Today we share with you the 4th Principle of the Authentic Leadership Model.
4th Principle - DEEP LISTENING
The phenomenons of the world are perceived by our five senses, who mold and shape our experience, creating our impression of both worlds, the external and the internal.
Deep Listening is the ability to tune in to the information being processed in and around us at any given moment and bring it into awareness, thus creating our experience of self.
This process happens in two directions:
From the outside to the inside: we relate through sight, smell, touch, sound and taste with the world around us and thus colect information about our surroundings. In this interaction, we process information to understand how to react and behave. When the environment is safe, we relax and are able to socially engage. When the environment poses a threat, we either go into a Flight or Fright mode or we freeze. This autonomic responses are defense mechanisms that enabled our ancestors to survive in the wild and, still to this day, play an important role in peoples lives especially in those who suffered trauma, abuse or live in a highly stressful environment.
From the inside to the outside: when actively listening to our inner world, we can connect to a deeper layer of our being. Beyond the social and cultural conditionings that conform our actions, there are spontaneous impulses who constantly try to reach the surface and be expressed in the world.
Because of our fears of rejection, humiliation and shame, these impulses are often filtered to conform to social rules in such a way that, when finally expressed, they have lost their originality and authentic nature. They no longer are an expression of your unique being and have transformed to an adaptive response to the norm. Self-judgement is the filter and the blockage for our full self expression.
However, we’ve all experienced moments when we give space to these impulses. Whenever we express our creativity, when we follow our intuition and when we react in such a spontaneous way that we don’t have the chance to stop ourselves from expressing whatever is there to be expressed. We are not talking about acting out, recklessly and with no consideration for others. We are talking about making space for our being to express him/herself fully without fears and judgments.
When in a state of Presence (1st Principle), we start resonating empathically with the world around us and the people we relate with (2nd Principe). In this moment, we are able to listen and connect to our wisdom, intuition and inner guidance, thus giving space to our spontaneous and creative impulses to be expressed.
In our Authentic Leadership Model, we emphasize the importance to include in our professional practice what lays beyond the theoretical knowledge and our technical expertise. That is, the wisdom that sits deep within us and the ability to trust that our spontaneous response in a given situation will serve the relationship and support the other person’s process.