Four Fabulous Tips To Build Your Inner Strength As A Leader

Inner Strength is what you need to stay resilient, resourceful and to bounce back if you get knocked over.

How many times have you wished you had more Inner Strength, willpower or self-discipline?
How many times have you lacked the persistence and inner stamina to follow through on your goals and decisions?
How often do you ‘cave in’ on yourself and not do what you know you should?

Most people are not born with Inner Strength, but it can be developed like any other skill. It is inspiring to know that there are a number of things you can do to make yourself stronger.

Want to get better results as a Manager?

In this Great Managers® MasterClass extract, Leadership and People Management Expert, Sandra Wood gives you Four Fabulous Tips to build the Inner Strength you need to succeed as a Leader.

These tips will:

Give you tangible things to practice to make you stronger
Build your confidence as a leader
Strengthen your achievement drive

Subscribe to the PODCAST of the “Great Managers® MasterClass”

[Video Transcript Below]

Welcome

This MasterClass will increase your understanding of Inner Strength as a leader and why it’s important to make you stronger, more confident and more resilient.

Inner Strength Defined

Let’s start with a definition of Inner Strength.

The dictionary says that Inner Strength is:

The integrity of character and resoluteness of will. It’s mental resistance to doubt or discouragement and fortitude. It’s confidence or power that comes from inside oneself.

Would you like a little bit more of that?

A leader with Inner Strength has the mental and emotional skills to confront and manage the challenges of life.

Because being a leader isn’t always easy.

Over the years I’ve seen many leaders find themselves in difficult situations and they avoid or deny them or succumb to the situation instead of finding the strength to deal with it in a skilful and courageous way.

With Inner Strength, you have the option to choose your behaviour and reactions instead of being ruled by them.

Inner Strength makes you feel more powerful and in-charge.

Inner Strength is about closing your performance gaps.

It’s about generating lasting change.

People with Inner Strength set a great example and inspire others.

People with Inner Strength persevere despite the challenges. They get great results.

Inner Strength is built over time. It doesn’t happen overnight.

There is a starting point that we build upon. It takes time, self-discipline, persistence and practice.

There can be a perception that the development of Inner Strength requires a lot of mental and physical strain and effort but this is not necessarily true.

Yes, it might involve some discomfort, like the development of any skill. But you can develop Inner Strength in a gradual, simple way by practising different thinking and behaviour and persevering over time.

Guess what, you might even enjoy it!

4 Fabulous Tips to Build Your Inner Strength as a Leader

So let’s have a look at my 4 tips to Build your Inner Strength as a Leader.

Unsurprisingly you will hear that some of our Great Managers® skills will come to play here. So we’re going to talk about the specific skills that you might need to dial up your Inner Strength.

These 4 tips are what I call the ABCD of building Inner Strength.

Leadership Skill A – is for Amp Up your Awareness

We all have some level of awareness, and whatever that level is, it’s time to Amp it up to take it to the next level.

This is about paying attention and increasing your ability to focus. To do this, you need to strengthen your observing self, your mindfulness.

In Great Managers® Strategy 1, we learn about “Be Where You Are Now”.

To be a Great Manager, you need to notice more than the average person does. You need to notice your own patterns, your style, what works, and what doesn’t.

Find out more about the benefits of Self Awareness for Managers

Leadership Skill B – is for Build your Achievement Drive

Achievement Drive is the level of desire, effort and commitment given to individual goals.

You can build this drive and make it stronger.

This is something that can be learned.

Start by making small achievements. Make the small achievements on something important to you, your starting point.

Track your progress and make this your “mojo”.

Marshall Goldsmith in his book called:

“Mojo: How to Get It, How to keep it, How to Get it Back if You Lose It”

…defines Mojo as something that’s purposeful and powerful. It’s a way of being that allows someone to be very effective and successful.

If you make achievement part of your mojo then making small achievements on a regular basis will increase your Inner Strength.

It’s a great way to build your confidence and belief in yourself too. High achievers get noticed!

Want to build skills that will REALLY get you noticed? Check out the Great Managers® Academy

Leadership Skill C – is for Consciously Think, Consciously Feel, Consciously Choose

We all know that awareness alone is never enough.

Just being able to see something isn’t enough to change your behaviour.

That’s why you have to build this skill as well.

The ability to Consciously Think, Consciously Feel, Consciously Choose and build it strong. Because this is the skill that moderates those amygdala hijacks that we learn about in Strategy 2 of Great Managers® .

We all have these hijacks from time to time. This is the skill that moderates the Amygdala. The emotional, impulsive, primitive part of our brain.

We need to have a good balance between thinking and feeling. Because some people are very logical and they value thinking over feeling and some people are very sensitive and value feeling over thinking. But to be strong, you have to be able to access both in equal measure.

This skill is about being aware and thinking, “No, I’m not going to say that!” Before saying something that might damage your relationships and you’ll regret later.

This skill is about caring about yourself and others enough that you will pull yourself up.

None of us is perfect, but this skill is about reducing the number of those episodes so that you don’t lose energy through feelings of guilt or shame or remorse.

And D…is about Deciding to Get Healthy

You cannot be strong if you’re not healthy.

The quality of the food you eat, the way you move or exercise and the quality of your sleep are essential factors in high performance.

Did you know that we are the most obese, addicted, and medicated cohort of adults in history?

People are numbing themselves with food and other substances to get instant gratification or so they feel less stressed or upset or whatever else.

Our health is so important to the quality of our life, and the quality of our thinking, and our levels of energy.

Our health is our responsibility.

What are the Benefits of Building Inner Strength?

What’s in it for you?

One of our Great Managers® mantras is: Value your energy like the precious resource it is.

When you’re strong on the inside, you have ample energy and stamina. So when facing a challenge that depletes you, you will bounce back and recharge more quickly.
Building your Inner Strength will help you achieve your objectives and goals, not just at work but in your life as well.
You’ll become more resourceful and resilient once you’ve tapped into your Inner Strength.
You can see yourself in action and you have the power to shape your leadership and life.
You realise that you have this power when a familiar situation looms in front of you. Like one of your performance gaps. And you wisely, resourcefully choose to go another way.
People with Inner Strength stand out from the crowd.

Every one of you has the opportunity every day to make a difference in your world of work through the way you approach it, the way you apply your Great Managers® skills and the actions you take.

Final Note

What can you take away from this lesson and apply in your role to build your inner strength?

Remember, small achievements… just take 1 thing and apply it today.

The benefits are huge and each step you take is one that will increase your confidence and competence as a manager.

If you want help with that in your organisation, get in touch with us today.