Mike Hohnen

Coaching for personal growth, change and development

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As a leader do you have the courage to examine your mindset model?

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This week I’d like to explore a mindset model that will help you raise your awareness of your own mindset and how that influences how you come across as a team leader. 

In my previous blog post I started exploring the notion of leadership, leadership skills, what it takes to become a good team leader. Here we will dive deeper into what else it takes to develop followership as a team leader.

You get two versions video or full text. Pick whatever works best for you.

Here is a very simple mindset model that I use with leaders

a mindset model

The mindset model like all good models is simple and powerful. Integrate it into your tool box and you will be coming back to it again and again. I promise.

Above the line and below the line. 

You can approach life and each situation from two points of view. Above the line or below the line. Depending on what you choose you will see yourself and others very differently.

When you operate from a state of mind that is above the line you are at ease, open and in a state of trust. On the other hand, if you are operating in a state that is below the line, you are essentially in a state of threat ( Fight, flight, freeze) and closed.

If you operate from a mindset that is above the line then it’s suddenly about everything that is not you. It’s all about the project, it’s about all of us, it’s how we develop this, how we solutions etc.

When you operate from a mindset that is below the line – in a state of treat – everything becomes about you.

When I’m above the line, I’m responsive. I think about the issue before I respond. I weigh my words a little bit more carefully and try to see the bigger picture.

In a below the line mindset I just react ( in defence) to what shows up.

So, we could summarise our mindset model like this: When I am above the line it’s about outcomes.When I’m below the line, I am essentially just defending my fragile little ego.”

You know what it feels like.

If you think about it you know the difference between being above the line and below. When you are above the line you are learning and growing, there is this sense of flow. Things are going smoothly. On the other hand, when you are below the line every step is struggle every interaction with others is a battle. Your interactions with other people is  anywhere from mildly- to deeply toxic

The first step is self-awareness 

Are you able to detect if you are above or below the line in any give situation – do you even notice? Do you notice that your body reacts in certain ways when you are below the line (we all react differently). What are signs you pick up when you feel even slightly threatened?

And once you notice, are you able to tell yourself the truth about what’s going on?

I am feeling slightly scared just now. This person is is challenging my know how how and it makes me angry.

The second step is to understand that being above or below the line is largely choice you have made – it is not something some one else has imposed on you.

That also means that if you feel like it, you can chose a different state of mind:

  • shift from being closed to open
  • shift from being defensive to being curious
  • stop wanting to be right and wanting to learn instead
  • stop being reactive and start being responsive
  • end the drama and start creating something worthwhile

It your choice

But you can’t make that call if you are not even aware what is happening. If you don’t notice, if you are on zombie autopilot rushing through your todo list, just trying to return all the balls that are coming at you, back over the net trying to drop as few as possible, then there is not much awareness. 

That’s a catastrophe. It’s really a catastrophe. 

So, we’re going to be exploring this mindset model a bit further in my future blog posts

What does it take to cultivate more awareness? How do I consciously make these important shifts in my mindset – how can I change my state of mind? 

What actually goes on below the line? Because I’ve given you a few hints but to be honest it’s quite a swamp down there. I mean drama triangles galore, and all sorts of other nonsense that you need to be able to identify and flag for yourself so that you can decide on an appropriate response.

We will also explore when is it OK to be below the line – because sometimes it is . You are not a robot. The only thing that is not OK is to not to be aware that you are below the line.

A final thought for you

So until next time here is a final though for you:

When you now think about being a teamleader – how much followership do you think you can generate from a mindset that is operating from below the line?

What happens if most of us during the day are all operating below the line in our organisations? What kind of a company culture do you think that creates?

It’s gets toxic, really toxic.

So, your assignment for the week is to start to notice. Just ask yourself a few times during the day ( set a reminder on your phone very 90 minutes) Where am I just now: Above or below the line?

If you would like to dive deeper into this subject I highly recommend : “Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps: How to Thrive in Complexity” by Jennifer Carvey Gerber

Leadership skills every team leader needs to master

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Team leader showing leadership skills
https://thoughts4action.com/transforming-team-managers-team-leaders-2/

I get a lot of questions around this subject of leadership and leadership skills. 

How does one develop leadership skills? Are leaders born or developed? What do I need to do to become a better teamleader? I have colletede the over the years – I have over 300 variant of this question. What are way that i can develop my leadership skills 

Despite the fact that there are thousands of books on this and masses of courses one can dive into this question comes up again and again.

So this is how I think about it

Or if you prefer to read about leadership skills…

To understand what leadership is, we need to look at the concept of followership. There is no leadership if there is no followership. The followers define the leader. 

I love this old joke:

A leader without followers is just a guy out for a walk. ( or a girl).

If you’re not able to generate followership, you are not a leader, period. 

So what does it take to generate followership? 

The essence of generating followership is the ability to build trust. If you’re not able to build trust with the people around you, you don’t have a chance. There is no followership. They may  pay  lip service to what you say and ask, but there’s no true engagement or genuine followership.

Let’s examine some of the elements that make up trust?

Where are we going ?

The notion of leadership, first of all, implies that we are going some place. It is implicitly understod that you are leading me towards something. So where are we going? Can you explain to me the direction that we’re going and why we need to go there? If you can’t tell me where we’re going and why we need to go there, why on earth would I choose to follow you?

We can have the big grandiose visions, missions, whatever you want to call them. John F. Kennedy famously said “Put a man on the moon”. Martin Luther King roared : “ I have a dream !”

What do you as a team leader see for your team as a future? Where do you want to take this team? What will be your legacy?. Do you want to be the best customer service team in the organisation? Do you want to be known as the team that was innovative and brought new solutions to your customers? What is it? What is it that you’re trying to do? What is going to be different because of your leadership?

