Leadership Minute: Discover Your Limits

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One finds limits by pushing them. – Herbert Simon

Your limits as a leader are going to be tested. It’s as you continually strive to grow personally and professionally that you can look back and see how far you have come. The challenges and obstacles you faced five years ago are not the same ones you have today as you push yourself to new limits. What limits to your growth are you testing today? Let me encourage you to discover new limits and expand your borders by pushing them. Don’t get so comfortable that you settle for where you are today without a vivid curiosity for what tomorrow holds. Dare to discover just how far you can go and what you can accomplish by pushing your limits in new and positive ways. You can create new borders and possibilities by removing any self- imposed limitations. Don’t limit yourself or your future; live it without limits.

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Four Ways to Build a Culture of Courage

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Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. – T.S. Eliot

Author Leo Buscaglia tells this story of his mother and their ‘misery dinner.” It was the night after his father came home and said it looked as if he would have to go into bankruptcy because his partner had absconded with the firm’s funds. His mother went out and sold some jewelry to buy food for a sumptuous feast. Other members of the family scolded her for it. But she told them that “the time for joy is now, when we need it most, not next week.” Her courageous act rallied the family.

Courage is an essential leadership skill. It inspires confidence and promotes a healthy work environment. The lack of courage in a leader can have devastating consequences. Forbes contributor Glen Llopes wrote a column entitled 7 Reasons Why Employees Don’t Trust Their Leaders (http://onforb.es/J72Xej). He cites the lack of courage as the number one reason. Llopes adds, “Leaders who don’t stand up for what they believe in are difficult to respect and trust.”

If you were to assess your courage quotient as leader how would you measure up? Are you instilling courage in your organization or by default are you promoting a culture of weakness? Here are four questions to reflect on as you consider how well you promote a culture of courage.

Do your words project courage?

How you speak to your organization is just as important as what you speak. If your words don’t inspire confidence then it will be hard for your team to believe your words. If you want to instill confidence then you must speak with confidence. To do anything less is sending the wrong signal. But make no mistake; what you believe and what you communicate to your team forms the basis of belief from which they will work, produce, and deliver. Courageous words will inspire tremendous results.

Do your actions reflect courage?

Your words and your actions are key indicators as to your own courage quotient and will be reflected throughout your organization. If you have low expectations in your team’s ability to reach their goals then it will be hard for them to overcome that negative perception. If on the other hand you speak courage and act with courage it will be the signal your team needs to go above and beyond and deliver. If you want your team to be courageous then you need to model courageous leadership.

Do your policies and procedures promote courageous behavior?

There can be times when your words and actions may bend toward courageous behavior but it’s being held up by obstructing policies. As a leader it’s your responsibility to make sure that your team’s courageous culture is not being choked out by restrictive procedures that kill creativity and their ability to get the job done. Review it. Change it. Streamline it. Do whatever is necessary to make sure that a courageous culture thrives.

Do you have courageous goals and dreams?

The question here is important because we tend to think we are courageous when we are pushing for goals and dreams from the confines of our comfort zones. Anyone can be courageous while promoting a small dreams or idea. But how courageous are you when it comes to goals and dreams that scare you to death because they seem too big, too costly, or beyond your ability to achieve?

I’d like to encourage you to speak new life into old dreams and dare to speak with the same authority and passion to those larger-than-life sized dreams as you do to the ones you know you can easily achieve. Don’t allow what scares you to keep you from what inspires you. Be courageous and inspire courage!

What do you say?

 

© 2014 Doug Dickerson

 

I invite your feedback!

1. How can you inspire or promote more courageous attitudes in your workplace?

2. What changes in your mindset do you need to overcome to be more courageous?

3. What wrong attitude or belief is holding you back and keeping you from achieving your goals and dreams?

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Leadership Minute: Step of Faith

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Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

One of the most exhilarating and yet one of the most fearful steps for many leaders is those blind steps of faith. We tend to be careful, calculated, and want to know the whole game plan. But there are those unique and special times when you just have to go with your gut instincts and take a step of faith even if you don’t see the entire picture. Sometimes your goals and dreams await you on the other side of your faith. Dare to dream, set your sights high, and when the time comes, dare to step out and go for it. The big picture will become clearer with each step you take.

