are looking for a more balanced and nourishing life, and there are plenty of ways to achieve this. For instance, one effective step is to find ways to deeply relax, whether through breathing or meditation, connecting with nature, doing fun things or being more active. I love small things like dancing to a song that I love as I move through my morning routine.
Become better self-leaders by leading others: It may seem paradoxical, but there is a feedback loop here. Building self-leadership awareness and skills lead to greater organisational success because it empowers your colleagues to regain control of their direction and goals, fulfil their potential, and positively impact others around them. At the same time, we become more confident, silence that inner negative voice in our heads, and become even more effective leaders of others.
Looking Ahead
Most of us have never been given a clear approach to leading ourselves well or had role models that demonstrated inspiring self-leadership. And reset our priorities and expectations of ourselves.
We have a wonderful opportunity to shape our future in ways that align more fully with our authentic selves. (Re)establishing our self-leadership skills and capabilities is a great way to grab this opportunity.