Stance before technique

In my years as a manager I took several leadership programmes, among them Sweden's Developmental Leadership (UL) course and a course in coaching leadership. I draw on them to this day. Even so, I believe the way a conversation goes depends more on how I am when I walk into the room than on any technique I have learned.

That is one of the reasons I use yoga philosophy in my work. I am a certified yoga teacher, with 200 hours of training registered with Yoga Alliance and 50 hours of further training in yin yoga. In Leading from within, yoga philosophy is a frame for the conversations. It is a way of thinking, and I never present it as a treatment or as something research has proven.

Your stance shows first#

My experience is that people read their manager quickly. They notice whether you arrive rushed or present, and whether you are listening to understand or listening to reply. A well-chosen phrase rarely hides it.

There is research that points the same way. Two diary studies that followed leaders day by day found that on evenings when leaders detached from work, the next day they felt less drained and saw themselves more clearly as leaders. On the days the leaders identified more strongly as leaders, their team members rated their leadership as more transformational, that is, more inspiring and more focused on their development. These are associations within the same people over time, and they prove nothing about cause. I still think they describe something important, that what is inside shows on the outside.

Yamas and niyamas#

The classical yoga texts set out ten guidelines, five yamas and five niyamas. The yamas concern how you relate to others, the niyamas how you relate to yourself. I use them as questions to pause on. Here are a few I often come back to with managers.

Ahimsa, non-harming. For a manager it is rarely about big things. It might mean not sending the irritated email at eleven at night, or asking yourself whether the tone of a decision needs to be that harsh. It also covers how you talk to yourself after a bad day.

Satya, truthfulness. Saying how things are, even when it is uncomfortable. In a hard conversation it means not wrapping the message in so much padding that it disappears. Satya sits next to ahimsa, and much of the craft of giving feedback lives where they meet, in the truth told without doing more harm than it must.

Aparigraha, non-grasping. I think of it when a manager finds it hard to hand things over. Delegating for real means letting go of control over how something gets done. A review of 72 studies found that employees whose managers supported their autonomy were more often driven by their own motivation and reported more well-being. These are associations, but I see aparigraha as a stance that makes that kind of leadership easier.

Santosha, contentment. Being able to rest in what is good enough. Many managers in social services find this hard, because the needs are always bigger than the resources. Santosha is going home on a Tuesday knowing you did what could be done, and caring just as much on Wednesday.

Svadhyaya, self-study. This is the niyama I use most, and the one closest to the conversation itself. Svadhyaya means looking at yourself with curiosity. Why did I get so irritated in that meeting? What was it in that email that made me put off answering for three days? In coaching, it becomes the reflection you do between sessions.

Reflecting is different from brooding#

There is a risk with svadhyaya worth naming. Self-study can slide into rumination. In the same diary studies, evenings when leaders brooded over how work made them feel were followed by days when they felt more drained.

The difference often lies in whether the thought is going anywhere. Reflection has a direction and an end, and brooding goes round in circles. So I rarely ask anyone to "think something through". I give one question and a time limit, and when the time is up, that is enough for the day.

Stance and well-being#

A meta-analysis found that how leaders lead is linked to how they themselves feel, and that relational and change-oriented leadership explained more of the leader's own well-being than task-focused leadership did. The studies can't tell which way it runs. I take it to mean that your well-being and your leadership travel together, and that it makes sense to work on both.

Starting small#

You don't need any background in yoga to use this. If you want to try, pick one of the guidelines above and carry it with you for a week. Each evening, ask yourself where you met it during the day. That is enough to begin.

Technique is still needed. A good conversation has a structure, and a decision needs a basis. But technique rests on something, and that something is what I mean by stance.

If you are curious about how yoga philosophy could become a frame for your own leadership, I am happy to tell you more in a free intro call.