Coaching practices for Check the Ego Leadership

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Check the Ego Leadership, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

  • The moment someone challenges my call I feel myself bristle and start building a case for why I’m right, and I’ve noticed people have basically stopped bringing me bad news
  • I keep catching myself making calls based on how they’ll make me look rather than what’s actually best for the thing I’m building
  • I lead a team and I’ve realized the people I lean on most are the ones who remind me of myself or are just easy to be around
  • When something goes wrong my first move is to find who dropped the ball, and when it goes well I quietly feel it was mostly me
  • I stand up and tell my team what we value, but I’ve started to wonder whether my own choices actually match the words

Practices that may help

  1. Check the ego
    Ego clouds judgment, blocks feedback, and turns disagreements into contests.
    Extreme Ownership, Made Practical
  2. Channel ambition to the institution, not yourself
    Care more about the organization’s success than your personal legacy.
    Level 5 Leadership: Humility and Will in Great Leaders
  3. Manage LMX differentiation fairly as a leader
    Acknowledge that you develop different relationships with different people — and ensure the differences are earned, not arbitrary.
    Leader-Member Exchange (LMX), Made Practical
  4. Look out the window for credit, in the mirror for blame
    When things go well, credit others; when things go wrong, look at yourself first.
    Level 5 Leadership: Humility and Will in Great Leaders
  5. Model the values you expect (idealized influence)
    Become a living example of the values you want your team to hold.
    Transformational Leadership, Made Practical
  6. Leading from behind — the servant leader stance
    Influence others more through example, listening, and restraint than through assertion and command.
    The Tao Te Ching, Made Practical
  7. Signal credibility without claiming it
    Let your knowledge show through questions and specifics, not through declarations of expertise.
    The Trust Equation, Made Practical
  8. There are no bad teams, only bad leaders
    The same people perform differently under different leadership — so start with the leadership.
    Extreme Ownership, Made Practical
  9. Distinguish your self from your role
    Separate who you are from the authority position you occupy — your role takes the heat, not you.
    Adaptive Leadership, Made Practical
  10. Apply the Stockdale Paradox to teams and leadership
    As a leader or team member under pressure, model the simultaneous holding of faith and brutal facts — it is contagious in both directions.
    The Stockdale Paradox, Made Practical

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