I was forced to take a serious dose of my own medicine recently and it was tough to swallow!
Earlier this year I was asked to run a leadership workshop for an allied health client. It was the first time I had presented this workshop before and I was super nervous.
I’d spent hours and hours putting the content together and making sure that these employees, who are new to leadership roles, would leave feeling empowered, inspired and encouraged to lead in their own way. To be themselves and not try to be someone they aren’t.
The night before I presented this workshop I spent, what felt like hours and hours, standing in front of my wardrobe deciding what I would wear the next day. I pulled out loads of different options that would make me look professional enough to stand at the front of that room and then packed some ‘normal’ clothes for the rest of my stay in Adelaide.
The next morning I left in the dark…and I also left my carefully curated, professional looking clothes hanging on the back of my bedroom door! ?
My lesson that day? To take some of my own advice!
Here I was, gearing up to teach these new leaders that they don’t have to be someone they’re not to be an amazing leader when I was selecting my own suit of armour. A suit of armour that I would not usually put on to see a client or to go about my regular working day.
The result?
I went into that workshop in my ‘normal’ clothes from my suitcase, and we all had a little giggle at my expense while I used my story to illustrate a really important point.
Another really important learning for me that day was that while I’m new to public speaking on human resources topics (not so new to human resources though!) bringing the ‘human’ element with me in a speaking setting is just as important as bringing it to clients in my more typical working environment. A willingness to show who we are, the mistakes we make and the things we learn as we go is not just what will make great leaders but great people too.