I am a proponent of appropriate chiropractic care. Over the years, I have learned that a skilled practitioner can keep my skeletal structure in alignment so that my body functions optimally. Once a skeptic, I was fortunate enough to be referred to a form of chiropractic care that truly transformed my life. I observed that when my skeletal structure is out of alignment, I experience discomfort. Eventually that discomfort leads to compensation from a different part of my body. Over time, the compensation leads to pain.
This is not unlike leadership.
When your inner leadership (skeletal structure) is out of alignment, you experience discomfort. For leaders, the presenting symptoms include frustration, fatigue, feeling “stuck,” etc. The leader often compensates by working more, harder or leaning on others to do so. This results in more misalignment. The pain shows up as compromised relationships, diminished trust, and a lack of enthusiasm, inspiration and effectiveness.
How does a leader get back into alignment?
If there were such a thing as a leadership “adjustment,” it would include the following:
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Check-up on pain points: What’s working and what’s not?
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Look beyond the symptom: What’s the root cause of the pain?
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Openness to adjust; Am I ready to allow the necessary adjustment to take place?
Leaders can sometimes be like patients who have become accustomed to their pain. It is transparent to them. They become so habituated to things being out of alignment that they don’t honestly believe it can be changed.
Before any chiropractic adjustment, the doctor invites you to take a deep breath. A leadership adjustment is no different.
The body cannot attune when it is in a reactive, stressed state. Nor can a leader….
As you enter 2014, my hope is that you are asking yourself, “Is my leadership in alignment or do I need an adjustment?”
Are you leading from your core, using all your capacities? Is your communication allowing for co-creativity in your teams and other significant relationships?
Visit Step Up Leader to apply for your leadership “adjustment.” It may be the one small and significant step into perfect leadership alignment.
