If you're a leader with some leadership training, you've learned about things like making budgets, managing resources, dealing with change, and working with different groups of people. These are essential skills, but many leadership programs focus primarily on what leaders do, not how they feel while doing it.

While traditional leadership programs often teach about skills like emotional intelligence and building strong teams, they usually measure success by looking at how these skills help the organization, not how they help the leader personally. This focus on leadership execution can leave many leaders feeling stressed and overwhelmed. A 2022 survey by WittKieffer found that 74% of healthcare leaders felt burned out within six months, and 93% said this burnout hurt their organizations.

Leaders may initially seek help with time management and more effective communication skills. Eventually, a deeper search for support for handling feelings of stress and being overwhelmed, areas that traditional leadership training often misses, emerges.

Why Inwardly Focused Leadership Development Matters

You need more than traditional leadership training to truly thrive as a leader. Instead of just focusing on how to lead others, it's important to focus on how you personally experience leadership. It’s not about what you do as a leader but what you experience as a leader.

“These strategies involve building a good relationship with yourself and making real connections with the people around you.”

The strategies that help leaders thrive go beyond skills development. These strategies involve building a good relationship with yourself and making real connections with the people around you. Focusing on relationships can help you enjoy your role as a leader for however long you want to lead.

I'll cover these strategies in this series of articles and show how they can change your leadership experience. Let's start with an overview of the five main strategies.

1. Prioritize Yourself

In healthcare and other fields, putting yourself first might seem counterintuitive. During my medical training, I learned to always focus on the patient, often to the exclusion of my needs. After that came the needs of the team, organization, and community. Taking care of yourself as a leader was often seen as a bonus, not a necessity.

How Prioritizing Yourself Supports Your Leadership

Helps you align your leadership role with your values
Improves mental and physical health
Enables you to lead more effectively
Prevents burnout

Workplaces known as "great places to work" often have wellness programs and focus on employee well-being. When leaders care for themselves, it helps everyone—patients, teams, and the organization.

2. Become Change Savvy

Change management is a big part of leadership training. It usually teaches leaders how to help their teams deal with workplace changes. However, to be a great leader, you also need to understand how you deal with change personally.
**Tips for Handling Change Well**
Pay attention to how you react to change
Build strength by understanding your emotions
Show your team how to handle change in a healthy way

3. Build Real Connections

Good professional relationships are essential for teamwork and support at work. But building these relationships requires effort. Real, genuine connections can help you as a leader more than relationships where you only expect to get something in return.

How to Make Real Connections

Look for relationships built on respect and shared experiences
Avoid relationships where you always expect something back
Create a network that supports you, not just during a crisis

4. Create a Support Network

Leading can take up a lot of time and energy. Many leaders I work with feel lonely because they get so caught up in work that they don't make time for family and friends.

Supportive relationships with family and friends give leaders a safe place to relax and recharge. This can help reduce feelings of loneliness and improve mental and emotional health.

Benefits of a Strong Support System

Reduces stress and prevents burnout
Improves overall well-being
Helps you stay strong as a leader

5. Live Your Vision

If you aren't clear about your personal and organizational vision, you may feel out of sync with your workplace and your team. This lack of clarity can lead to problems with team unity and make work less enjoyable.

By clearly defining your vision and aligning it with your organization's goals, you can make decisions that match your values. Sharing this vision with your team can also help improve engagement and productivity.

How to Stay True to Your Vision

Know your personal and professional goals
Make sure your decisions match your values
Talk openly about your vision with your team

Conclusion: Thriving Leadership Starts Within

Traditional leadership training is essential for learning strong leadership skills. However, to truly thrive, leaders need to focus on inward strategies that help them enjoy their roles and stay strong in the long run. By using these five strategies, you can move from just managing tasks to truly enjoying leadership, improving both your well-being and your organization's success.

Burnout in Healthcare Executives: A Call to Action, WittKieffer 2022

How to Thrive as a Leader: Go Beyond Traditional Leadership Training