EXECUTIVE COACHING www.ceotodaymagazine.com 43 Stop regularly to check whether you are still following your inner concern or have deviated from it. Consciously weigh up your next steps. • Look around: Form a community of kindred spirits, at your or a higher career level, experts in the field, inspiring individuals who, like you, want to achieve something, and devote a little time each day to maintaining that network. The mutual exchange is beneficial, inspires and provides belonging. • Keep your mindset flexible. Do not stop learning. Continue to learn not only in your own industry but in other areas. Take ideas from conversations and events and learn from the exchange. • Take care of your mental health. Seek support in dealing with fears and inner obstacles. • Especially in challenging situations, ask yourself in strategic self-reflection which aspects of your personality can support you in taking action and which may, perhaps, be unhelpful. Then review your behaviour strategies. How can this be achieved realistically and effectively? A very important aspect is maintaining contact with others – sparring partners, mentors, advisors, coaches, role models and kindred spirits. The higher the career level, the more lonely it becomes. Feedback becomes less frequent. The risk of “falsely assessing a situation“ and relying on power rather than trust increases. Regular exchange and a community of kindred spirits facilitate important feedback and help to open doors as well as in times of crisis. • Knowing your own life issues and fears In the course of a career, the psyche of executives encounters many challenges. A prominent position means that connection and belonging cannot be experienced that easily anymore. High expectations and pressure to succeed evoke fears of failure which were deemed to have been left behind long ago. This includes the “impostor phenomenon” i.e., the fear of exposure because, in reality, one might not be as brilliant as others are made to believe. A stable mind, however, shields from inner conflicts and inhibitions. By working with a coach the irrational fears can be understood and handled which reduces their limiting power. By purposefully building mental resources and strategies reducing stress the mind is strengthened, thus avoiding it becoming a trap in challenging situations. • Learning strategic self-reflection In the unique composition of an individual with all his/her personality traits, values and motivations, there are many skills beneficial to executives in a business environment. If that were not the case, there would not be a successful career. A point can arise in careers at which the preferred skills no longer produce the previous success. The available options are increased by practised strategic self-reflection, and these options can be accurately directed and employed for more success. That is not to be confused with manipulative behaviour which is aimed at abusively making use of others. Strategic selfreflection facilitates the conscious decision against a usually preferred course of action in favour of a more effective option in the specific situation. What are your top tips on developing personally and professionally simultaneously? • Find out what your inner concern is. If these thoughts strike a chord with you, please contact Karen at neumann@karenneumann.de.
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