‘Tis the season of making resolutions for the new year. Of looking back at what has been been and
looking ahead to what can be. It’s a
season of future possibilities grounded in the hard work, the successes and the
failures, of the past twelve months.
One of the core tenets of creative leadership is reflection
– consistent, constructive, courageous reflection about our individual values
and beliefs and the actions they guide.
Reflection serves as a crucial basis for understanding ourselves as well
as our actions as leaders. Reflection
and the self-knowledge it generates also shapes our decisions about the
future. We pause to reflect on the
“why” of our busy lives in order to decide on “what” to do next and “how”
effectively to take that action.
This dynamic of reflection enabling us to align our beliefs
and actions as creative leaders makes looking forward to the arrival of a new
year filled with possibilities so exciting.
Yet as we approach the new year, my wish is for you to
consider taking an especially challenging action. Most of us will make lists of resolutions for
the months to come. We’ll design
ambitious goals and then dedicate ourselves to achieving them. Some of these may involve committing to more
regular practice of reflection on our days, perhaps meditation, and to stay
grounded by integrating different areas of our lives.
More likely, though, the majority of our professional goals
for the new year will involve re-focusing our time, attention and energies with
our clients or customers, associates and colleagues. We’ll dedicate ourselves to new projects. We’ll re-double our efforts on existing
ones. We’ll pledge to be more effective
leaders of people, teams and organizations.
All noble and worthwhile aspirations, but our way to reach those goals
will typically be by taking on more responsibilities and assuming more control
ourselves. Ultimately, many of our
resolutions will translate into accruing more power.
Instead of resolving to gather more power, let me offer an
alternative approach to your 2013: Consider how to give up more power. To cede more control. To share more responsibility. Ask yourself, how will you build more trust
in your core team next year so you can collaborate with rather than control
them? How will you move beyond providing
direct inspiration to fostering an individual sense of aspiration in each of
those around you? Ultimately, how will
you stir the passions of those with whom you work in order to be more
innovative together?
These are hard questions.
For power and control in many organizations means final decision-making
authority or profit and loss responsibility or supervision over people or
departments. It’s very difficult giving
up those hard-won markers of success – they’re typically our rewards for, and
outward signs of, our achievements, after all.
Yet by giving up tight-fisted individual control, we allow
for an increased sense of shared ownership that translates, ultimately, into
the creation of greater value. You may
recognize such thinking from the recent work of Tim Leberecht, Charlene Li,
Nilofer Merchant, among others (and yes, I recommend their work for your 2013
reading lists…). However, creative
leaders have long understood that fostering creative excellence requires
purposeful openness and genuine trust to draw fully on all the passion and
capabilities of those with whom we work.
The challenge is to reflect on that understanding for our own lives as
leaders and to act.
So, Happy New Year.
And all good wishes for your giving up power and control for a more
creative and successful 2013.
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