Do your negative feelings stop you from achieving your dream!

Millions of successful people across the world have fears of inadequacy despite achieving great things. The negative psychological thoughts that run through peoples’ minds make it often impossible for people to internalise their achievements and even though some people battle through this syndrome, others are not quite so lucky. It is self-doubt around one’s own success, it is a feeling that you are not as competent as other people seem to think you are.

Everyone has always thought that ‘Imposter Syndrome’ was unique to women, however it has been determined that a lot of men also feel that way too, and increasingly so.  Smart, skilled and capable professionals suffer form this syndrome and feel like frauds.

So why do people suffer from Imposter Syndrome?  There are lots of different reasons why people suffer from Imposter Syndrome. Self-generated self-doubt, criticism from others, having to ask for help, comparing self to others.  Feelings such as ‘I just got lucky’ or ‘I don’t belong here’ are all part of Imposter Syndrome.  Professionals dealing with these feelings tend to already be top achievers who set their standards far too high and strive to be perfectionists and be over workers.  Rather than celebrating accomplishments, they worry that they are not good enough and live-in fear of being exposed. 

So, how can we learn to cope with Imposter Syndrome?

• Realise that ‘you’re not alone’
• Recognise the signs
• Feel worthiness rather than feeling a fraud
• Let go of our inner perfectionist – perfection is not realistic
• Be kind to ourselves
• Measure and track our successes
• Take on more opportunities
• Embrace the feeling

Turn Imposter Syndrome around, allow Futureproof to work with you on these skills to learn how to cope with those feelings.  You may want to attend our 90-minute virtual public open course on ‘Imposter Syndrome’ which is scheduled for the 15^th September or you may be interested in running this in house for your managers / employees.

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome workshop agenda

‘Imposter Syndrome’ is only one of our self-development workshops, we have many others on offer, please get in touch or have a browse through our website.

How should you approach Team Leadership?  As a process and not just something that you can get done!  If you are a leader, you know that you can’t force people to work harder or to be more effective, you can only pull your team efforts together and encourage them to work smarter.

So, what are the qualities of a good team leader:

A good Team Leader knows how to empower a team to achieve group and individual goals.  They should be flexible and adaptive and know when to manage and when to lead. Take time with your employees to ensure that all members of the team are working together towards a common goal.  Engagement is more than just job satisfaction, an engaged employee wants to do their job better. 

Failing is a natural thing and many leaders believe it is important to recognise it, but never reward inadequacy because a team member has become lazy.  Don’t defer responsibility as that will just create anger and resentment, a leader who owns their own failure often gains greater loyalty from their team.

Always ensure things are running to plan.  Trust your members to get the job done but also recognise that necessity of verifying their work to the correct standard.  Step in when you see a problem and make sure any issues are dealt with before they become too big.

There is nothing more satisfying for a Team Leader than seeing your employees discussing the product or service of your organisation.  Encourage proactive debates but keep them in line by setting expectations, pushing ego’s aside and making rational judgments about what is best for the team.

Another important skill in leadership is coaching, this will give you the ability to hold you and your team accountable.  Using coaching methods such as GROW works well to give a team or an individual ownership of goals, look at the way forward and to see how committed the person you are coaching is.

Are you a confident decision maker?  Are you self-confident, do you speak and listen well? By listening, you can grow self-esteem in your team which in turn builds greater resilience in your team members.

You can never stop learning how to be a better leader!

Our Managing and Leading Teams Open Programme will help you to work on these skills to become a great leader.  We have programmes scheduled each month – please get in touch or have a browse through our website at the different people management programmes we offer.

A year on and we are still not living the lives we all want to live.  Who would have thought that we would still be in this situation a whole year ago.

So many people have gone through such terrible times, losing people they love, losing their job, businesses failing, failed relationships, abusive relationships, the list is endless.

Being resilient is crucial to maintaining good mental health. While it’s ‘okay to not be okay’ we don’t want to feel sad forever so we need to be able to ‘bounce back’ and try and rebuild our life and emotions which in turn, can enable us to grow and strengthen us for the future.

