One of the key behaviors in claiming your power is taking responsibility for your actions.  A willingness to stand tall in your missteps, as well as your successes, is central to your ability to be at your strongest.  Often people worry that actions like admitting mistakes, cleaning up damage, and apologizing in relationships will leave them smaller when, in fact, the opposite is true. 

 

Taking responsibility for your words and actions reminds you that you are the person at the center of your own life (and who else should be there?) and it lets others know who they are dealing with – someone who has the courage and integrity to own their impact and move forward to create success.

 

5 Steps to More Fully Owning Your Impact:

  1.  When faced with a misstep, pause and assess what you believe you did and what you believe the impact is.  Others may have an opinion about this yet it is up to you to fully assess what you believe about your behavior and its impact.
  2. When acknowledging your misstep, let others know that you appreciate their feedback and are open to understanding the ways that you have had an impact.
  3. When you acknowledge your impact, carefully consider your audience.  The people who you have impacted do not want to hear about you and what you have done, why you did it, and why you should be forgiven; they want to hear that you understand the negative impact, that you care about it and that, where appropriate, you are going to make amends for it.
  4. When reviewing your behavior, consider if follow-up is needed. When you have made a misstep, it is often important to follow-up the initial conversation with a check-in to see how things have unfolded and how you can continue to support solutions or damage control.
  5. When you have a bit of distance from the issue, learn from your experiences.  Take time to reflect on what you did, how you engaged with others, how you responded to the outcome, and whether you stood in integrity or moved to blame. 

 

The gift in owning your impact is that the very act of doing so helps you to grow in your awareness of your impact, increases your credibility, and deepens your relationships with others.