The 3 R’s: How to Spring Clean Your Leadership Mindset
Your leadership mindset dictates the way you manage your team, handle challenges and overcome setbacks. As Ryan Gottfredson and Chris Reina explain in their Harvard Business Review article:
“Mindsets are leaders’ mental lenses that dictate what information they take in and use to make sense of and navigate the situations they encounter. Simply, mindsets drive what leaders do and why.”
Spring cleaning your mindset allows you to clean that lens; clear the clutter, let go of limiting beliefs, reduce burnout, and bring clarity to your work. The question is: how do you “spring clean” the way you function as a leader?
In challenging and uncertain situations, we have seen leaders with fixed mindsets display behaviors of grasping for control, pushing blame, grinding it out and trying to fix everything themselves. Their employees tend to be less engaged, fearful of taking risks to implement new strategies or speak up to improve things.
When dealing with transitions and challenges like IPOs, layoffs, budget cuts, new system rollouts, COVID19 panic, market fluctuations, etc, employees look to their leaders for guidance to navigate the uncertainties. They look to their leaders to see how they are managing fast-changing and adverse situations so that they too can learn to be resilient.
We have seen many cases where leaders take a step back during challenging times to fully assess the situation, and choose to empower their employees to continue doing their best work.
For example, after an acquisition, the new CEO personally flew down to the newly acquired company to reassure the employees that no one will be laid off, giving them the confidence to keep doing their work.
We’ve also seen a leader recognize that his teams were showing signs of burnout, so before moving forward with expansion plans, he chose to pause and hire M Meditation to empower his team with mindfulness tools. We helped them manage the burnout, build resilience, and better navigate the upcoming growth, rather than forcing the team to charge ahead under the current circumstances.
These two examples of the “we are in this together” mentality builds trust and creates a brave space within teams to tackle their challenges together.
If you struggle to bring this to your leadership, we have good news: our brains are malleable. Your mindset is a muscle that can be strengthened and improved upon and one of the ways to do that is through mindfulness training.
Here at M Meditation, we have designed a Reset, Recharge, Renew Rx program to help you refresh your leadership mindset after the chaos of the holidays, and the fluctuations and market instability of Q1, helping you strengthen your resilience for the coming months.
Keep reading to get a better understanding for how these 3 R’s can be applied in your current environment to help you become a leader that’s mentally strong, resilient and empowering.
RESET: Calibrate Your Response System Back To Equilibrium
The spring can be hard enough on our minds and bodies. There are many negative seasonal effects from the winter on our moods, cognitive ability, and stamina. On top of this, you might be navigating sudden changes such as having to look for a new job, organizational changes such as change of CEO, or working alone at home because of COVID19. All of these stressors may add up to you feeling a sense of sensory overload and your nervous system goes into a constant fight-flight mode, never sure whether it can relax or stay at the ready for the next hit of bad news.
Some stress is good for us, it gives us the ignition needed to take positive constructive action. But constant fight-flight results in knee-jerk reactions, decisions from fear, and loss of perspective.
This is where the first “R” comes into play: Reset to your equilibrium. This recalibration process is all about reflection and helps you take stock of your current state.
How to Reset Your Leadership Mindset
Reset your stress levels with 30 minutes in nature.
A research study from the University of Michigan found that spending more than 30 minutes outside in the sunny spring weather leads to a higher mood. It also broadened participants' minds, leaving them more open to new information and creative thoughts.
We recently brought a group into nature to experience forest bathing to help reset their nervous system. There, we guided them to open up all of their senses to fully immerse in the sights, scents, and sounds of the forest. They could walk as much or as little as they want; think as much or as little as they want.
Not only did this experience offer the body a chance to slow down and the mind an opportunity to replenish exhausted mental resources, the group also became aware of their current state of mind, body and being.
Forest bathing (Shinrin-yoku) was introduced in Japan in 1982 as a national health program. It has been scientifically proven to reduce stress hormone production, improve feelings of happiness and free up creativity, as well as lower heart rate and blood pressure, boost the immune system, and accelerate recovery from illness.
So this weekend, plan to spend some time around big trees in nature to reset the nervous system, and recalibrate your center back to equilibrium.
