Leadership begins within us!

Leadership is one of the most discussed and challenging, yet so important topics in any company, whether it is big or small.

There are so many different opinions, approaches and views, so let’s get back to basics for a moment.

What is leadership and why do we need it?
There are so many different definitions, however this one captures it quite well, I would say:

Leadership in business is the capacity of a company’s management to set and achieve challenging goals, take fast and decisive action when needed, outperform the competition, and inspire others to perform at the highest level they can.

So, if we look at all individual components here, it all comes back to people doing certain things.

People set and achieve challenging goals.

People take fast and decisive action when needed.

People outperform the competition.
People inspire others at the highest level they can.

Everything depends on people.

If people are in a good state, they will perform well. If they perform well, the company will perform well.So what does being in a good state mean?

It means that we feel balanced and if we feel balanced, we take appropriate action that will bring us closer to our desired result.

So the next question then is: How can we feel balanced?

Feeling balanced is easy when things go well and not so easy when things become difficult.

All of us are confronted at some point in our lives with what is called “life”.

We sometimes have issues at work. We don’t feel valued or feel overlooked, we may have some difficulties with a new superior, or work colleague. Sometimes, we have issues on our own teams.

Then we experience to varying degrees things like a divorce, health issues, aging parents, lack of work life balance or loneliness.

Most people in a leadership position have encountered some of these things at some point, however only a few of us have learnt how to deal with such things effectively.

Arguable for many years, the mainstream opinion has been that it’s not a company’s duty to be responsible for the wellbeing of their staff to such an extent.

Many companies thought and still think that providing a health insurance and a gym membership will do the job. The rest should be sorted out by people themselves.  Making sure that everyone is always happy is an unachievable task actually.

Happiness does not come from a company stroking people’s ego, giving constant feedback or salary increases.

Being happy is a skill. It’s mind management at its best.

However, unless we have studied psychology or are heavily into self-help, most of us do now know how to create our own sanity and happiness in life.

So what if we – and not because we have to but because we want to – provide as a company support for learning how to be happy and fulfilled in life, regardless of the circumstances we are faced with?

How much of a competitive advantage provide us that with compared to other companies?

Traditional leadership theories are good and important to know about, however the ‘human factor’ of leadership becomes more and more important in a world where mental health challenges are on the rise, regardless of someone’s background.

My mission is to help employees in a company to reach the goals they want to reach and help them to live the life they want to be whilst having a full human experience.

Anke Docherty is the owner of Anke Docherty Ltd, a coaching company that focuses on employees achieving their career goals in order to experience happiness and fulfilment in their jobs.
Anke is a Certified Life & Career Coach and holds a master’s degree in Human Resources. She has more than 14 years international HR experience across multiple continents, countries, companies and industries and is also the host of her own podcast “Career Goals”.
Working across cultures and with over 30 different nationalities has given Anke a great insight into human behaviour and needs.
Over the past six years, Anke has realised herself while dealing with multiple mental and physical illnesses in the family that happiness in our careers and lives is something that does not wait for us, but rather can be created at any time, regardless of the circumstances.
Knowing that we are in charge of our career and lives at all times, is extremely powerful, yet not something we learn at school, in our further education or at home, despite it is so crucial in today’s world that is experiencing a steep rise in mental health challenges.
For this reason, Anke has decided to teach these skills to employees, so that they can be in charge of their own career and lives in any company and under any circumstance that life throws at us.

Anke Docherty, Certified Life & Career Coach