Serve, Reserve, Preserve: A Leadership Practice for Sustainable Wellbeing

Welcome to Nurtured with Naketa.

This week’s session is inspired by some kōrero I’ve been hearing over the past couple of weeks, but it also comes back to something I pride myself on providing — whether it’s in my workshops, my wānanga, my coaching sessions, or honestly, in any conversation.

It’s the idea of resetting, refreshing, realigning… going again.

I encourage people to think about this when they come into a coaching session. It’s a coaching conversation for you, about you — an opportunity to reset, to realign with your values, to refresh, reinvigorate, and go again. Because we serve and we serve and we serve, and I’m always asking people in coaching sessions:
Take a moment for you.

In the same vein, I’ve been hearing a lot about service — serving our people. I’ve seen some leaders go all out for their teams. The challenge with that is you can sometimes serve and serve and serve… and then burn out.

A quote I heard from a leader I’m working with was:

“Now I get it. It’s okay to serve.”

It’s okay to do things for our people. But it’s just as important to reserve some of our energy so we can preserve ourselves.

Serve. Reserve. Preserve.

So I offer that to you this week as an opportunity to think about:
How am I serving?
Where am I reserving time, space, and thinking for myself so that I can preserve the longevity of my role — as a leader, as a māmā, as a parent, as an auntie, as a grandparent, or as a friend?

Serve. Reserve. Preserve.

Mauri ora.