I want to take a moment to consider the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day. It’s such an important topic, and seeing it being acknowledged is great for us all.

During the course of 2022, the focus of self-leadership has changed.

Rather than using it to adapt to the uncertain world we were dealing with, we began tentatively using self-leadership to move beyond the day to day and shape the life, career and future we long for.

It takes considerable time, thought and investment to build a healthy, above-the-line and psychologically safe workplace culture.

Last week was a fabulous week!

I had the pleasure of working with many wonderful people who were engaged and so positive about my work and I can't tell you how energising it was, not just to me but also to my team who I shared my experience with...

*Disclaimer* I'm not talking about having a blissful spa day, massage, baths and candles.

Whilst those things can be very nice, deeply replenishing and meaningful self-care is something quite different.

Self care should always be a priority.

It needs to be a proactive focus at a team and individual level, not just when an individual is getting burnt out. Self-care should also not just be a priority because of covid.

Cultivating a high-performance team through above-the-line leadership is the goal of a dedicated leader.

Once you have achieved this, how do you maintain the performance, especially as your team grows?

The workplace can often feel like a hectic and exhausting place to be, and with the line between work and home being constantly blurred, considering steps to remain resilient through your working day is critical.

There are some key tips that I carry around

The question is, what can we each to do positively impact mental health and wellbeing at a local level?

Of course, a great place to start, is to focus on ourselves.

As we start heading in to the last stretch of the year, I’m aware many of us are feeling tired and lagging the energy to feel inspired and motivated to our usual level.

The idea of backing yourself is one that many of us struggle with - there is often a perception that confidence in oneself and your actions is arrogance but this is rarely the truth.

So someone asks you R U OK, then what? How do we know if we’re OK?

What does OK actually even mean?

While it doesn’t happen instantaneously, we can all create great teams if we understand the key ingredients of a thriving team ecosystem. There are many more factors at play here, however, these three ingredients will pave the way.

These months can drag on as we wait for the sun to come out and revive us with vitamin D. However, just waiting for spring as a motivator will not keep us happy and healthy - and in fact, this approach, is poor self-leadership.

Regardless of what our professional role is, we all benefit from paying attention to our self-leadership skills.

Self-leadership is simply the way we lead ourselves. It is how we apply leadership skills to relating to, guiding and directing our own thoughts and actions, and it is something that you don’t want to ignore.

Positive supervision is focussed on learning and skill development.

Positive learning supports skill development and problem- solving, the supervisor will provide relevant information and resources to help the supervisee grow in their practice.

While it doesn’t happen instantaneously, we can create great teams if we understand the key ingredients of a thriving team ecosystem.

Even if an organisation holds groundbreaking innovations that can unlock tremendous value in the world, poor leadership can scuttle the entire endeavour.

Considering this, we must commit to, and invest in positively impactful leadership. By deeply understanding the ingredients of positive leadership, we can better inspire our teams, accomplish our goals, and feel a deep satisfaction in our work.

As we reflect on the different levels of supervision, what is happening in your workplace?

What do you think the experiences are for supervisees in your workplace?

Whether you work for a for-profit company or a non-profit organisation, great leadership is going to separate the truly successful from those treading water.