It’s the new year, and I don’t know a single person who isn’t in some kind of goal-setting, forward-looking mindset for the year. While there’s very little fundamentally different from 12/31 to 1/1, it is a powerful driver of newness. There’s something psychologically really interesting here that I plan to deep dive to understand — I’ll let you know what I find out.

In the meantime….

While we’re all in that reflective, goal-setting, hopeful mode, now’s a good time to apply that lens to your role at work and your leadership style.

You have a picture in your mind of who you are as a leader. Now compare that to what you think it means to be a great leader. Do they match up? You can’t know where you need to grow, if you don’t know where you are and where you’re trying to get to.

Taking a page from theatre: actors do extensive self-work to know what separates them from the character that they will be playing. They use this self-work and knowledge to understand where they need to adapt, get more training or experience.

Actors always need to hone their craft. They take dance lessons, acting lessons, voice lessons, and regularly exercise. Sometimes when needed for a role they will play, they’ll work with specialized trainers to help them build the essential and specific skills they need for a role they want or have already been cast in.

When Ariana Grande was preparing to audition for the role of Glinda in the movie Wicked, she had to train her voice to meet the unique needs of the role. Grande is known for her pop music career, whereas Glinda’s vocal track contrasts starkly from her regular singing voice and includes elements from opera. She worked with a vocal coach for months to transform her voice to fit the needs of the role. She began this training months before her first audition. Her investment was in the long game, with no guarantees that it would land her the role. But she knew that without that training, she never could.

Where can you open your mindset to lean into a growth as a leader: focused on continuous learning even without a direct impact on your career?

Many actors also work with dialect coaches when they’ll be taking a role where they need to speak with an accent. And still others, do extensive work with personal trainers to get into the physical shape necessary for the role. Most notably, a number of the headliners for the Marvel Cinematic Universe series of movies made substantial physical changes to their bodies to display the incredibly muscular super hero characters.

What has been your training for leadership?

How do you invest in continuous learning?

Nearly 60% of leaders have had zero leadership training.

Training hasn’t prevented leaders from becoming C-Suite executives or to start businesses. Just because some leaders have had financial or career success “without training” doesn’t mean this is the right way.

Without any training, reflection, self-work, we replicate what has been modeled before us. So these leaders are replicating the toxic workplaces that are churning and burning employees.

Impact and leadership don’t just happen because of holding a specific title. Some of the most famous actors from Hollywood haven’t won (or even been nominated for) an Oscar. Fame and financial success are not the same as talent, impact, or legacy.

When you consider the leader that you want to be, how would you describe it?

Take a moment to write down all of the ways you want to be described as a leader.

Now, separate the list into things that are solely about you, vs. the ones that can only be observed or attained in relationship with others at work. Do most fall on the side of relationships? These leadership characteristics involve the impact you make on others.

I’m a firm believer that no leader wants to be a toxic leader. Yet, they are sadly everywhere. I’ve seen countless leaders bogged down with the pressures from work and their home life that they are running in survival mode all of the time. When in survival mode, you’re only operating based on your default responses to things. These are not your most intentional, supportive, or deliberate ways of engaging with others.

As a leader, you have a responsibility to continually be observing yourself in relationship with others. Asking yourself if you’re acting from a place that is genuine and in best support of your relationship with others, or if you’re running on default, barely aware of your impact, and just trying to get through the day.

Instead of staying on autopilot with your leadership this year, consider how you can uplevel your skills and confidence to keep stepping you towards the leader you want to be.