Peter Drucker wrote : What manager mange is change – the rest is admin

If it’s just about maintaining status quo, staying put, then we don’t need a leader, do we? We just need a custodian. Somebody to tally the time sheets and make sure nobody steals the furniture. There’s no need for leadership.

Will I be safe?

When we’ve established that we are going somewhere exciting, then the next thought that comes to me as your team member is am I going to be safe? Is it safe for me to follow you? 

That safety comes on two basic levels. Is it physically safe? Are we going to do something dangerous that could put me in danger? In most companies we’re not going to climb Mount Everest or something like that, but there are lots of teams that do all sorts of dangerous stuff. So they need to trust that the team leader will keep them safe.

The other aspect which is much more crucial in corporations and organisations is am I going to be emotionally safe? Am I going to feel okay being on this team? Am I going to be worried that you’re suddenly going to scream and shout at me? Am I going to be worried that if I make a mistake, every one will ridicule me? Am I going to feel accepted by the others? Is it going to be okay to voice my opinion? Is it going to be okay to be me? Am I going to fit in? 

Your job is to provide safety

These are important aspects that you as a leader have to find out how to accommodate. How do you make everybody feel safe physically and emotionally? It’s your responsibility.

It’s the classic trade off that goes right back to when we hunted in small groups on the great plains. We accept that somebody in the group is a leader and that being the leader comes with some perks? (First choice of females or food etc back in those days – now,  the leader may just get the better office chair ;-) )

None the less, the trade off is that I accept you as my leader if you protect me. That’s the basic deal. 

Will your see me?

If I’m going on this trip with you as my leader, will you see me or will I just be one more insignificant cog in the machinery? When I talk to you are you going to be on your iPhone half the time trying to do something else? Or are you truly going to see me, when we interact with each other?

Will I learn and grow?

Am I going to develop myself? Or is this project mainly about you as the team leader and how you are going to further your career? Is it our project or your project. Will you as my leadertake the time and create the space for me to improve myself.

Will I be allowed to contribute?

Will you as my team leader recognize that I have a contribution to make and will I be allowed to make that contribution? Will I be allowed to do what I’m best at?

So if I’m going to be allowed to contribute, learn and develop , it means that you as a leader are going to have to take some risks. I might make mistakes, I might screw up, I might make you look stupid. That’s the risk that you’re going to have to take. And when I do that, will you protect me despite the fact that I screwed up?

These are the key leadership skills that you need to work on if your want to build real followership. 

  • Where are we going? 
  • Will I feel safe? 
  • Will you see me? 
  • Will I learn and grow? 
  • Will I be able to contribute? 

And they all boil down to one thing:

Can I trust you?

How can you work on and develops the key leaderships skills?

You cannot learn to be a leader by reading  a book. The same way that you can’t learn to ride a bicycle by reading a book, you need to do something and then you need to notice the feedback that you get. What happens when I do it? Are people taking chances? Are they contributing? Are they engaged? What is actually happening on my team? 

Do I need to do something differently?

Sometimes it is really helpful to have somebody to discuss and develop some of these reflections with. That’s what one can use a coach for.

I hope this was a helpful. I’d love to hear your comments, ideas, feedback, anything you have to add, I am alway thrilled to engage with  the people who read my blog and who also have a passion for Leadership .

Would you like to know more?

Download my free paper called exploring leadership.

In this ebook, I to try to demystify what leadership and leadership skills are all about and translate what may seem fluffy to some people into practical steps that can relatively easily be integrated into your busy day.

Simply enter your email below to download this ebook now!

The Secret Sauce in Hospitality

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I have been working on a major revamp of my training site. During the coming weeks I will be moving all my material over into this format.

First step as always is to ensure there is a solid understanding of the Service Profit Chain that is always my foundation.

Take a look you might even be tempted to  explore the service profit chain for your self – or if you know it all ready – maybe just a quick refrensher.

What is a good book on leadership?

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This is a question I get all the time.

In my view there is no one universal book on leadership  that you must read.

The book you will learn most from is your own daily journal. Seriously.

Ask yourself  these 4 questions at the end of each day:

  • What was my intention today?
  • What did I observe?
  • What did I learn?
  • What is my intention for tomorrow?

Do this every day and you will learn the most amazing  things.

Accelerate your learning by doing a weekly review of the past weeks entries.

Now ask your self:

  • What was my intention this week?
  • What did I observe?
  • What did I learn?
  • What is my intention for the coming week ?

Enjoy

The courage to look at yourself

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“The problem is that leaders think they’re supposed to be courageous in facing the outside world, whereas what is so profoundly transformative is the courage to look at yourself.

It’s the courage to not give up on yourself, even though you do see your aggression, jealousy, meanness, and so on.

And it turns out that in facing these things, we develop not self-denigration but compassion for our shared humanity.”

Pema Chödrön en dialogue avec Margaret Wheatley.
My friend Pierre Goirand posted this and I  love it

How your mindset contributes to the knowing-doing gap

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Last week, we looked at the knowing-doing gap and some of the causes behind that. But your mindset is possibly the biggest hindrance in closing your knowing-doing gap. That is what this week’s video is about.

Download The Mindset Checkup Test

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Mindset checkup

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Next week, we will have a look at what it takes to change our beliefs.

The knowing-doing gap

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In my previous blog post, I mentioned that I have decided to switch format in 2018 and try my hand at vlogging. Here is the first video in a new series about learning developing and getting better at stuff.

Next week, we will explore how your mindset contributes to the knowing-doing gap for many of us.