In our busy world where results and profits are most of the time the only bottom-line for success, silence and self-reflection can be intimidating for any leader. Many (or is it most?) leaders have this mindset that they have to be busy , they have to know everything, and have to be everywhere. For them, silence and self-reflection makes no sense – neither logically or practically in terms of their mindsets and practices as leaders.
In my own experience as a leader and in coaching sessions with leaders, I’ve seen that having the practice of silence and self-reflection as part of your leadership traits, not only energizes you as person and leader, but also enhance your capacity and output as a leader. In this article I will only highlight three added values of silence and self-reflection as a leadership trait and three practices of silence and self-reflection I’ve learned over the years that can take your leadership to the next level.
Three added values of silence and self-reflection as a leadership trait
1) It restores the foundations of your own mindset and wisdom
Every leader has developed a certain mindset and wisdom around leadership. This mindset rests on a certain foundation or principles which come from various resources eg. religion, philosophy, experience, knowledge, influences etc. These foundations are challenged and tested in the day to day interactions of a leader. Sometimes it will work out for the good and other times for the bad.
Leaders cannot function just on autopilot. Regular system checks with corresponding corrections are necessary to stay on course. Making time for silence and self-reflections will help to restore the foundations – to challenge your perception and to broaden, develop, make corrections, and strengthen your mindset.
2) It refreshes you with the wisdom and opinions of others around you
Leadership can be overrated or underrated in the way leaders think about themselves, about the followers and about leadership as a whole. Normally it is overrated when the person of the leader is upfront and underrated when responsibility and accountability are non-existent. For leaders, the only way to counter it is to acknowledge and integrate the mindset, wisdom and opinions of the people surrounding them.
Making time for input through silence and self-reflection will help leaders to refresh themselves and their leadership mindset with the wonderful diversity of mindsets, wisdom and opinions to maximize leadership output.
3) It refocuses your decisions and actions
I sometimes find that leaders are hesitant to change their mind, opinion and decisions because they think of it as a weakness, even if it is clear that something is wrong. It is not a weakness for leaders, not to be right in everything – they can refocus and change their mind and opinions.
Making time for silence and self-reflection will help leaders to work through the whole process refocusing to make correct decisions and take suitable actions.
Three practices of silence and self-reflection
1) Intentionally slow down to reflect
Leadership burnout is common amongst leaders in all industries. No leader can just go on and on. Neither do leaders have more capacity or energy than any other normal human being. Leaders need to slow down to recharge and restore their energy.
People restore their energy in different ways and means. Some will take a silent retreat, others will do something more physical, others will need more conversations to clear their mind. Two things are important here. First, is to know, see, and acknowledge the signs when your energy levels and rhythms are low and then to act on it. Secondly, is to take proactive time to slow down, become silent and reflect with honesty and courage. This means that you diarize your year, your month, your week, your day in this regard to prevent burnout and lost of energy.
Over the years I’ve learnt a few intentionally practices to slow down
- Apart from holiday time, I diarize at least two days of silent self-reflection on my own every three to four months. It is an important part of my spirituality and of keeping my energy rhythms.
- Some times of the year are busier than other times. In the busier times especially, I will schedule two to four hours just for reflection.
- My last appointment of the week is with myself to reflect on the week and what I’ve learnt.
- In my day to day appointments I will schedule 15 to 30 minutes between appointments to reflect and prepare for the next. If not possible during the day, I will not finish the day without making time for reflection.
2) Keep journal of your thoughts and reflections
For various reasons, journaling is not always popular with leaders. The questions behind journaling is “how do leaders keep track of their thinking and reflections?” Sometimes a wild idea now will become the action of tomorrow.
I have been journaling for the last ± 30 years. Journaling helped me to reflect with honesty and courage to
- See consistencies and inconsistencies in my thoughts, feelings and behaviour over all the years.
- Grow through seasons, trials and tribulations.
- Acknowledge my successes and failures.
- Take ownership of my life and my role as leader.
3) Be accountable
Most of the time people think we must be only accountable for our actions. Accountability will only work if we also deal with the WHY (thoughts and needs) behind the action. Leaders must make sure that they are kept accountable (1) to practice silence and self-reflection on a regular base and (2) for their thoughts and reflections itself.
Over the years I’ve build in some accountability measures to help me in my self-reflection, mindset, wisdom, decisions and actions.
- I’ve learnt the value of a group of people around me to challenge the thoughts of my self-reflections. In this group of people there are people in my work environment and others who are outside the immediate environment. I will do it by asking input while I’m reflecting and/or by sharing my thoughts for feedback.
- I have a business and life coach which I meet on regular base in guiding me to put thoughts into action.
- I have two wise mentors whom I consult on a regular base to get clarity and encouragement.
I end of with a quote of Daniel Dobrygowski (Global Leadership Fellow at the World Economic Forum)
“Self-flection requires that you question your assumptions and your habits and ask whether they are useful in dealing with the world around.” (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/03/key-trait-all-great-leaders-share/)