Leadership as your Biggest Act of Service

One day I sat across the room from one of my reports, and she looked back at me with tears in her eyes and a quivering lower lip. She had just shared with me how much she’s been struggling with some of the feedback I’d given her and some other issues with a colleague.

This was one of many moments when I left the office realizing how difficult and how important the job of a manager is. Because managers manage people and people come to work as their whole selves, in a package of their strengths AND baggage.

Everyday that I managed people, I noticed how my job became less about standing over my team and telling them what to do, and more about becoming a support system that sat under them with the goal of lifting them higher.

Some days I felt like a therapist. I held space for my team to be stressed, upset and uncertain.

Other days my experience as a yoga teacher shone, where I pushed my team to go further, and exceed their own expectations of themselves and look into the face of challenge.

It reminded me of “Seva,” which is the word we use in yoga for service.

I had previously always reserved the meaning of service for things you didn’t get paid for, like volunteer, donation-based or non-profit work, maybe even a penance you had to pay for doing something wrong.

After being a manager and team-leader for a long time, Seva or Service might be the only appropriate way to describe it. I knew this because the focus shifted from myself onto my team and how I could launch them towards becoming the best versions of themselves at work, and maybe even a little bit outside of it.

Service is about uplifting others, collaboration and giving.

This didn’t mean I forgot about myself or sacrificed my own well-being. These often get confused. In fact, I had to pay even more attention to my own limitations, blind spots and self-care. This helped me re-invest in myself so that I could pass it on to my people.

If you want to be a better manager, lead other leaders or feel like you have to sacrifice yourself to manage well, send me a message on the “Contact” page to set up a free consultation call where we’ll learn how you can motivate your team to do their best work without burning yourself to the ground.