Key Takeaways:
All great leaders have a sense of passion and purpose that radiates throughout their company.
They also have an unshakable sense of love for themselves and others that everyone in the organization can feel.
Loving and compassionate leadership starts at the top, and with a steady application, you’ll create a robust foundation for entrepreneurial success.
Trusting yourself and setting boundaries for others are ways to love yourself.
Showing appreciation for your employees’ time and talent helps express Self-LOVE leadership.
How do I support my people with feeling valued these days?
More and more of the leaders I work with have been asking this question.
All successful leaders have strong relationships with the people in their organizations. These relationships are not built on money or status but on genuine love, positive regard, and respect for themselves and the people they work with.
Every leader’s strategy and style are different, but something all great leaders have is a passion for their business and a sense of purpose they represent and instill into their organization.
The most successful leaders quickly learn that leadership isn’t about executing strategies or meeting sales goals. Effective leadership also means creating healthy, productive relationships at all levels of the organization that are filled with compassion and authenticity.
Designing this type of organization requires Self-LOVE – Leadership, Observation, Value, and Empowerment. The phrase “if you don’t love yourself, you won’t be able to love others” doesn’t just apply to personal lives anymore. Today, it’s the new model for leadership and organizational success.
Personal connection is the energy that exists between people who feel seen, heard, and appreciated. Feeling connected to others is a catalyst for creativity, a valuable life skill at work and in your personal life.
As a leader, the shift to Self-LOVE in your organization starts with you. Let’s expand on the concept of Self-LOVE, examine how personal growth builds a foundation for business triumphs, and discuss some real-world tips for practicing effective Self-LOVE at home and work.
The concept of self-love
When some people see the term self-love, they might think extreme narcissism. The reality is that it is a corridor to the most selfless and generous life you can live. It doesn’t mean placing your own well-being above others. Instead, self-love focuses on caring for your physical, emotional, and mental health so you can better care for the world around you.
Without self-love, people are plagued by feelings of doubt and inadequacy. They need outside validation to feel worthy. Some people even resort to bullying others to make themselves feel better.
No one can lead a healthy life without love for themselves. Leadership at work is next to impossible without self-love. A troubled and hostile mind can’t infuse a sense of belonging and possibilities into their own lives or the company culture.
The Self-LOVE route to business success
Introducing the concept of love into the workplace would have seemed ridiculous and unproductive just 20 or 30 years ago. Business professionals never even considered love as a construct within managerial theories.
Today, worker engagement is at an all-time low. Gen Z and millennial employees yearn for more purpose and meaning in their work, making now the perfect time to introduce the concept of love into the workplace.
Impactful mentoring and management means leading with the concept of LOVE:
L - Leadership
Leading yourself first, with LOVE. Understand who you are, your strengths, and your opportunities. Setting an example of loving yourself.
O - Observation
Paying attention to yourself, your employees, and your shared context. Meditation, mindfulness practices, and daily check-ins help you stay in touch with what’s happening with everyone connected to your company.
V - Value
Get in tune with your core values. What do you stand for? What matters most to you? Putting the well-being of others at the forefront of your company helps the values of life, love, and possibility stand out and enhance your leadership and the lives of those you serve.
E - Empowerment
Your leadership is empowered when you can attend to your employee’s needs and help them find their own value and happiness.
Authentic love for yourself illuminates the path to realizing what’s most important to you. Genuine love for others helps them better understand themselves and their purpose. Loving yourself and your employees shines a light on what matters most.
This kind of love is empowering. It makes it possible for you and everyone in your organization to get what you want out of life – including your work life. Do the work, and you’ll be surprised at how fast it all falls into place.
Implementing Self-LOVE for yourself and your team
Self-LOVE improves your relationship with yourself and the people in your life, including your coworkers, but it starts at home. Trust yourself and set limits to the type of behavior you will accept. Self-love means believing in your talents and knowing you have something unique and important to offer.
At work, love looks like an authentic appreciation for people’s contributions. It looks like knowing about employees’ lives and caring about the outcomes. Love at work means genuinely listening to the people on your team and interacting with their thoughts and comments.
Team members who feel loved by their leaders are far more likely to view them as good bosses. They care more about the work they deliver and the outcome it has on the company.
Practicing love as a valuable leadership skill is the only way to ensure that we foster cultures of engagement and innovation necessary to thrive in our increasingly complex world. We all have this capacity. We can start by calling it forth in each other.
Self-LOVE is the new path to effective leadership
All business leaders must learn to love and treat themselves with kindness to build the best teams possible. dr akasha helps create the conditions that help people and organizations grow and realize their full potential. People want to know they matter. They want to feel seen. His purpose is to foster a safe, loving, and supportive space for others to grow. Contact dr akasha today to see how he can help you discover a love for yourself that promotes phenomenal business success.
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