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Effective leaders notice context, not just content. Conscious leaders pause, listen, and shift their mindset from "to me" to "by me." Address context first or the same problems keep coming back.
Effective leaders notice context, not just content. Conscious leaders pause, listen, and shift their mindset from "to me" to "by me." Address context first or the same problems keep coming back.
Content versus Context brought to you by the Conscious Leadership Group. Find them on the web@www.conscious.is. what are you paying attention to? What differentiates conscious leaders from unconscious leaders is that they pay as much attention to context as they do content. All leadership is a conversation. All conversation has content and context. Content is what we're talking about. Context is how we're talking about it. When you're reviewing next year's budget with your team, you're having a conversation. The content of the conversation is revenue and expenses. Good leaders pay attention to the content, and in many cases they are content experts. Conscious leaders, however, pay attention to context. They're always noticing how they're having the conversation. Are they having the conversation from curiosity or defensiveness, wanting to listen, learn, and grow? Or wanting to defend their egos and prove their right, claiming responsibility or placing blame, openness, and candour? Or from withholding and manipulating? One shorthand for context is to me versus by me. To me leaders see themselves as at the effect of people, circumstances, and conditions life is happening to them. They're victims of the world around them. Bi me leaders see themselves as creators of their experience. They take radical responsibility for whatever is occurring in their lives. They live from a great experience of empowerment. Conscious leaders pay as much attention to context because context in the long run determines how innovative, creative, effective, and collaborative our teams and we can be. When you're in to me, we're having a conversation based in fear or threat, and when we're in by me, we're having a conversation based in trust. Threat and fear produce results that leaves a toxic residue. In the end, what we have observed over and over again is that when leaders have a conversation from 2Me, issues don't ultimately get resolved. They recycle. This recycling of issues is a major loss of time, money, and energy. Unconscious leaders try to address this recycling by doubling down on content. Conscious leaders address the context first before addressing the content. Conscious leaders identify when they and others are in to me mindset. They understand that this reactivity is coming from insecurity and threat, and they invite themselves and others to shift. Often they simply ask that people pause and take a breath because whenever they're triggered and in to me they're not breathing well and they're amped up on adrenaline. Then they address context directly and invite people to value listening over speaking, learning over being right, revealing over concealing facts, feelings, and personal agendas. They of course, model the shift they're asking others to make. It's quite amazing to observe how much more easily. Content issues can be resolved once context issues are addressed. Einstein knew this when he said, a problem cannot be resolved from the consciousness from which it was created. Bingo. Shift the consciousness and context and the problem resolves. What are you paying attention to?
