DRIVEN Turns The Corner: Gearing Up for GRACE In The Workplace℠

We spent a considerable amount of time during the last quarter exploring Trust in the workplace. This included abundant blog articles and workshops designed to outline the components of trust, to pinpoint the ways in which stress fogs our ability to assess trust, to offer ideas on how to begin to build trusting relationships, and even to give direction on managing heated conversations and workplace misunderstandings. It’s been quite comprehensive, and was responsible for revolutionizing the careers of numerous participants.

And yet, with all these valuable tools, statistics and insights at our disposal, trust is still a tough nut to crack. It sometimes feels impractical to see the world through our own lens while attempting to understand how others see their world. To complicate things, our own lens is sometimes fogged from stress and personal unconscious biases. Add to that our reluctance to trust our intuition and employ our critical thinking skills, and we start to become our own worst enemies. Despite these shortcomings, we can still explore ways to formulaically assess others’ trustability. In doing so, we can better align with what we want the world to see in us. We all want to show up as trustworthy professionals; The question now becomes, “What is the appropriate impression to make?”

Defining GRACE

You, yourself can become mindful of your self-orientation and commit to strengthening and sharpening it. It’s your own secret formula for showing up as you intended. DRIVEN is embarking upon an exploration of this commitment, specifically through the eyes of professional women. Our signature series GRACE In The Workplace℠ is your roadmap to success, with each component of the acronym GRACE as a differentiator in your pursuit of that success. These are the leadership qualities that don’t scream out to us as important at first, and therefore must be understood more deeply for their impact. GRACE = Grit, Resilience, Authenticity, Confidence and Emotional Intelligence.

Not only are these attributes essential for the 21st century leader to possess, they can be intentionally developed where they are deficient. Our programming and informative articles going forward will examine each element on its own and then explore the differences between men and women in projecting these qualities. It all starts with the acknowledgement that the differences in the sexes will always remain, and that it’s not in the cards for us to be equal. Women and men have different strengths and different challenges, and each of us sees the world uniquely. Once this truism is accepted, we can knead the GRACE leadership qualities into our epigenetic makeup and feel secure in our leadership constitution. These qualities then build upon each other, and resilience translates to more and more confidence. There's no clear-cut beginning or end to the process; resilience and confidence continue to accentuate each other.

Starting in my next article, the precepts of GRACE will unfold in detail, beginning with the letter C for Confidence. As you will learn, it’s our bedrock, and it’s reliant on self-trust. Join me on this journey from its origins, and give yourself the gift of authentic leadership.