My grandson Hugo hits the grand age of 5 months this week. He has changed hugely in that time. However, he isn’t quite ready to step out on his own and make his way in the world. He has a lot of learning and growing to do before making his path in life. It takes time to grow a human being. And it takes time to grow the right kind of environment for success. The same is true of the leadership journey: it doesn’t happen in a moment. We live in a world of instant solutions which masks the fact that greatness or quality arrives at the end of a process. To get the best results you need to learn to trust the process.
Are you willing to invest in yourself to realise your leadership potential? It’s an investment because it takes time. In order to get to the best place, I have found you need to be able to clearly identify the problem you are trying to solve. Great leadership doesn’t happen overnight, however there are things you can engage in on a day-by-day basis, habits which will enable you to have greater influence and be a better leader than someone who wants to shortcut the process. We all love the idea that success can happen overnight. The truth is if we are handed something quickly, we don’t have the foundation to sustain it.
“Everything valuable takes time, there are no overnight successes.” Jack Canfield
The things you learn as you are being formed are crucial to your leadership journey. Each challenge becomes another brick in the wall of your strength and your character. The very adversity we try and avoid builds the resilience you need to lead people well. Nothing has proved that more than the challenges all leaders have faced going through the COVID-19 pandemic.
As you approach a time when you can pause here are some questions you can ask yourself and some tips which help you become a leader worth following:
Successful Leadership Habits:
- Successful leaders do not come about in a day, they engage in daily habits which over time lead them to success.
- Successful leaders take time and use trusted tools to understand themselves in order to lead themselves. You can’t change what you can’t see.
- Successful leaders learn from each experience asking themselves, what can I learn from this? What can I do better next time?
- Successful leaders focus on increasing the quality of their strengths and building up others around them with their strengths.
- Successful leaders celebrate the wins of those they lead.
- Successful leaders are accountable to others who help them to grow and see their blind spots.
- Successful leaders are not afraid to ask for help and learn from the experiences of others.
This Christmas as you reflect on the past year and plan for the next, what are you going to focus on in your leadership journey?
Use the following questions to help you navigate the process of becoming a leader worth following into 2022.
Growth Questions:
What lessons have you learned over the last 12 months? What guiding principles will you implement as a result?
What have you accomplished (big or small) over the last 12 months?
Where do you need to focus your growth to improve your strengths?
How can you add value to the people you lead over the next 12 months?
What habits will you adopt to increase your leadership potential?
Place yourself at the end of 2022, what have you achieved so that has made it a successful year?
To get the best from the process, make sure you have someone who you can be accountable to as you implement your change. To maximise your chances of success give me a call. I would love to walk with you in your leadership journey. Book your time here.
“Self-awareness and self-love matter. Who we are is how we lead.” Brené Brown
Let me know your leadership habits.
Have a great Christmas.
Stay Safe.