RECHARGE: Increase Resilience to Navigate Challenges and Stress
While the first R is focused on resetting, the second R, recharge, is where you take action with mindfulness and meditation. These two practices can recharge your energy and rejuvenate your psyche.
Meditation not only helps you refuel in the short term but with practice, it also allows you to stay on a more mindful and connected path that makes all future challenges easier. When learned and done consistently, meditation will open new doors. Here’s how:
A scientific study that compared “cognitive rigidity” of those who meditate versus those who didn’t and found that regular meditation led to more creative problem-solving abilities.
Another study, with more than 3,500 participants, concluded a mindfulness meditation program improved anxiety, depression, and pain. In some cases, it also helped with stress and improved mental health-related quality of life.
Dr. Herbert Benson, meditation pioneer, founder of Harvard’s Mind and Body Medical Institute, and author of the book, The Relaxation Response, explains that meditation counteracts the physiological effects of the “fight or flight response” to stress—a reaction that causes muscle tension, headache, upset stomach, racing heartbeat, and shallow breathing.
A neuroscience study of mindfulness meditation found that regular practice can help increase an individual’s focus, control, and self-awareness by effectively rewiring the networks in the brain.
We’ve seen these benefits play out first hand with our retreat participants. Here’s what some people had to say:
“The retreat helped me reconnect and stay rooted in mindfulness. I was also able to renew my self-confidence and recharge my ability to navigate through ambiguous situations.”
“My sense of calmness was renewed! Instead of thinking of the past or thinking of the future I am able to be present with a calm demeanor.”
“If you're seeking to gain a better handle on stress brought on by day to day demands in your career/business or simply looking to develop a better balance between personal and professional energy distribution, these women have proven recipes built for optimal success. You will not find a better outlet for growth anywhere. I wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone and everyone looking to up-level their performance in any discipline.”
How to Recharge Your Leadership Mindset
While meditation is different for everyone, the goal is to train your brain as you would a muscle during a workout. Luckily, you don’t need to spend an hour meditating every day to reap the benefits and train that muscle.
Instead, start slow and build meditation into your daily routine. Kick-start your mindfulness training with our meditation guide: The Meditation Tips You Need to Create a Practice IRL.
RENEW: Rejuvenate Your Spirit and Rediscover the Passion for Your Work
You could very well be on the road to burnout without knowing it. Burnout is an epidemic that plagues nearly two-thirds of all full-time workers, which also wreaks havoc on our productivity, mental and physical health, according to Gallup.
Image Source: Gallup
How to Renew Your Leadership Mindset
The first step in renewing your mindset is to review your “why.” It’s important to review why you do what you do as you grow and evolve because your purpose evolves with you. By anchoring yourself to what’s true to you at each stage of your leadership growth, you allow yourself to build upon who you’ve become and create an even greater sense of renewal and empowerment.
Set a timer for 5 minutes and use the following prompt to anchor into your “why”:
“Why is it important that you do what you do?”
Write down your leadership commitment for the next 90 days. After you have reviewed your why, commit to an intention for the 90 days to help you implement your leadership. Here’s a template to get you started:
I am a leader and team-mate who is ________.
I show up for others by ________.
I feel ready to let go of ________, and commit to ________ instead.
Spring Clean Your Leadership Mindset As A Springboard For Continual Growth
A recent Bain survey sought to discover how leaders can inspire their teams and found that centeredness was the most important characteristic: “Centeredness is a state of greater mindfulness, achieved by engaging all parts of the mind to be fully present.” While there are 33 other characteristics for inspired leadership, it all stems from being centered.
You can use the 3 Rs: Reset, Recharge, and Renew, as your foundation to spring clean your leadership mindset and become more centered and clear, increasing resilience and reducing stress. Once you do, you’ll not only be happier and more effective in your role, but you’ll also inspire others with your leadership.
Schedule a phone call with us to learn more about how our mindfulness training program can help your team Reset, Recharge, and Renew.
p.s. If you ever need a warm hello, a 😊emoji, or some kind words to uplift your spirits this season, pop over here and say hi. We're here for you.