LEADERSHIP CHRONICLES: WHY DO WE DO YOGA ANYWAY?

Mindfulness is an important developmental focus of our Warrior Training Leadership Program.  In particular, our Yoga sessions helps to quiet the mind, help to develop the awareness people need to recognize the desire/need for change.  Once awareness is developed there is generally less resistance on the path to change.

The leader of our Mindfulness Development initiatives wrote the letter below to the Ryerson University Women's Basketball team prior to their session today.  The letter provides clarity on the reasons why yoga is a very important component to their leadership development.  I thought it super insightful and connected with the purpose for our Warrior Training that I wanted to share it with the followers of ttheMOVEMENT.  Enjoy!

Why Do We Do Yoga Anyways?  Why Don't We Just Stretch?

It's an interesting topic.  Why do we do up-dog, down-dog, side-half-umbrella dog?  Why not just stretch?  Well, you see, because the physical practice of yoga is merely a piece (and a small one at that) of what yoga really is.  In fact, yogis started to practice the physical postures of yoga so that they could meditate for longer.

There is a cool thing that happens when you step onto the mat.  You are instantly driven inwards into that chaotic, rat-race of a brain and forced to look at yourself.  For people just starting out, it's typical that they avoid this process by getting really competitive or joke around, but eventually something happens as you continue to practice...you're brain shuts off and you are left with just you.  Not you plus the bullshit (oh my god I have a test, why did Angela say that about me, do I look fat...), just you.  This inner connection with self begins to open you up to a higher consciousness which eventually spills out into your life.

Don't believe me?  That's fine. Meet me on the mat.

Each posture does one of two things:

1.   It exposes something about your personality.  So for example, if you hate backbends you might ask yourself why you don't like being vulnerable and opening your heart freely.  Or, if you can't hold a balancing pose as well as you usually do, what is distracting you in you life right now?

2.  It brings energy into your world.  Example: As you hold postures that burn like crazy, and keep you holding it even though you feel like your legs are going to explode!!! This translates into us having the confidence to keep going when life gets tough.

This may be a lot to swallow, maybe not.  All I know is that it also happened to me.  Despite just wanting to do yoga for the hot ass, it eventually connected me to my spirit, and I began to see the world and other people differently.  I became a better version of myself; stronger, more flexible in my thinking and decision-making, calmer, and more and more and more.

It is absolutely okay to come to yoga just to relax, but I just wanted you to know that there is a magic to it.  If you keep up with it, not only will it transform your body, it will transform your life.  Yoga is not a religion or a path- not in the Western world anyway.  However, it will lead you to a path, one that will bring you endless fulfillment and joy.

Rock on friends.

Namaste,

Sarah Amaterasu Hauch xo

 

LEADERSHIP CHRONICLES - HOW DEEP IS THE WATER?

The last LEADERSHIP CHRONICLES post was about Personal Courage.  One contextual factor that  I continually remind myself, coaching and management clients is that sometimes people just aren't ready to engage with their Personal Courage.  Personal Courage is a process as well as a behaviour.  You don't just wake up one day and do it without having practiced, trained and developed the skill.  

Just like your handwriting.  You weren't born able to write your name.  You practiced it.  A lot.  Right now, grab a pen or pencil and a piece of paper.  Write your name on the page with your dominant hand.  Take a look and appreciate your work.  Now put the writing utensil in your non-dominant hand and write your name.  Different or the same? Of course it's different.  You don't practice writing your name with your non-dominant hand so it stands to reason that your skills need work.  Same can be said for developing Personal Courage (or any other skill in life).

The way to practice Personal Courage is to identify opportunities where the risks, consequences, trade-offs and fear are less.  Connect with your Fight, Flight, Freeze response.  Chose to activate your willingness to act.  Like the first time you jumped into deep water, or cold water.  Parents, coaches and educators should look for these low risk opportunities for those you serve to help develop their Personal Courage.  Could be public speaking, acting in the school play, sharing information with teammates, making a presentation at a staff meeting.  

