“If you wait for things to come to you, things will also wait to come to you”
It’s striking. Don’t just stand there. Leaders wouldn’t just stand there and look on. Leaders will cause change to happen every time. Leaders don’t go confronting challenges by just standing there.
They tackle them head-on and establish the right attitude and procedure for others to follow. They embrace challenges and own the process. They don’t move alone. So they are ready to get others on board to share the glory, the fame or the shame. Remember that the team takes the glory and fame. The leader takes the shame and blame.
Yes, indeed. The leader bears the vision and he has a greater responsibility to connect to the vision and subsequently lead the team towards that connection that flows into the vision. I will be happy if you read over that sentence again.
There are several ways in connecting teams to a leader’s vision. It involves passion, generating enthusiasm, and greater responsibility, integrity, developing competencies, strategy and colossal commitment among others. Helen Adams Keller (1880-1968), the blind lady with that fine brain once said ‘the only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision’. Her words always challenge some of us to always see beyond.
Employees wish to get to the top but they have no plans to work towards it. Don’t just stand there. Have you conducted your GAPS analysis yet? So what are the gaps within your GAPS? Prove to yourself that you deserve that promotion and elevation, and not to anybody.
If you wait for things to come to you, things will also wait to come to you. Be that fuel that is needed to run the engine. Be genuine. Tap into the vision. Have a strategy as an individual and as a team player to drive performance and be courageous to push yourself to the wall. Don’t just sit there staring at your targets.
Strategize, share them, go after them, take ownership, move the teams to drive the numbers and that’s the only way you can learn and move a step towards achieving something for yourselves and for your organisation. Sometimes the targets may seem big. Just pull it over, draw it closer, break it down the SMART way and you can zoom into it and have a realistic view.
Leaders always see far. Be one. See the unseen. Tap into the unseen and affect the seen. Fight continuously for solutions and not worrying about the challenges at the workplace. Don’t just stand there and look on. Drive through with courage and tenacity until you grab it. Walk by faith. Walk in faith. Walk with faith.
Sometimes, what separates leaders from followers is their levels of faith. I have seen colleagues standing there nonchalantly to see situations deteriorating and sometimes smiling about issues sarcastically. It’s rather sad and this is not leadership. No matter how crucial or fragile issues are, do something. As far as you remain in the ship, don’t let it sink. Just deal with it. You don’t have to muddy the waters. Bite the bullets, if you have to. Some are really hard to bite. Be ready to be tough.
On this path of not just standing there, colleagues will spit poison hard as venom when you tend to act right. Be still and be strong, mentally. Don’t just stand there and watch things go bad. Babies cry when they see darkness because they are afraid. It is rather ridiculous and very sad that adults are afraid when they see the light. Regressive employees are blinded by the lights. Leaders must be the light. Don’t just stand there.
