Leadership Starts Here

Last week I became many different people. As part of a development workshop for line managers, I role-played 12 different employees in a single day. There was a real mixture of characters; some were nervous and unsure, one was very angry, another was bored. One was under the influence of alcohol! Each role had its own posture and mannerisms, tone of voice and use of language.

As those of you who have done any acting will already know, by adopting suitable body language and imagining a particular state of mind, you can get into the character and really begin to feel what they are feeling. In some sense it becomes real. When I had played Mr Angry it took quite a few minutes to cool down!

What's this got to do with leadership?

Because it shows that we can choose our state of mind. This is absolutely key for you whenever you want to take the lead, for the following reasons:

1. It means that you can choose an appropriate and resourceful state of mind for the situation in hand.
2. It offers you a powerful means of influencing others – your state of mind is contagious.
3. It gives you the opportunity to avoid negative and unhelpful states of mind. By avoiding these, you don't waste energy and your working life is more satisfying and enjoyable.

Here's another example, from when I started my career as a trainer many moons ago. My first training post was in central London and I commuted from Hertfordshire each day. I loved the job: the people, the buzz, the variety. The daily journey was usually OK but there were exceptions. There were days when the weather or technology or rail labour relations let me down and I arrived at work in a black mood. But, with a group of eager delegates waiting for me, I acted as if everything was fine. It surprised me to find that after 10 minutes or so of acting, everything was indeed fine.

Back then, I would not have used these words but what I had discovered was how to consciously choose an appropriate state of mind and make it real. I now know that acting 'as if' is just one way of doing this.

The word 'acting' has two meanings. It means behaving 'as if', a sort of pretence. It also means taking action. Leading is about proactively taking action and influencing other people. Choosing your state of mind is the critical foundation. If we are unable to lead ourselves to a resourceful state of mind, how can we hope to lead others?

Tim Smit, the innovative CEO of The Eden Project, encourages each staff member to say good morning to 20 people before they start work. His rationale is that they will often actually say more than a simple greeting and some of the most important communication of the day takes place. Think too what an opportunity this is for choosing a resourceful state of mind.

What new habit could you create that embeds behaviour leading to a resourceful state of mind? Experiment with acting 'as if' and see what becomes real.