You may of heard of the term ‘Mental Toughness’ which is a frequently used to refer to any set of positive attributes that help a person cope with difficult situations. 

Studies have shown that there is a strong link between Mental Toughness and Performance, Agility, Wellbeing and Aspirations.  All of these have major applications in Individual coaching and development, leadership development and team working.

So, what challenges are leaders facing today?  We need to consider the performance and wellbeing of those in leadership roles.  The performance and wellbeing of those leaders you are providing leadership to and when some form of normality resumes in the world and employees return to work, we need to consider what sort of state they will be in.

At Futureproof we can help you to look after your leaders and employee’s well-being.  We offer several short virtual courses that can support you through this. Some of the short courses we offer are:

• Mental Toughness
• Mental Health for Key Stakeholders
• Mental Health Awareness (for Employees)
• Mental Health Awareness (For Managers)
• Developing Personal Resilience
• Leading Team Resilience
• Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Please take a look at our courses so we can help you provide the much needed support for your employees and leaders.

Personal Development & Employees Well-being

Why should we care about ourselves?  We are so used to rushing and racing around and trying to please everyone else, sometimes we can forget to actually look after ourselves. 

So, why is self-care so important?

Caring about our own health and mental health is of paramount importance as it produces positive feelings and boosts our confidence and self-esteem.  If we don’t care for ourselves, then it can unfortunately lead to lots of problems such as anxiety, depression, insomnia and even heart disease.

When you feel overworked, the stress and exhaustion that this makes you feel can make you less productive, become disorganised and emotionally drained…we all know how that feels.  Professional self-care habits are so important to ensure that you stay motivated and healthy.  So, what could we do to help ourselves.  Make sure you take a lunch break every day, get some fresh air or phone your friend or a family member to chat to, meditate or practise deep breathing for a few minutes, eat healthily and always avoid emotional eating! Maybe keep a diary of how you feel, try not to overthink things and most definitely learn to say NO!

A little stress does no harm but when we allow things to get on top of us, such as work, home life, responsibilities etc, step back and take a look at how you are actually treating yourself – all the little things can help us to stay in a better physical and mental state – this is your responsibility!

Life is precious, so make every second count!  Life is for living, not for just existing! 

Our Employee Well-being Programmes will help you and your employees to understand and work on these skills to become a healthy, happy individual. Maybe think about booking some of our very popular Employee Wellbeing sessions for your employees as we come out of lockdown and back into normal working …

Dates to remember…

5th April 2021  –  National Self Care Day

15th – 21^st November 2021– National Self Care Week

Who do you know who you consider to be a great Team Leader? You? Your manager, your CEO, a famous person?

A good Team Leader knows how to empower a team to achieve group and individual goals.  They should be flexible and adaptive and know when to manage and when to lead.

Honesty and integrity are important characteristics of a good leader and in a lot of leaders that we may know, these can be the characteristics that are greatly lacking. How many managers / leaders do you know who have failed to keep their promises or have blamed others to cover up for their own mistakes, or even taken the praise for something one of the team members did!  Leaders such as these, will very quickly lose their employees.

A successful Team Leader can achieve great outcomes by having empathy and compassion.  Compassion can be defined as the motivation to help others with their physical, emotional or mental problems while empathy is the ability to recognise the emotions of others.  Do you spot how someone in your team is feeling?

Another important skill in leadership is coaching, this will give you the ability to hold you and your team accountable.  Using coaching methods such as GROW works well to give a team or an individual ownership of goals, look at the way forward and to see how committed the person you are coaching is.

Are you a confident decision maker?  Are you self-confident, do you speak and listen well, if these are not traits you were born with, everybody can learn.  By listening, you can grow self-esteem in your team which in turn builds greater resilience in your team members.

Good leaders will know how to nurture excellence and will see the best in people and see what they are capable of achieving. 

You can never stop learning how to be a better leader.

Our Managing and Leading Teams Open Programme will help you to work on these skills to become a great leader.  We have programmes scheduled in the New Year – please get in touch 01623 409 824 or info@futureproof-training.co.uk.