Sarah Ko-yung Lee, Ed.M., CPCC

Self-awareness is the ability to evaluate one's own capabilities, including strengths and weaknesses, and how others perceive them. With the skill of self-awareness developed, one is able to deliberately utilize strengths in an optimized way. This isn’t just about working smarter—it's about unleashing your full potential!

Mindfulness isn’t about stopping your thoughts, but about finding new ways of being with them. A simple definition from Jon Kabat-Zinn, one of the founders of the contemporary mindfulness movement, is helpful: "Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally. It’s about knowing what is on your mind." Mindfulness is another way of paying attention, approaching our thoughts, intentions and behaviors with curiosity. This is a pre-requisite for self-awareness!

Understanding motivation allows us to design interventions that facilitate behavior change, develop competencies, be creative, set goals, grow interests, make plans, develop talents, and boost engagement. Motivation is critical for getting to good, great, and definitely for achieving anything excellent. When motivations align with actions, people can achieve their goals with fulfillment and joy. There are 2 types of motivation: Intrinsic motivation is when you engage in a behavior that you find rewarding. You perform an activity for its own sake not from the desire to earn a reward. The action is the reward. Extrinsic motivation is when you are motivated to engage in an activity to earn a reward or avoid punishment.

I think everyone has experienced Fear of Feedback-- on either or both sides of the process. It's a necessary skill that really is not formally taught is most circumstances. “Feedback is a free education to excellence. Seek it with sincerity and receive it with grace.” – Ann Marie Houghtailing. Yet, constructive feedback and building a feedback culture is not just a tool but a vital lifeline in the journey of leadership. By regularly seeking and embracing feedback, you build a robust foundation of self-awareness and continuous improvement on your team. This practice enhances your effectiveness as a leader and inspires your team to engage openly. So, lean into feedback and watch as it propels you and your organization onward and upward.

Rituals are symbolic behaviors we consistently perform before, during, and after a meaningful event that don’t necessarily have a purpose. People engage in rituals all the time. Think about all the “first day of school” photos posted to social media or all the rituals that come with weddings and birthdays. There is a reason rituals are so prevalent: they help bring a degree of predictability to an uncertain future. Building a ritual for reflection is one of the most important things a leader can do for themselves. Sometimes coaching and therapy are great catalysts for self reflection and insight. However, deepening these insights with daily reflection of for the daily interactions and decisions that, over time, make a career.

Developing content takes a ton of time. One professor in grad school shared that for ever hour of a class experience, it took 4-5 hours to prepare. And to do this continuously take a lot of thoughtful effort and energy. Today, with shorter and shorter attention spans, this content must not only be scaffolded, clear, accurate-- it needs to be exciting, even entertaining. To compete with TikTok and YouTube, we also need to become multi-media producers to keep content relevant, engaging, and fresh. There's just no way around it! The good news is that there are more and more Leadership and business learning content companies than ever before. It does not remove the need for tailoring third-party curriculum to your teams and business cases.