When communicating with the leaders as a part of leadership coaching, most of the time, we come across this Ego Trap where leaders are the victim. Not only leaders even team members are also the victim of these.
How do we point these to the leaders or team members?
First, we require to recognize if the leaders or team members are the victims of Ego Trap.
All of us will succumb to our egos at some point. It’s inescapable.
The vital thing is that we work out our best to realize these traps when we fall into them and then study how to avoid them moving forward.
Professor Bacharach went on to explain that there’s a balancing act involved, noting that “pragmatic leaders are careful not to let their egos get in the way of achieving their goals and executing their agendas.”
An ego trap is any belief and habit you have that makes you feel like you’re superior to other people (physically, mentally, emotionally, morally, spiritually) and the root of it is the dominating worry of insignificance and unworthiness
In the negative, the ego fools us into becoming overly identified with our bodies, thoughts, and emotions.
As Lao Tzu says, “He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know.”
The ego is never satiated. It doesn’t matter how much you have, your ego will continue on asking for more. It is never sufficient, you will be trapped.
The ego loves to keep us trapped there—rehashing old troubles, perceived mistakes, ancient regrets.
“The ego constantly competes with the spirit for control over your inner voice.” – Darren L. Johnson
You are trapped when you have below symptom
- You are ignoring negative comment.
- Submerged into positive feedback! People can use this superficial flattery to appeal to your ego and, finally, influence your decision-making in order to benefit themselves or their business
- You love control; you feel wonderful when you exercise this power
- You know everything and no need to change anything. You are not welcoming any fresh suggestion.
- You do not walk the talk,
- You always walk with Yes sir people. You choose to walk with them as they listen to you and accept you
- You do not like to receive criticism if someone wants to share with you
- You think you have all the answers in the room, and nobody knows as much as you know
- You demand people follow you
- You lost in touch with the latest happenings and you live in your own best world
- You love to receive 1000 likes on Facebook, if it less, you feel sad!
- You are worried about how others will read you! you work for others to get acknowledge
- You benchmark yourselves with others always
- You are living in the past, carrying past and worry for the future
- You judge the individuals based on their action
- You communicate with others to impress them
- You take yourself seriously
- You need individuals to be around yourself to acknowledge your contribution
- You want to win at any cost and always right
“We must go beyond the constant clamor of ego, beyond the tools of logic and reason, to the still, calm place within us: the realm of the soul.” – Deepak Chopra
We need to reverse act against all these points to maintain a healthy life and become healthy individuals. It takes a lot of practice to control self-ego!
