What's Holding You Back?

On September 21, we launched the 9th cohort of our Institute for Leadership Fitness with 15 new executives.  In this first of four quarterly workshops, we introduce a tool called The Confidence Net.  Every leader is encouraged to create their own “confidence net” to mitigate the effect, and lower the volume, of their “inner voices” or self-doubts. 

After presenting the class with some of the more common “inner voices” such as “You Can’t”, “You Won’t Succeed”, “You’ll Look Like a Fool” and “Who Do You Think You Are?”, we asked participants in the program to break into small groups to generate their own list of internal voices that often prevent leaders from moving forward with their own ideas and programs.  

One of the additional voices we heard from several leaders in the room was “They will never go along with my proposal”.  The benefit of taking time to identify our own inner voices by shining light on them is that, once illuminated, we often can move beyond them with greater ease.  When we realize that our perception of imminent failure or disapproval is holding us back, we tend to become more aware and willing to entertain an alternative perspective, such as “They will see value in my proposal” or “They will understand the need to move in this new direction”.

While it is certainly possible that once we articulate a unique point of view, or recommend a new product, policy or procedure, that it will be rejected, the very articulation of our fears can often lead us to see and perhaps accept the possibility of success and approval, thereby giving us the courage and confidence to proceed.  

What inner voices are you listening to these days, and what are some of the alternative perspectives available to you?