Secrets to Optimising your Performance as a Leader.

October 6, 2021

Due to high demand, JasperRose partnered with Antonia Smith once again to conduct another Leadership workshop titled:

How to think like a leader and optimise your performance.

The session provided an opportunity for those who were unable to attend the first leadership workshop to participate and take away valuable insights on how they could best achieve their leadership potential.

Biggest Challenges in Leadership.

Antonia started by discussing some of the biggest challenges faced by leaders. The top four beings:

  1. Optimising your team’s performance
  2. Influencing stakeholders/ peers/ upwards relationships
  3. Balancing life and own workload
  4. Achieving results and maximising own performance

Each participant had the chance to identify which of these challenges, they had experienced most. It was interesting to note that not everyone had the same challenges. Try and identify which of the four you are having issues with.

What Does it Mean to be a Leader?

In the next segment of the workshop, Antonia raised the question ‘What do leaders want?’ She detailed the most common wants of a leader and asked each participant which wants to resonate with them the most. See the picture below and ask yourself which one you can relate to.

As you know, not every leader is motivated by the same thing or wants to achieve the same thing. The different motivators referenced within the workshop are below:

  • Titles
  • Freedom
  • Rewards
  • Fun
  • Money
  • Friendships

List your motivators in corresponding order.

3 Secret strategies.

Whilst discussing the importance of thinking like a leader. Antonia revealed 3 secret strategies that can be used to reprogramme your mind and help you achieve your leadership potential.

Secret 1

“Get CLEAR and see the TRUTH”

Between

Where you are vs Where you want to be

Secret 2

“Master your MIND”

Stop your inner saboteurs running the show

Secret 3

“Try something Different”

Be agile, be dynamic, be open

Utilising these secret strategies will not only help you in the short term, but all will have a positive impact on you as a future leader.

Once you have gone through the key strategies, the next exercise will help you hone in on, your specific areas for improvement and help you identify what is not working. Whilst doing this exercise Antonia emphasised the importance of being specific.

Identify what is NOT working for you:

  • At home
  • At work
  • In your Personal Life
  • Financially
  • Work Satisfaction
  • Hours you are working
  • Health
  • Career Progression
  • Performance at work
  • Yourself as a manager

Mindset

This segment focused on teaching leaders how to identify what mindset blocks they had. You can also do this, by thinking of what mindset you had and any thoughts that have hindered you from achieving your leadership potential.

i.e., Negative, doubtful, scarce, worrying etc. Once you’ve identified the mindset you have had, you can start to improve it.

Get Straight with yourself

This segment of the workshop focused on practical ways to improve yourself by setting realistic goals. Ask yourself the following questions:

  • What are you believing about yourself?
  • What are you believing about your career?
  • What are you believing about leadership?
  • Your skills
  • Your gravitas
  • Your ability to influence?

Finally, Antonia suggested that knowing the reason why you are doing what you are doing or why you want, what you want is important in keeping you on the right track. She asked the following question: What is the deep need here that is running the show?

It could be safety, security, being comfortable, looking good in front of others, being liked and admired or a sense of belonging. Remembering the reason behind anything you do or want will help you stay focused.

To conclude, constant introspection and personal observation should help you achieve the results you desire. The first step to leadership success is understanding what it means to be a leader, secondly what drives you as a leader, and lastly what mindset you have and nurture. 

For more information and useful tips on how to grow as a leader, please contact us via the following email: [email protected].