Like any skill it must be practiced to be refined, consistent and second nature.  Practice with these events and the events where the risks are greater will be easier to deal with.  What we're really working on here is growing your willingness to act.  As noted in LEADERSHIP CHRONICLES- PERSONAL COURAGE, the athlete, staff, student, child will still feel the fear, but you would have helped them to develop their willingness to act so that it becomes a habit.  

Until that point understand that the most courageous person you know still only demonstrates their courage on their terms when they developed the necessary skills inventory.  Also understand that stepping to Personal Courage is stepping into the unknown.  We all know how comfortable that feels.  It's an adventure.  So be kind to the person making the step, especially if its you.  Spotlight the first step to help freeze the new behaviour, regardless of the outcome.  Below is a great nugget from a Seth Godin Blog post, share it with your people.

"How deep is the water?"

If it's over your head, does it really matter?

At some point, when the stakes are high enough and your skills and desires are ready, you will swim.

And when you swim, who cares how deep the water is?

[You might find that the deeper water is actually calmer and easier to swim in...]

LEADERSHIP CHRONICLES - PERSONAL COURAGE

At a recent Warrior Training (Team Development) session I helped a team develop clarity on the
qualities of Personal Courage.

Personal fear, the unknown and a willingness to act greater than the personal fear are all characteristics and behaviour that make up Personal Courage.  Personal fear being a relative subjective fear that one may have, but one that may not be general to everyone, like the fear of flying or fear of heights.  The unknown simply put is uncertainty, when we try to imagine an outcome.  The willingness to act is your desire to make something happen.

I've coached for years and heard athletes share how they feel uncomfortable offering teammates direction in games when they themselves are making the same mistakes.  Interesting point as it pertains to people in glass houses throwing rocks.  However, far less important in the world of personal and team performance.

In our recent session, players/teammates opened up and shared about some reasons they feel uncomfortable or fear certain interactions or communications with teammates or coaches.  These personal fears are the hurdle that must be passed for courage and performance to exist.  The fears all centred around shame, fear of what my teammate or coach will think about me.

Courageous acts involve feeling fear.  There is a misconception that courage is this chest pounding demonstration of bravery or heroism.  One of the fundamental things that define courage is the connection with vulnerability, fear.  However, the act of courage also involves a special relationship.  The relationship between the willingness to act and a personal fear.  When there is courage, the willingness to act is greater than the feeling of personal fear.

Feeling the resistance of fear in a multitude of situations is normal.  The most successful people in society "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway".  Research shows that senior executives in business demonstrate this better than anyone.  Their success can be correlated to the level to which their desire to act is greater than the fear they experience.  This doesn't mean they don't make mistakes, but it means they don't get paralyzed by fear, refuse to act and miss out on opportunities to perform and grow.

I've added a quick snippet on Personal Courage from Robert Biswas-Diener a pioneer in Positive Psychology.  Robert is an expert on the development of Courage.  In Positive Psychology there are two general approaches to Courage development.  Managing the the perceived fear and/or boosting the willingness to act.  Consider this the next time your faced with a personal fear.

LEADERSHIP CHRONICLES - ACCOUNTABILITY

Very interesting team coaching session last night where the concept of accountability was discussed

and demonstrated.  For me, accountability means that it is you and only you who is responsible for your performance.  With teams, it's that you have a responsibility to do everything you can, within your circle of control and circle of influence to perpetuate the desired team performance.  Modeling accountability can create a culture of accountability.

I'd asked our team to follow a spotlighting and appreciation ritual at the end of each practice or game.  Last night I followed up with the team to see if it was being done.  I asked "How's the spotlighting after practices and games going?" There were quizzical, slightly embarrassed, "oh s%^t" looks on the faces of the athletes.  They weren't doing it.  Their answer was "We haven't been doing it".  They were not participating in this ritual that was deemed an important part of their team building.  When I asked for the reason that the spotlighting ritual was not being observed the players offered several reasons; we forgot; they didn't realize that it was a priority, etc.  I allowed the players to share a few more reasons, then I stopped them.  I told them that the reason that the ritual wasn't carried out was because I did not make it so.

