How to Make Leadership Fun
I remember something that was told to me early in my career as a lawyer and it has stuck with me. My colleague told me that “around here we take our work seriously but not ourselves.” I thought- perfect!
You see, I am deadly serious and focused about my work to inspire leaders to be their most authentic, unshakeable selves and to stand beside women to build their confidence to take their seat at the leadership table. I’m serious about creating workplaces where people want to come to work on a Monday morning.
But when it comes to myself, those who know me well, know that I’m just not that serious. Last week my mobile phone rang and I answered it in my usual way, “Heyyyyyy, It’s Midja’. Now I was in a great mood that day, so there may have been a little more enthusiasm in my voice than normal. It was a potential new client calling me, an executive from a national law firm and I think my cheerful greeting took her my surprise. She asked whether I was expecting someone else on the phone, I said no, that’s just my phone greeting and she laughed.
Now, when I talk about fun, I’m not talking about telling jokes or beer pong in the boardroom. Although if that floats your boat, go for it! :) I’m talking about how you see yourself as a leader and how others see you. Fun to me equals authenticity, lightness, genuineness and playfulness. As a leader you will create your own sense of fun which will be personal to you and your leadership brand.
Fun allows you to:
Be open to other people’s perspectives
Get creative with your solutions
Be approachable and inclusive to engage and inspire your people
So, how can you bring the fun back into leadership?
Be fully present. Right here, right now. It’s very hard to have fun if you are continually concerned about what has happened in the past or what might happen in the future. Fun needs to happen in the present moment.
Get to know yourself and then forget about yourself. Find your place in the world. When your leadership becomes less about yourself and more about your why, your purpose, your people, you can relax and have fun with it. It’s no longer about YOU.
Build your self-confidence. If you have genuine confidence, the kind of confidence that comes from being able to be yourself in every situation and have unwavering self-belief in yourself, then there is no need to be so serious about yourself. You have absolutely nothing to prove to anyone else. You can let it all go.
As my kids often say to me YOLO mum. You only live once, so make it count and have fun with it. Keep your leadership light.
Midja x