Leadership Between the Lines

We are always becoming... more of ourselves, less of ourselves. More in alignment and in integrity with ourselves, less so. More helpful, less helpful. More in tune, less in tune. More on our path to mastery, less on our path. More of a contribution to the people and things we care about, less so.

You start a new exercise program. You're super motivated. You get rolling. Start to feel and see the shifts. Get comfortable. And then... you miss a workout, here. Have an extra treat meal, there. Get down on yourself for not "doing it right," there. And before you know it, you've tossed your program.

You decide to change your life, create more space, do the work you need to do to become who you want to become, be a better leader. You're ready to roll. You're a big "YES!" And then... Now that you've envisioned it and maybe even "achieved it in your head," your current circumstances don't seem so bad. OR, now that you've agreed to do the work for yourself, the work feels terrifying -- it's easier to just survive the status quo. After all, up-leveling your life and leadership often means creating changes in relationships, creating new boundaries, saying "no" to things that don't line up, saying "yes" to things that do, getting out of your comfort zones, and yep, doing the work.

We recently had a team meeting where we got very little done. We had a list of five things to knock out, we completed two. Why? We ended up having a significant conversation about our culture and how we were each doing. This conversation wasn’t planned – it organically unfolded through our Culture Check-In Questions:  

Last year I wrote a piece about “holding your space” in chaos. I wrote that piece sitting at a volleyball tournament rebooting between bouts of feeling tortured by “no coffee or food allowed on site,” a wicked early wake-up call on a weekend, a long-ass drive, a cold-ass gymnasium, screaming parents and whistles, and confusing scheduling. All of which resulted in my cumulative snarkiness. (I won’t even mention “their’s” ;-)).

You have something you really want to do in your organization. Or with your partner. Or in your life.

But there's a quiet fear that they just aren't going to go for it.

And you really want it. You know in your heart of hearts that this is important. What do you do?

Shut it down before it's even started, blame it on the infamous "they" for not letting you be fabulous, and let it go? OR get in there, face it head on, and make it happen?

If you're doing it for the right reasons and your leadership wisdom is taking you there--yeah--you get in there.