One of the best ways to teach accountability is to model it.  I shared with the team that if I wanted the ritual to be practiced, I should have followed up earlier.  In my absence I could have communicated with the head coach about this practice and requested her involvement in ensuring it was done.  I could have delegated the task of facilitating the ritual to a player or players on the team.  I could have explained the ritual to one of the assistant coaches and asked them to facilitate the task in my absence until the ritual became habit and part of the team culture.  While the players chose not to do it, blaming them means not taking accountability.  It means not owning that area of the teams performance.  The players looked even more confused when I took accountability for them not carrying out the ritual.  Coaches are there to help people move to new levels of self-actualization.  We make mistakes, and we must be ok to share that we make mistakes with athletes or staff in our department.  If we want a culture of accountability we must model it.

Explain and model this concept to your staff, athletes or people whom you serve.  Its an important part of individual and team performance.  Stop blaming and take ownership for your performance and the performance of your team.

The interview below highlights the accountability issues at Rutgers University with former Athletic Director, Tim Pernetti.

LEADERSHIP CHRONICLES - PISSED OFF FOR GREATNESS!

"PISSED OFF FOR GREATNESS" is a clip of a Ray Lewis pre-game speech to the Stanford University Men's Basketball team.  I showed this clip in the two Mindset sessions I ran this week for two teams.

When I asked the athletes what they took from the video, this is what they shared:

"If tomorrow wasn't promised, what would you do today and who would you do it for?"

 The athletes shared, "play like it's the last game you will ever play, or like it's your last day on earth and play for yourself AND for your teammates".  This Ray Lewis statement really helped to get athletes focussed on being present and on the beautiful brotherhood or sisterhood that is team. Tomorrow is a distraction from now, where you need your focus to be to be your best in the moment and use all your tools to achieve your individual and team goals.

"Wins and losses come a dime a dozen, but effort is between you and you"

I'm spending a lot of time shifting athlete and coach paradigms to the process and away from the result. Control the controllables.  Athletes don't control wins and losses, they control their effort and the standard at which they chose perform.  Leaders on teams influence the standard at which their teammates chose to perform.  One athlete said there are times when it appeared to his teammates that he is giving his all, but that he's still got more in the tank.  The Ray Lewis statement helped him to connect with what he was holding back.  The athlete was courageous enough to share this with his teammates who all connected with his comments and feelings.

"I'm a new creature now than I was 5 minutes ago"

The Women's Basketball Team at Ryerson University really connected with this Ray Lewis statement.  They rejected the idea of being define by the past, even if it was as recent as 5 minutes ago.  They committed to parking mistakes and recreating themselves in each moment to stay present and grow in each moment.  They also connected with a persona they can adopt when on the court.  No longer are they Laura or Nicole, but now they can be a "Creature", an adaptable creation with warrior skills, ready to fight the good fight and be the best basketball teammate.

"If you ain't pissed off for greatness, then you're ok being mediocre and ain't no man in here happy being basic"

Paraphrasing one of the boys at St. Elizabeth's Catholic High School who said it best when he said "success it's not about being perfect, but rather about what we learn and how we grow through the pursuit of perfection".

Watch the clip and tell me what you take from the video.

GODINISMS - FEAR THE FEAR, FEEL THE FEAR

GODINISMS is new part of ttheMOVEMENT where I share the insights of thinker, author, Seth Godin.  He's a catalyst for conversations, that help us to MOVE.  Enjoy!

Seth Godin - Typad, November 1, 2013 - FEAR THE FEAR, FEEL THE FEAR

Most of the things we avoid are avoided because we're afraid of being afraid.

Too meta?

Sorry, but it's true. The negative outcomes that could actually occur due to speaking up in class, caring about our work product, interacting with the boss--there's not a lot of measurable risk. But the fear... the fear can be debilitating, or at the very least, distasteful. So it's easier to just avoid it altogether.

On the other hand, artists and leaders seek out that feeling. They push themselves to the edge, to the place where the fear lives. By feeling it, by exposing themselves to the resistance, they become more alive and do work that they're most proud of.

The fear doesn't care, either way. The choice is to spend our time avoiding that fear or embracing it.

