Good Morning Enlightened Leaders,
Today's post is a little story about something I learned this year while participating in the Leadership Tomorrow program in Seattle. The program takes about 80 so called "up and coming" leaders and puts them through 9 months of learning opportunities in the area of community leadership. The program uses the book "The Leadership Challenge" by Kouzes and Posner as the central text. For more information on LT, click here.
In this book there are a set of "leadership behaviors" that participants are encouraged to adopt. Each individual selects a behavior or two to work on during the program. For me, choosing a behavior was easy. The thing I chose to work on was "Enabling Others to Act."
Are you a Type A personality? Do you feel a need to control the outcomes? Do you get nervous when things are not proceeding in a manner that meets your standards? Do you step in and "take over" because you want to ensure things get done, and on time? If any of these things sound familiar, you and I may have something in common. These are some of my issues, and they are why I have a hard time "enabling others to act" sometimes.
So I entered this program with an intention that I would enable others to act, and that is what I did. I didn't volunteer for a single project manager role, and I didn't automatically step in every time I saw a gap. Instead, I left space there, and allowed others to step in and take responsibility.
The result? A lower stress program with better outcomes. Ultimately a need for control rests upon a combination of high standards and low trust. So this year, I learned even better how to trust and let go. Also the importance of an excellent team. When your teams are outstanding (as mine were) it's easier to trust and let go.
So I find myself being better at enabling others to act, and I'm enjoying that learning. What will you learn this year? Even if you have no interest in programs like Leadership Tomorrow, you could do worse than read the Leadership Challenge, or pick a leadership behavior to work on, and see how things change for the better.
Happy Monday to Y'all out there.
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