Why the Question Mark?
Over the past 20 years of coaching and developing leaders in various industries, I’ve acquired a fondness for the power of language. We link and sequence words to convey ideas in both written and spoken form.
Understanding Your Boundaries
I often start my leadership workshops with the importance of self-awareness. An area of self-awareness I spend time on is understanding our boundaries. What is a boundary?
Are You a Boss or A Leader?
Each of us, in some way, is responsible for the actions or performance of other people. It may be at work, home, the community, place of worship, etc. When we strive to achieve results through others, our style will fall somewhere between two ends of an influence spectrum: a boss and a leader.
An Interesting Quote
Each of us has a perspective of our environment, including other people, challenges, and opportunities. The way we see or think about those issues affects how we approach them.
In our colleague’s case, we can start by altering the way we think about him or her. A simple question, such as “I know this person has a talent that could benefit the team, how can I find out what that is?” would shift your thought pattern.
We can follow up with a more difficult question: “What am I doing or not doing to contribute to this social barrier?” or “Am I as authentic as I think I am?”
Exploring our role in this context leads to an understanding of our habits, pointing to a potential blind spot. If we couple our new-found self-awareness with some professional courage, we will do the unexpected and reach out to that person to have our first meaningful conversation.
After breaking the ice, more conversations will follow in time, and we will eventually earn each other’s trust. The connection we’ve established will make it easier to call on each other for advice and assistance. Looking back, we will see that the relationship has changed. I hope you find meaning in the quote, especially as it applies to someone you may have written off. As your thoughts about that team member change, so too will your behavior. They will respond to your actions. In time you’ll see a difference