I want to share with you one of the most remarkable experiences I have had in my life. 

Over the past few months, I have been a volunteer on a political campaign by a first time independent candidate in our federal election.

It has been inspirational, frustrating, educational, unnerving, exciting, disappointing, challenging, rewarding – yes a real rollercoaster – and so valuable.

Here are my top 5 takes from the journey.

Growth

Our candidate was incredible. Having jumped into the ring (after multiple refusals), she grew and grew and grew with each step that she took and it was both amazing and inspiring to see.

Grounding 

Having that foundation of honest, loving, non-judgmental support through family and key supporters/leadership group provides the confidence to dare to be out there – true psychological and emotional safety and support for the leader who knows that the safety net is there to encourage and support positively and to catch them kindly.

Authenticity

One of the biggest lessons that I thought the candidate learned was quite simply: “be me”. Her signature strengths of hope and kindness were a core ingredient in her campaign. Those strengths resonated with people because they are in her essence (ie they could see the authentic her) and starkly contrasted with the political behaviours we are used to. That was really powerful.

Diversity

In any political campaign, there is a massive amount of work to be done requiring a diverse range of skills, knowledge, abilities and connections. Being able to harness those in a positive and efficient way can be a challenge and equally getting it right can be really advantageous.  This group of volunteers have had that diversity and the spirit of collaboration that really makes it work. What they achieved was extraordinary.

Community connection  

For everything above to happen, you need to have strong community connection through having a clear and aligned purpose that gets people engaged and motivated, the processes and resources to equip them to play their parts and the leadership and support to help them to do that. That happened in spades.

There were also some challenging and inspiring things that I personally experienced which I will comment on separately.

It really has been a great experience, and I have met some wonderful human beings in both our own campaign team and those of competing candidates.

It is an experience that I recommend if you have a candidate with the right purpose and values that resonate for you.

Humbly,

Peter Maguire

Practice leader, PosWork

The experience that I had here is illustrative of the difference that adopting a positive mindset and the practice of kindness and gratitude can make in leadership and the engagement and motivation of your followers. If you would like to explore the ways that we might bring these attributes to your leadership and your workplace, please call us on 0438 533 311 or email info@poswork.com.au.