Keep your thoughts positive.
Because your thoughts become your words
Keep your words positive.
Because your words become your behaviour.
Keep your behaviour positive.
Because your behaviour becomes your habits.
Keep your habits positive.
Because your habits become your results.
-- Mahatma Gandhi
The power of our thinking. An attribute that is widely acknowledged to influence our decisions, actions, the way we communicate. We give meaning to our experiences, and develop beliefs and attitudes that we put into play. Given that all our aspects of everyday is influenced by our thinking, it would be safe to say that our thoughts influence how we lead as well.
Mindset is a key part of the work I do with leaders. Through my experience, I have seen many leaders do well in their role through positive mindset and resourceful thinking. On the flipside, I have also seen leaders who struggle to lead effectively due to unresourceful thinking and a very disempowering mindset. It’s safe to say that your mindset has a bearing on your impact as a leader.
So how can you be more mindful about your thinking when it comes to leadership? A few years back, I came across a concept called The 4 levels of thinking. This offers a lot of insights into the level of thinking that we usually have, and consequently the experiences that we are inclined to seek. Having awareness of our thinking can help us understand the decisions we make, our language, our actions and thereby the results we create for ourselves. The below is a short explanation of the 4 Levels of thinking, and what sort of actions each of these levels influence:
Level 1 thinking:
Doing what feels good
Doing what's good for us
Doing what's good for others
Doing what's good for the greater good
Level 2 thinking:
Doing what doesn't feel good
Doing what's good for us
Doing what's good for others
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Doing what's good for the greater good
Level 3 thinking:
Doing what feels good
Doing what isn't good for us
Doing what isn't good for others
Doing what isn't good for the greater good
Level 4 thinking:
Doing what doesn't feel good
Doing what isn't good for us
Doing what isn't good for others
Doing what isn't good for the greater good
So how do the 4 levels of thinking apply in a leadership context? Let's take a look at each of these levels.
Level 1- When you operate at your level, you tend to leverage your strengths to create the results you seek. As an individual, or as a team, you would have built certain competencies over time. When you operate at Level 1, you keep going back to those competencies. At this level, you focus on creating rituals and processes for you and your team, that allows you to be consistent.
Level 2- When you operate at this level, you tend to be open to change and growth. You are open to experiences which might be outside your comfort zone, but are beneficial to you and your team in the long run. This could be about learning new skills, defining new ways of working, reassigning roles and responsibilities within the team that help with the overall productivity.
Level 3- This is where you tend to play safe, and stay within your comfort zone. The idea of change seems like too much of a hassle, as it disturbs your status quo. If you find yourself being resistant to change and out of the box thinking for the sake of holding on to status quo, that's an indication of operating at this level.
Level 4- At this level, you tend to feel stuck in your environment or circ*mstances. You do things primarily because you have to do them, rather than wanting to do them. You focus on simply getting by, you may not be engaged with your work or your team, and often feel like there's a lack of alignment with what you do. As you continue operating at this level, you experience stress and burnout.
As you can appreciate, operating at Levels 1 and 2 are more empowering and puts you in a position to create the results that you want. If you feel you are gravitating at Level 3 or 4, it would be worth considering how you shift your choices and decisions and take more responsibility for your actions and results.
Here's an insight worth considering- your growth is influenced by the number of Level 2 experiences that you seek. As you work on those and master them, you move to Level 1 thinking. For example- you learn a new skill and get better at it. However, when you come across a Level 2 experience and choose not to act on it, you find yourself moving to Level 3 thinking. For instance, you may have an opportunity to change the way your team operates in response to changed market conditions. However, if you show resistance to the opportunity to change, you'll end up doing the same thing and risk falling behind, perhaps even stagnating. As you keep operating at Level 3, you risk moving towards Level 4 thinking, which can take a toll on you and your team.
Another thing to be mindful of is the difference in the levels of thinking between you and your team, or within your team. For example- If you tend to operate at Level 2, and a team member tends to operate at Level 3, there is likely to be a friction as you try to get him/her onboard. So it is important to gauge not just your level of thinking, but also the kind of thinking that's prevalent in your team. That helps you address any potential issues and create greater alignment in your environment.
So here's your opportunity to reflect- what level of thinking do you tend to operate in? How does that serve you and your team?
