Five Reflective Steps That Make You a Better Leader

I know you’re saying ‘I don’t have time for that’, but I’m not expecting a lot. It can be 10 minutes, it can be 15 minutes. Perhaps at the beginning of the week, perhaps at the beginning of the day, or at the end.

Hi there and welcome. It’s Kerstin Jatho here, a transformational coach who shifts people from languishing to flourishing. In this video, I want to talk to you about five reflective steps that make you a more effective leader.

Anyone who has ever done any self-development work will know that there’s a lot of introspection involved, reflection time, and really sitting back and observing one’s behaviour.

A lot of religious and spiritual practices bring in contemplation time. However, when it comes to leadership, we often don’t do that. Leaders are continuously on the go, moving from one activity to the next, making one decision to the other, often not building in reflection time. However, if you look at very successful leaders like Oprah Winfrey or Arianna Huffington or Bill Gates who speak a lot about bringing in reflection practices in their morning, be that an hour, a meditation, or just sitting quietly helps them focus on their day, on what they want to achieve.

Right now, leaders have audacious goals to achieve. They’re balancing many balls and juggling many things. They are often running a lot. It’s not very often sitting back and reflecting about what’s being done. Sometimes very mindless. So, they’re not aware of their behaviour, how they are even coming across, how they’re leading their team.

So, my invitation to you as the leader is to really bring in reflection time into your week or into your day. And I know you’re saying ‘I don’t have time for that’, but I’m not expecting a lot. It can be 10 minutes. It can be 15 minutes, perhaps at the beginning of the week, perhaps at the beginning of the day or at the end, but really bringing in reflection time saves time at the end of the whole process.

So, five steps that I want to invite you to start off with is:

Step 1:

To bring in a habit of having reflection time. So, every morning, once a week, what time is best suited for you to really sit down for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, absolutely uninterrupted? And it’s just you and your thoughts.

Step 2:

The second one is to choose your environment. Where do you think is the best? Perhaps it’s a specific room or it’s outside in nature. So, choose the environment that works for you.

Step 3:

Thirdly, choose your time. Some people are morning people. They think best in the morning and reflect then. Others doing in the evening as they have the day progress and work through it. So, choose your time.

Step 4:

The fourth one is to take a notebook and journal things that come to mind. Putting it down on paper is very effective, and it always helps to look back and see what you thought when and what needs work.

Step 5:

The fifth one is if you’re not able to do this on your own, which can happen, involve an external person. Bring in a professional coach or mentor who does this regularly with you.

So, my invitation to you starting today is to build in conscious reflection time. It will save you time in the end and make you a better leader because you will become more aware of your actions, your activities, and what you are doing.

Over to you for sharing your comments and experiences.

What’s your process of just pausing for a moment and being present with yourself?