As leaders it is important to consider how we influence how others may feel. How we deliver feedback is a great place to start. When thinking of colleagues as ‘human first’, there’s a lot we can utilise to help us as leaders ensure we’re providing feedback that supports the humans we work with.

While there seems to be some merit in the recognising that ‘new year, new me’ mindsets can set us up for failure, I think it’s all in how we think about our goals as long-term direction and progress.

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.

I love good questions. They make us think, grow and learn.

Good questions invite us to go deeper, to reflect and analyse, to consider new perspectives and insights.

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.

Today is a great day to remind us each year that we need to genuinely connect with and care for one another.

We need to do this every day, not just on this day.

There is nothing I enjoy more than seeing a team thrive together, feeling safe to share thoughts, ideas, questions and learnings. How we interact and the sense of belonging we feel with one another is key to our experiences at work.

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.

It’s the Supervisors role to run the sessions isn’t it? 

Actually, research shows that to get the most from supervision you need mutually engaged and driven participants.

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.

Today I would like to officially introduce you to Renee Arnott, a very experienced OT, supervisor, coach and trainer.

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.