“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours…” Henry David Thoreau
Some time ago I wrote two blog posts (here and here) explaining the concept of ‘intent’ – a concept which is central to the philosophy of Global Leadership Foundation. Very briefly, when I share my intent I am describing how I want to be. This contrasts with sharing my ‘intention’, which is about describing a situation or outcome I want to create.
To have a clear intent is to put yourself in the experience you want as a way of being, rather than just waiting for things to happen and hoping you get the right outcome in the end.
That’s not to say that there is no value in having intention as well as intent. Reaffirming how we want to be (intent) in the situation we want to create (intention) and embodying these through practice is an emotionally healthy way of engaging with others.
This idea is as applicable to life as it is to leadership. And in both life and leadership living this way in practice can be a challenge without access to some readily accessible guiding principles.
For me, I found some very important principles back in the late 1980’s. ‘The Basic Principles’, developed by Jack Zenger and Dale Miller are simple yet powerful statements (intent) designed to enable you, with practice, to stay ‘above the line’ (behaviourally) in any situation – that is, to operate with a higher level of emotional health.
The principles (slightly adapted from the originals) are:
1. Focus on the situation, issue, or behaviour, not on the person (rather than blame, label and generalise).
2. Maintain the self-confidence and self-esteem of others (rather than demean or threaten).
3. Maintain constructive relationships (rather than withhold help, information or resources).
4. Take initiative to make things better (rather than complain and wait for others to act).
5. Lead by example (rather than tell others).
6. Think beyond the moment (rather than promote a private agenda).
Take a moment to pause and reflect on these principles and I think you will start to recognise how powerful they are. The principles have shaped the way I am today and continue to guide the way I lead my life and the way I work with and engage others. When I share my intent each day, I put myself in the experience of being these principles.
What if we could all put ourselves in that experience? Just imagine if we all took these principles to heart. Imagine how different something like politics would look, both nationally and internationally. Imagine how much more peaceful and collaborative the world would be?
I often find myself smiling as I imagine this – at the very notion that an initiative on my part to make things better could be reflected in a matched intent of everyone else in the world. But wouldn’t the world be an amazing place if it happened?
Whilst this may seem unachievable to some and unrealistic to others, what I do know is that if each one of us can work towards living an emotionally healthy life, we will continue to move in the right direction.
“…He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary … and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings.” Henry David Thoreau
Gayle
