“Leading means above all awakening life in people, drawing life out of them” (Anselm Grün, German Benedictine priest and leadership trainer).
In transformative leadership, the development of employees plays just as much a role as the abstract idea of the development of a company. Social capital, through collective knowledge, builds a community of values that allows leadership to align them together towards a goal or, in the best case, a vision in such a way that innovation can emerge within the corporate learning world. An important prerequisite for the sustainable success of leadership is the ability to lead oneself. Self-leadership enables beneficial, mindful leadership and empowers holistic thinking. The frame of thinking and perception is expanded, which in turn increases the options for action. The emergence of a resilience field at the management level interacts with the resilience field of a company and increases productivity.
Changes in companies or in the environment of a company are happening faster and faster and new structures are inevitably created as a result. For leaders, there are often kinks in the career or dark spots that people prefer to push away or suppress. What do you do in such situations?
We constantly have thoughts on how to prepare for upcoming problems and challenges and how to avoid possible “dangers”. Mindful leaders do not allow themselves to be controlled by this stream of thoughts, but empower themselves on how to deal with these emotions through impulse control with thoughtfulness and a corresponding inner attitude. The ability to deal with one’s own “self” makes it possible to promote and develop employees on their way within the organisation. The company becomes a world of learning and out of this movement comes creativity and the courage to act in a self-determined way.
One of the biggest causes of leadership failure is a lack of ability to build a high performing team. The holistic way of thinking promotes the ability to reflect on one’s own thought processes and to observe from the outside; to take facts as they are and yet to develop a curiosity for things and people that allows one to observe oneself and the environment. The attitude emanating from the leadership creates a “we-feeling” in an organisation which welds together and enables positive orientation. The sphere of action is increased and in the “doing” things arise that are desired but cannot always be planned. It is the creative power of the collective. Only through action can new things be brought into the world. The future cannot be planned with the traditional models, otherwise we would already be living it.
Holistic leadership knows how to deal with polarities; to balance human and success responsibility and to awaken life in people and draw life out of them. The benefits of transformative leadership in a holistic mindset are undeniable and it takes courage, trust and a dose of discipline to approach it sustainably and ensure its transfer to the company.