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Leadership Minute: Where Is Your Attitude Taking You?

attitude

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.- Winston Churchill

Have you ever stopped to consider why your attitude is so important? As a leader you set the tone for others around you. In short, workplace attitudes are mirrored by you. What does your attitude say about the direction of where your organization is headed? Organizational attitudes are the sum of the personal attitudes of those that work in it. But the attitudes of leaders are especially important. To be sure, we all have bad days and there are times when we are tempted to have a bad attitude. But be mindful that your team is watching and reacting accordingly. Move your organization forward with the right mindset. Is your attitude taking you in a positive direction or a negative one?

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Leadership Minute: Who’s Your Mentor?

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Because mentors see our potential, they believe in us and help us believe in ourselves. – Joe Land, (Lessons from a Dream Maker)

An essential component of your growth and development as a leader is to have mentors. Mentors can give wise counsel, encouragement, correction, and affirmation while being an invaluable resource in your life. The truth is, leaders never stop learning and growing. When you get to a place where you think you know it all then you are in a dangerous place. One absolute truth I’ve learned in leadership over the years is this: the more I learn the more I realize how much I don’t know. When you surround yourself with mentors you can draw from their knowledge and experiences and apply them to your own life. The secret to your growth as a leader is to never stop being a student.

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Leadership Minute: Think Big!

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We all have possibilities we don’t know about. We can do things we don’t even dream we can do. – Dale Carnegie

As leaders we pride ourselves in casting vision and dreaming big dreams. Your dreams should excite, inspire, encourage, and even terrify you. Too often we settle for what we know we can do. As a result we put the limits on our potential, our possibilities, and thus we reduce the size of our dreams. As a leader I encourage you today to not hold back any longer. Dare to think big. Dare to release the creative abilities that are within you and reach for things that you previously thought were unattainable. Until you think big you will not become big. Stop limiting yourself and embrace the possibilities of unlimited thinking. You don’t know the things you can do until you put your dream into action.

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Are Your Expectations Serving You Well?

Oft expectations fails, and most oft there where it promises – William Shakespeare

A story is told of a young psychology student serving in the Army who one day decided to test a theory. Drawing kitchen duty, he was given the job of passing out apricots at the end of the chow line.

He asked the first few soldiers that came by, “You don’t want any apricots, do you?” Ninety percent said “No.” Then he tried the positive approach: “You do want apricots, don’t you?” About half answered, “Uh, yeah. I’ll take some.” Then he tried a third test, based on the fundamental either/or selling technique. This time he asked, “One dish of apricots or two?” And in spite of the fact that soldiers don’t like Army apricots, 40 percent took two dishes and 50 percent took one.

The story is a reminder of the power of expectations and how they serve you in leadership. A word of caution to leaders is not to neglect this important leadership component- staying abreast of the expectations of your customers and clients; not to mention those of your organizational team.

Denis Waitley said, “Our limitations and successes will be based, most often, on your own expectations for ourselves. What the mind dwells upon, the body acts upon.” He’s right. So let’s probe a little deeper and be sure that the expectations you have are serving you well. Here are four questions for your consideration.

Are your expectations based upon reality? In leadership there is a fine line at times between expectations and reality. It is what Colin Powell refers to as the “ground truth” of measuring your current situation against the unvarnished truth as it exists. Expectations ought to be based on a blend of your current circumstances measured against future goals. Facing your expectations with this reality will keep you focused as you achieve your goals.

Are your expectations in harmony with your vision? While expectations must be grounded in reality they too must be in keeping with your vision. Do not sacrifice your vision because of your reality. The power of your expectations will carry you beyond your reality because it is a powerful motivator. Walt Disney said, “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” The power of your expectations will cause you to overcome any adversity if you put your mind and heart to it. Are your expectations vision based?

Are your expectations transferable? The buy-in of your expectations is critical. Have your expectations been articulated to and embraced by your team? John Maxwell was right when he said, “The people’s capacity to achieve is determined by their leader’s ability to empower.” The expectations of one has limited fulfillment. But when those expectations are embraced and enacted upon by your entire team, you will see a compound effect take place that will carry you to the next level. Make sure that your expectations have been transferred and received.

Are your expectations helping or hurting? Tony Robbins said, “People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals-that is, goals that do not inspire them.” Are your expectations inspiring others? Leaders must evaluate their expectations in light of how they meet organizational goals and if they are properly promoting the health of the organization. While strong expectations serve your organization well, unhealthy ones can have a negative impact. It is important that the leader get it right and that the expectations you promote are taking you in the right direction.

Are your expectations serving you well?

© 2012 Doug Dickerson

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