3 Reasons Why ‘That Feeling’ Happens

You know that feeling? The one that rears its ugly head during family functions, beers and barbies with friends or on the street when you pass someone that you haven't seen in a few years when you have to introduce yourself and talk about what you do that is not in the context of a job interview.

It is not the feeling of adrenalin when you stand in front of your Executive Team or Audit Committee and share the year-end financial results. It is not the feeling that a confident, senior financial professional who has successfully climbed the corporate ladder would be expected to feel. I am talking about that somewhat indescribable, knot in your tummy, awkward feeling that might be agitation...

Let me outline 3 possible reasons for that feeling:

1. Over the years you have invested time and money developing and refining your technical expertise and you have been rewarded accordingly. Over this same period, life has happened. You have celebrated milestones, achievements and setbacks, pleasure and pain and it has provided you with plenty of opportunity to consider what is important to you. You're starting to realise that you'd like to be known as more than 'my daughter, Charlie the Chartered Accountant' but you don't know how else to describe what you do.*

2. You're in a leadership role and are leading a team of people, but it has become clear (just to you...hopefully) that you haven't invested in your ability to lead people. It's that awkward reality that you actually don't know how you want to lead your teams, let alone have the time to do it.

3. Finally, as a result of numbers 1 and 2, when you are alone with your thoughts, you start to question your ability to move up within your organisation, or move to a different organisation.

If this resonates with you, I say well done. Congratulations on having the honesty and humility to be curious about that feeling and try and figure out why. Discomfort is a sign of growth. This is imperative for an effective leader. Sensing there is an issue, identifying the unidentifiable, and asking the right questions to solve the problem is the path forward. Answers will rarely be provided to you and you will need to uncover and remove roadblocks to find them. Leaving these things unexplored simply means potential is wasted, productivity is eroded and objectives aren't achieved.

On the flip side, imagine a world where you explore the unexplored and create new pathways for you and your team to deliver greatness. You do this in a way that feels good to you, even though 'no one really does it that way', and your team enjoy. Imagine the energy unleashed by your team if you were to remove the barriers to your collective successes. What does that feel like?

Consider....what could that look like?

Do you like the sound of that? If you'd like more on how to untie that knot and 'shake that feeling', email me at [email protected] with 'White Paper' in the subject line.

*By the way, here are some words you might like your mum to use this Christmas instead. 'My daughter, Charlie, who leads a team of 12 accountants. She is a bit under the weather this morning as she took her team out yesterday to celebrate getting through their recent busy season without working any weekends!'