Let’s get real! Leadership is a walk in the park.
Jurassic Park.
Blindfolded!
But it’s not the stubborn rex-spect issuesaurus, the trust-erodactyls or the stagnatoraptors that are killing productivity, cohesion and retention … it’s the most dangerous dinosaur of all. The timidactyl – the pushover leader who avoids confrontation at all costs, creates boundaries out of wishful thinking, and sends poor behaviour through to the keeper (and the good staff to the recruitment company down the road).
If you are a leader who:
- avoids conflict like it’s a trapdoor to the raptor pen,
- says “I’m just too nice,
- thinks “these people are doing my head in”, or
- regularly believes “I don’t get paid enough for this sh*t”
… then my friend, I hate to break it to you, but there’s a good chance that the real dinosaur, may just be you!
Not out of choice, but out of habit.
But what is this habit costing you, and what is it breeding in your team?
Great question.
Here are the answers (complete with a dinosaur theme, because let’s face it – articles on this topic can get a bit tedious sometimes).
You get chaos and confusion: Your workplace becomes like Jurassic Park with no fences. A team without clear boundaries and expectations quickly spirals into chaos and because you are a tad (ok a LOT) fearful of setting and enforcing boundaries, it soon becomes every person for themselves. Things get taken out of context (so get taken personally), deadlines get missed, excuses get made, and a general sense of disarray becomes the norm.
You create a breeding ground for combat: When we avoid reality, shut the door and make a mad dash for Leadership LaLa Land, (where conflict is extinct and everyone like each other), we fail to realise that we turn up the heat and make tension simmer beneath the surface. When we dodge the tough conversations, they don’t disappear – they grow fangs. BIG fangs and your team becomes more focussed on survival than helping to create a better, safer place.
You experience a loss of respect and authority: When you are constantly holding out olive branches, trying to appease or distract your team, you fail to realise that conflictceratops actually don’t eat plants. You become disconnected with the people you lead and as a result, they stop looking to you for direction and instead start seeing you as a figurehead – a leader in name only, with no real influence. Us humans LOVE boundaries, in fact if we don’t have them, we are wired to push til we find them. Your team is craving direction, and if they’re not getting it, they lose trust in your capability and put little weight in your direction or opinions. Your team becomes like a busy intersection, in a big city, at peak hour – with no traffic lights.
You constantly teeter on the brink of burnout: Again, let’s go full dinosaur here – you trying to dodge the conflict, avoid the conversations and hold everyone else responsible for your stress levels is like trying to tame a t-rex with a stick of celery – a total waste of everyone’s time which ultimately leads to a slow painful death of yours and your team’s care factor (and sanity).
The thing I want you to know, is that leadership, when it’s done well, makes life a LOT easier for everyone. The turning point comes when you realise that the issue is NOT the snarling, big-fanged disruptoraptors, the complaintosauruses, the whineraptors or the slackasauruses, the issue is the lack of boundaries that guide them – and that’s not a “them” thing, as a leader, it’s a “you” thing.
So, now that you’ve made the decision to stop creating a dangerous environment by taking the path of (so called) least resistance as a pushover leader, it’s time to swap your blindfold for a whizzbang set of night-vision goggles and lead your team through the park with confidence, clarity, and unity.
You do this by:
- Knowing how to manage push backs without getting snarly
- Being assertive without being aggressive
- Asking questions that inspire accountability
- Swapping “nice” for “kind” and understanding the difference
- Realising that you can be a great leader while still being yourself
- Leading by example
- Setting clearly defined boundaries; and
- Being proactive, instead of reactive
If you’re not too sure how to do these things, then great timing – because I’m about to teach you.
The Art of Confident Leadership is a one-day training event that will send your self-doubt into extinction and allow your confidence (and your team) to flourish.
Grab yourself a spot if you want to get yourself and your team out of just surviving and into a new normal of thriving.
BUNBURY:
August 14th – 2 places left
Sept 4th – Sold Out
October 16th – Just released.
PERTH:
September 25th – a handful of tickets left.
Click here to select your preferred venue, view the training outline and to book.
This training will teach you how to become a confident, respected leader, an empowering role model, and driver of success, for yourself, your team, your organisation and your bottom line.
Drop me a line if you’d like more information on us running this as a dedicated event for your leadership team, in-person or online.