LEADERSHIP CHRONICLES - TRINITY OF EXCELLENCE

Thank you to the Business Leadership class at GCS for inviting me to present Lord Alfred Tennyson's Trinity of Excellence.

The Trinity of Excellence is "Self-Reverence, Self-Knowledge and Self-Control".  In my opinion, effective and transformational leadership starts with an understanding and practice of these elements.

Self Reverence

·      Liking or loving yourself

·      Being comfortable in your own skin

·      Understanding you are enough

Self-Reverence leads to:

Self Confidence – Believing in myself – No perfection.  Set high standards and do your best.  If I don’t believe in me, then neither will followers.

Self Respect – honor, virtue, integrity, honesty and dignity – If I model for organizational culture

Self Esteem – take care of yourself and avoid unhealthy habits – less likely to seek escape in substance abuse, workaholism.

Prevents Egotism - exaggerated sense of self importance  - focus on self instead of real problems or follower development

A lack of Self-Reverence may lead to not so attractive personal characteristics:

Insecurity, Envy, Greed, Vacillation, Procrastination, over cautiousness, Pessimism, Cynicism, Arrogance

Guilt, Self pity

Self Knowledge – Know thyself

Being aware of capabilities you have and the knowledge and capabilities you don’t have.  It’s ok to not know everything.  “Its not what you do not know that gets you into trouble, it is what you know for sure that is not so”

Ignorance of oneself can lead to leaders trying something they are really not able to do.  Leaders influence subordinates to achieve goals.  Leaders who do not understand how they affect others lead effectively only by accident.  The complicated part of self-knowledge is that we are always changing.  Self Knowledge is like a moving target.

Also important to know how you are likely to react to in assorted situations:

How do you handle pressure?

How do you handle ambiguity and uncertainty?

How do you handle criticism?

How do you function when tired?

How do you handle disappointment and bad news?

What mistakes are you prone to making?

What buttons do people have to push to get you to do something that you know you should not do? 

How well do you listen? 

Why do you want the things you want?

Self Control

Power over ones basic instincts, desires and emotions. If you can’t control your emotions you can’t be expected to effectively control situations, resources and people.

Self-control enables the leader to focus on the situational needs.

Self-control inspires confidence, calm, loyalty, helpfulness, collegiality, attention to duty and the will to do a job well.

Lack of self-control leads to anger, rage, overreaction, recklessness, panic, anxiety, impetuousness, obstinacy and poor judgment.

LEADERSHIP CHRONICLES - MINDSET

Facilitating a Team Leadership session today with a Sr. Boys Basketball Team I asked the question "What are the goals for your season?"  Several members of the team promptly replied "Championship!!!!"  My next question to the team was "Do you have control over this goal?"

This is a common answer I get in Team Leadership sessions.  Teams do not control winning.  Teams control the process pieces that when executed correctly can enable them to win games.  There's a difference.  It's important for coaches to help athletes create a winning mindset.  You may still lose every game of the season, but the positive living skills associated with creating a winning mindset will serve your athletes throughout your season and beyond.  Habits must be developed in order to execute with precision and at a superior standard than opponents.  

In the session I ran we identified some process pieces that the team and players control to help them to win games and hopefully eventually a championship. 

Never Give Up - Players giving up because the task is difficult or the goal appears unachievable is not an options for teams trying to master a winning process.  Your desire to act, give and be your best must be greater than your fear of failure, shame or disapointment.  This mindset helps to develop compassion, resilience and courage.

Take No Shorts -  Perform every task at the level of precision and with the standard communicated from the coaching staff and team expectations.  Not touching a line today running suicides could mean, a cut not made with speed.  The result in a game could be a turnover.  We don't control the win, but we do control our personal standard when if comes to our process.

Work Together to Solve Problems - I had the team do a Blind Counting exercise.  After the fourth or fifth time the team successfully accomplished the task associated with the exercise.  In the debrief we established that the reason the team was successful was because the players shifted their focus from success (winning) to process; ensuring clear understanding of the rules, slowing down, listening to their teammates, timing.  In addition to developing a mindset change the team worked together to solve the problem.  In the case today it meant problem solving.