Conscientious Leadership is about changing the way you manage everything. From the way you treat your employees and your clients/customers, to creating a culture in your company that emphasizes creativity, curiosity, kindness and increased productivity. Studies have shown that happier employees are more productive at work, increase the bottom line and stay put.

First it’s important to address the belief system of the leadership and the employees. What do your employees believe about the company and the leadership?   According to the book, 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, leaders currently have to constantly ratchet up fear and anxiety to raise productivity. They then use increased financial incentives to keep employees on board, create short-term results and thereby create a culture of distrust and cynicism with negative long-term results. Stressed out, anxious and fearful employees are counter productive to achieving success.

When you look at the best companies to work for, they are collaborative, encourage a culture of learning and curiosity and they create an environment where their people can achieve a state of Flow, otherwise known as the Zone. Flow mind-set allows people to focus on the end result, block out distractions and overcome obstacles in order to create enduring success.

When employees work in a fear based, scarcity minded environment, how much energy is available to go into achieving “Flow” mindset? People who play sports, an instrument, sing, or are artistic know what I am talking about when I refer to the Zone or Flow states. When you reach this state, it’s almost as though time stands still, you are in a creative bubble, relaxed and you enjoy yourself.

When we are young, we become programmed with beliefs that aren’t even ours. We carry other people’s voices and beliefs in our heads. Our family, culture, religion, fear, anger, anxiety, trauma’s influence us and the list goes on… These beliefs are mostly unconscious and those beliefs become our “Decision Maker” who can then block us.

There are very powerful techniques to help you develop awareness about the “decision maker” in your life. Once you have awareness, you can change who is in charge. Once you learn to identify what your blocks are and release them, you can change your perspective  and turn those blocks into productivity because you are now in “FLOW”. You can be free to live the life that brings you joy.

Here are some statements that reflect the mindset of the state of Flow

• I trust that everything is going in the right direction.
• I trust in my employees or peers to get the job done.
• I enjoy my time at work and enjoy what I do.
• The environment at work is a place where I can easily get into the state of Flow and I can be really creative.
• I feel safe expressing my ideas.
• I have a community at work that values teamwork and everyone looks out for one another.
• Even though everyone is different and we all have different ideas and opinions, there is room for everyone to share ideas and build each other up.

When your work environment reflects these ideals, you will be very surprised at how happy everyone is and how they will go the extra mile for the benefit of all/the company. People will be more driven, more creative, more engaged and motivated employees. They will be healthier, have fewer sick days, more productivity and the company will enjoy greater retention.