Like journeys of spirit and faith, journeys of leadership are ongoing and ever forming. The Reid Group is committed to the work of walking alongside leaders to help them create stronger, more adaptive organizations. As we do so, we pose this question to you: “How are you sustaining yourself and your capacity to lead?”

Realities of leadership
Leadership is necessary and noble work—and risky. Leadership is fundamentally about purpose and possibility, which makes leadership an intimately human endeavor. Leaders are often left exposed, and most knowingly assume this risk for something more. Thus, “clarifying the values that orient your life and work and identifying larger purposes to which you might commit are courageous acts.” (The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, 2009)

Sustaining leadership
Sustainability refers to one’s capacity to add and create value in patterned ways over extended periods. Leaders who are sustained in wellness, spirit/faith, relationship, commitment, impact and performance are more nourished, fulfilled and effective. A leader’s tenure will be determined by a number of factors, both foreseen and unforeseen, such as culture and politics, institutional lifecycle and adaptability, and financial health. The question is whether the tenure ended because of a lack of sustainability. To what extent did one lose resilience, commitment, health, etc., to the point of no longer being able to lead effectively? To what extent was one unaware of one’s own internal operating system and derailed because he/she was unable to see and manage non-strength areas?

There are three core principles to consider in sustaining leadership:

Integration: Linking and bringing into agreement the various dimensions of a whole life with one’s values, strengths, beliefs and sense of purpose; aligning the interior life of leadership with the external demands and concerns of organizational leadership.

Adaptability: The capacity to maintain perspective, accurately assess reality and to clarify values and direction in the midst of that reality.

Resiliency: One’s ability and capacity to recover from adversity and to manage and regulate one’s energy and commitment for sustained productivity and performance.

Leadership is most effective when a leader is adaptive, when one is aware of and aligned with what one values and what one knows to be true about his/her sense of purpose, and when one can effectively recover from the demands and dangers of leadership.

While we have mastered the operational and technical aspects of leadership, we have a long way to go in helping people engage in personal transformation. Consequently, sustaining leadership in the future will depend on our ability to master the development of the interior aspects of leadership. Fundamentally, sustainable leadership is an ongoing conversation with the self and the enterprise so that the capacity of a leader and organization may continue to grow and adapt.

Sustaining heart in the leadership journey
It takes great heart to offer acts of leadership. The stresses of leadership can be severe because leaders are always failing somebody, shouldering the pains and aspirations of a community, and frustrating at least some people within it.

At the heart of sustaining your leadership, then, is preserving your sense of purpose. Commit the time, perhaps with the help of a professional executive coach, to understand the stresses of your particular leadership context. Remember to pace the work and respect the pains and loss of change. Know your tolerances, your triggers and your hungers. Be sure to distinguish your “self” from your role. Listen to yourself as data, and trust it. Have a sanctuary and use it. Lastly, surround yourself with allies and confidantes, and know the difference. (The Practice of Adaptive Leadership, 2009)

You and your leadership are valuable. If you care for yourself as you care for others, the gifts, strengths and talents you have been given will continue to be formed and sustained for the important work to which you have been called.

Steve Titus, Senior Consultant, Executive Coach
The Reid Group