Leading Others

Many of us lead others. Team leaders, parents, older siblings, managers, anyone with seniority or experience in a situation. The next three posts will be about leading others through mistakes, helping them deepen their ambition, and guiding them towards what they really want.

We’ve all heard the saying, “Don’t prepare the road for the kid, prepare the kid for the road.” This is difficult when you love and care for someone because your instinct is to protect. Yet we protect the long term interests of the learner if we prepare them for struggle, let them meet that struggle, and then help them through that struggle with support.

When you lead others, let them meet failure and let them digest the failure as feedback. When they fail or make a mistake, help them learn from it. Be clear with them that it’s not the end of the world and it is not a statement on who they are nor does it define them. It is feedback for their behavior, feedback for where they are in their journey towards what they want. Each time they meet failure, it is a chance to try again.

If we can get through to those we lead when they are confronted with failure and help them better understand themselves and the opportunity before them, we are leading quite well. Their response is what matters most, and that positive response will serve them well past any road paving that could have been done up front.
#getbetter