Here are five ways you can transform your team by first transforming yourself.

1. Start with open self-awareness

Self-awareness is that deep understanding of your own feelings and how they form part of your human experience. When leaders are aware of their own feelings, they can better acknowledge and pick up on the feelings of their team members and the root causes of any problems.

It also means recognising that your behaviour affects your people. To better understand this, pause and look at the reactions of others during meetings and discussions. Forget about what they answer or say; instead, pay attention to their facial expressions and body language. Decipher the invisible by tuning in truly and genuinely to what your people are experiencing. Have others’ interests at heart and do not interpret what is happening through the filter of your own emotions.

In the beginning, ask for feedback and questions to validate your assumption. Over time, you will be able to read the room more accurately as you progress with the work on yourself.

2. Create open communication though feedback

Creating a space where everyone feels heard and valued depends on encouraging honest feedback – this is the foundation of trust and growth. Yet asking for feedback is tough. Try beginning by asking your team to fill out a questionnaire on their experiences as employees. This can evolve into roundtable discussions and greater exploration. Do not worry if everyone seems intimidated to start! Once you gain the trust of your team, the energy will quickly switch to one of enthusiasm and excitement.

One of my favourite workshops is The Moment of Truth. It is a three-minute speed meeting, during which all team members, including the leaders, must sit in pairs and take turns providing advice. The objective is to share with one another what one values in the other or what they could adjust as opportunities for growth.

While feedback looks at the past, advice tends to focus on the future and helps us shape it. Failing to act on feedback fuels the status-quo, so be sure to transform this feedback into growth opportunities.

3. Be a role model for your values

Values are fundamental principles that guide behaviour, choices and interactions within an organisation, shaping the culture and identity. As a leader it is paramount to live these values consistently as a role model to others. To turn values into actual behaviours, I suggest laying the groundwork for a leadership manifesto – a set of principles on how leaders should behave within the company.

These empowering expectations show a commitment to theoretical values, turning them into actual behaviours that are honoured and encouraged.

4. Encourage learning and growth

Inspire others to improve by showcasing how you work on yourself. Often leaders are afraid to show vulnerability, but one of the best tools to encourage growth is to share your own ‘to work on’ list – sharing the areas that you still need to work on openly. In doing so, you are creating a safe space for your people to be more honest and vulnerable with themselves.

Each point added to your list should be met with a solution and an indicator of success to help you identify if it has been addressed or not. Whatever the feedback is from your team, receive it and act on it, and be sure to share the progress of your ‘to work on’ list. Ask your team to help you stay on the right path – in giving them permission to call you out, they will help your own self-awareness and growth.

5. Inspire through your inner work

Good leaders aren’t born, and the reality is that leadership is learned through introspection and practice – a way of thinking you can encourage throughout your whole team. By doing so, you have the power to bring out their best potential. 

Using external awareness allows a greater understanding of how your interactions and communications impact others. In doing so, you are role modelling self-learning and personal growth for your people. The only way to evolve our workplace and overcome the engagement crisis is by doing this ‘inner work’, and to look within to provide the best output. Through this, leaders will unlock the magical state of FLOW@WORK – a powerful state where purpose, people, and performance combine, and both leaders, and their teams, thrive together.

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