Welcome to Leadership Matters for July.
Emotionally intelligent leaders are aware of their impact on others. They are conscious of how their emotional state is highly influential on their team’s decision-making, cognition and performance.
Our articles this month remind us that in order to develop emotional intelligence, we first need to take a look in the mirror. As leaders, we need to take responsibility and accountability of our own actions, thoughts, behaviours, emotions and ways of communicating before we can understand others. The first step needs to be building our self-awareness.
In our first article, Member and organisational psychologist, Jude-Martin Etuka MIML, walks us through why we need to develop self-awareness in order to be able to lead others. He reminds us that leading others requires us to first lead ourselves.
Kerry Swan, author of the book Heartfelt Leader, discusses the importance of personal responsibility. She makes the case that leaders need to look in the mirror and own their own personal and professional baggage. Taking personal responsibility enhances accountability in the workplace and is essential for management and leadership professionals.
A highlight for me this month is inspirational Member Adam Pearce IMLa, who tells us about the various volunteering positions he holds on top of his professional role. He explains that he is motivated by demonstrating to his children the need to give more than we take, and leave the world in a better place than how we found it.
Finally, productivity expert Donna McGeorge gives us four incredibly useful tips on how to manage our time and avoid burnout. The best part is that many of these can be implemented straight away!
I know you will enjoy the readings in this month’s Leadership Matters regardless of how well-connected you are with your own self.
Be your best, Marie-Louise Pearson OAM FIML Life
