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  • Writer's pictureFiona Deehan

Own Your Wellbeing + Performance - Conscious Personal Leadership

Leadership is not just about titles - we all have opportunities to lead everyday as we lead ourselves, at work, at home and in our communities. I see many people waiting for a title or some other form of invitation in order to behave like a leader, but I believe that leadership is a way of being, is an attitude and as I said before, we all have opportunities everyday to ‘lead from where we are’, whether it’s in our homes with our children and partners, sometimes with our friends and family members, with our colleagues, leading up the chain with our leaders and manager, leading our customers, and in our communities, maybe in sport or in church.


Let's talk about personal leadership - how can we lead others if we don’t start by leading ourselves well? I am talking about the external ways of 'doing' and internal ways of 'being' that influence our wellbeing and performance, and the impact it has on yourself. By default, if there is a negative impact on you, there is likely to be a negative impact on the people around you and your environment.


What about the word ‘conscious’? What do I mean by that? To be conscious is to take 100% responsibility for our thoughts, feelings and actions and the impact of these on ourselves and the people around us. To be conscious is an intentional choice - it is us choosing and owning our behaviour and all that we can control, rather than leaving much of life to simply happen to us.


To bring all of that together, choosing conscious personal leadership is to choose external ways of 'doing' and internal ways of 'being' that positively impact our wellbeing and performance, which in turn positively impact our whole lives and the people around us.


This is the Conscious Personal Leadership model we have developed. The model draws on a range of evidence and research-based frameworks such as (Māori) Te Whare Tapa Whā and PERMA from positive psychology. Let's step through each aspect of the model.


Physical

How do I care for my body? What can I do to notice and improve my physical performance?


Mental + Emotional

What influences my thoughts and emotions? What can I do to notice and improve my mental and emotional performance?


Spiritual

What gives me meaning and purpose in my life? How does this contribute to my overall performance?


Social

How do my relationships influence my overall

wellbeing and performance? What can I do to strengthen those relationships?


Self-worth

Do I approach life and all situations it presents from a place of believing that I am worthy? If not, imagine what the impact would be if I did?


Self-compassion

I would treat a friend with compassion if I saw they needed it. Do I treat myself like I would my best friend?

If not, imagine what the impact would be if I did?


Self-talk

How do I talk to myself?

Do I speak truth and fact to myself or assumptions and fiction?

Is it helpful or harmful to me?


You can download the model to refer to and a worksheet for your own reflection here.

Feel free to share with others and take some time go through this individually or with colleagues or family.

Conscious Personal Leadership v0.1
.pdf
Download PDF • 59KB
Conscious Personal Leadership Worksheet
Download • 65KB

I'd love to hear what ideas you or your group come up with as you go through this. Share them with me at fionadeehan@deehanleadershipcollaborative.co.nz

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I'll leave you with some comments from some clients who have taken part in workshops based on this model.


"When Fiona presented this model to the Occupational Health Nurses it immediately resonated with me. Many of the people I work with may require support in understanding their health issues and many have quite low levels of health literacy. My role is to develop an increase in understanding and empower them to make positive lifestyle changes. The model provides a framework for supporting them through this process, allowing them to understand, reflect, and therefore take ownership of their health. Having the prompts, questions and diagram helps them to contextualise what we are talking about. It is holistic and focuses on areas of health and wellbeing that we tend to overlook." Jackie Corby, RN, PG dip PH
I recently went to a workshop for post natal women where Fiona was speaking with the focus on mindset and wellbeing, something I feel is never really addressed for new mothers. Fiona's delivery and content was engaging and well thought about. It was more a round-the-table discussion rather than a lecture. I came away from this workshop with a new look at how to approach, analyse and manage difficult mental situations that may arise. Even though her talk was aimed at new/recent mothers, the skillset spoken about could be applied to any situation. A quote I took away with me and use daily is, "Be Kind to Yourself". Edel - workshop participant
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