Find Your Voice as a Leader through Coaching
An introvert leader has powerful qualities. We are great listeners, we think deeply, and we have the ability to quietly assess the situation and come up with great intuitions. We can also manage our emotions well. However, if you are like me, you might also encounter challenges and misunderstandings in your leadership. Because all the qualities that make introverts great leaders, when taken too far, especially when applied without sufficient awareness of the impact, become roadblocks to effective leadership.
What does an awakening introvert leader look like? Have a look at the list below and see if one or several of them describe you:
You know you are good at what you are doing, and you are also aware of people's "ideal" image of a leader (which is usually an extroverted ideal). You realise that there's a gap between that ideal and how you show up in your leadership.
You might be naturally soft-spoken, and you know that sometimes you have to be louder than you'd like to, and you need to almost "fight" the loud ones.
You can push yourself to a certain extent, but after a while, you feel inauthentic and drained. You are constantly seeking a better balance and a more sustainable way of leading.
You are great at visioning, you are intuitive, you plan carefully... and you know you often wait too long before you speak up and communicate your visions, your intuitions, and your plans - so long that you sometimes completely miss the opportunity to do so.
You are a lone ranger and prefer to get things done by yourself, because that's the only way to get it right. When it's getting too much, you know you need to lean more on to your team and delegate more, and you are trying to find the balance between solo and team work.
People find it difficult to know how you feel about their work, because you don't talk about it as much as people want you to.
You often wonder if you are loud enough, charming enough, inspiring enough... so people will feel that they are being led by you effectively. You often end up taking on more than you would like to, therefore having no energy or become too tired to carry through all the responsibilities.
A lot of us introverts get the request to "be more vocal", and you know what? They have a point.
Because leadership happens through conversations. Leadership IS a conversation.
Albert Einstein is probably the most impactful introverted scientist on earth, yet if he never communicated his ideas through writing, speaking, conversing... none of the impacts would be made. Just think about that for a second.
I see leadership as the ability to consciously create intended impacts on oneself and the people around them, and the stance of taking full responsibility for the impacts. As introverts, we have our preference when it comes to ways of communication. As an awakening introvert leader, we want to be as intentional as possible of the impact we are making, including whether our communication is helping us achieve the intended impact, or is there any adjustment needed, yet still coming from a place of authenticity.
In my 3-month coaching program, I will partner with you to explore your unique leadership in three aspects:
Within. Range. Recovery.
We look within. The key words here are self-Worth, confidence, and authenticity. Instead of comparing ourselves to the stereotypical leadership ideal, and find someone who's better than us in every direction, we build a firm foundation of who you are and when you are most powerful and compelling. We will then explore how to express your leadership from this foundation, as leadership is the most effective when it's authentic.
We expand our range outwards. There is the paradox of "being" and "becoming". At any time, we are always holding both. If you are currently comfortable with driving, that's your being. But you have not always been comfortable with driving. Try to recall your first driving lesson or the first time you drove on the road. Back then, your being was the complete opposite of comfortable, before you become who you are today with driving. What shifted your way of being for the better? The answer is Doing. Doing is the bridge between being and becoming. Through actions, we will bridge you to your most powerful leadership.
We learn how best to recover. You might not like presentations and public speaking, and you find it draining. We speak better in some situations over others, yet sometimes we don't get to choose which environment to speak in. We may have to go there because that's what's needed, and we become exhaused as a result. In these cases, it is extremely important to know what our bodies need to be prepared for these challenging work, and recover from it. Even though we are all introverts, we recharge differently. Some self-care strategies work better than others, and we are going to find out what works best for you.
I believe that effective leadership can take on many forms, and everyone is a leader, as long as they are creating conscious impacts and being responsible for them.
In coaching, we create everything from who you are, because that's the only way to bring about sustainable changes. As a coach, I believe that all the resources you need to live a fulfilling life is within you. You have all the answers, although sometimes you don’t believe that. Our innate resourcefulness play a much bigger role in our leadership and success than the real resources available.
Through coaching, we consciously grow that resourcefulness so we can live with less limiting beliefs. You can re-discover your authentic self and begin to choose empowering choices over disempowering ones. You get to re-connect to the wisdom of not only your brain, but also your emotions and intuitions. You can connect the dots and steer your life towards meaning-making.
I work with high potential individuals who are introverted, and determined to live their life as their own leaders. I partner with my clients so they can grow their awareness and confidence, build an ideal life based on their true self, realise their visions, make resonant choices, and create powerful impact on the community they are in.
If you are ready for a journey of designing your ideal life and living it out fully, talk with me!