07/23/2024
Fake it while you're making it.
Some people despise the phrase ‘fake it until you make it’. You should never fake anything because that’s being ‘inauthentic’.
The reality is, when you’re working on shifting a behaviour or creating a new habit, ‘faking it’ is how you’re going to feel.
Whenever we work on creating new leadership behaviours (eg: being less judgmental, being more collaborative, demonstrating a more flexible approach), it’s going to feel like we’re faking it.
That’s normal. Whenever we’re trying to shift our behaviour, we go through a stage called ‘conscious competence’. We are fully aware that we need to behave differently, but to do so we have to be really intentional about doing it. If I’m not naturally a very outgoing person but my job requires me to be one, I’m going to have to consciously think about saying hello to people and making small talk. And, in the early days that’s going to feel awkward, ‘not me’ and ‘fake’.
The good news is, the more we practice, the easier it becomes and the less ‘fake’ it will feel.
Sometimes, we do have to fake it until we make it if our role requires us to expand our leadership impact.
What behaviour do you have to be intentional about demonstrating?
