Have to admit, I feel like I let my team down sometimes. Since early on in my life, I have always been the overachiever. I never felt like there was anything I couldn’t do. It has always been my personal mission to always drive to be better than I was yesterday. However, it is inevitable that the unstoppable force will meet that immovable object. Something has to give.
Leadership is the ability to life and inspire.
Paul Dietzel
How you handle that situation is where true leadership lives. It is really easy to be kicking butt and getting praise for all the things you accomplish. Team success is masked behind a false front of leadership. “The team is doing well, that is good leadership.” Truth is, that isn’t all leadership. It is experience and a fair amount of luck.
Cloudy Days
Now, throw in a little bit of challenges, and your true leaders will surface. Sometimes, I struggle a bit when the sun isn’t out. But not for why you might think. I want to move the sun. Drag it out from beyond the clouds. I am a solution provider, always have been. Occasionally, you just have to push through. Deal with the clouds. Teams look to their leader for confidence and strength when it is needed most.
You (I) don’t need to be the hero. The solution is consistency. Get back to basics with trust, communication and working the problems one at a time. In Data, one of the worst things you can do is guess.
The hope is that your team trusts in your experience and leadership to guide them through when things get rough. Progress and change always put stress on a team. Redirect to the basics.
When you feel like life is out of focus, always return to basic of life. Breathing.
Mr. Myagi
A break in the clouds
Tomorrow can be better. Everything in life has ups and downs. It is so easy to enjoy the ups and lead from on high. It is better to lead from below and lift your team in success and in struggles. We should be at our best when the team needs it. That is what sets a good leader apart from others.
I struggled with this recently but realized that the responsibility is to the team. Be honest with yourself and your team, let them know what you are thinking and feeling. Teach the next leaders to be like you want to be. We are all imperfect beings but if we can understand that, adjust (not react) and compensate for where we have those gaps, it does get better.
Be a leader.
