Are You Holding Yourself Back? Part 2
These articles are taking a look at leaders who have blind spots; hidden, or ignored, beliefs that are holding them back from all that they could be. Leaders who stall out in their own growth and development might achieve greater levels of position, but will stop growing in influence. Leaders develop blind spots the longer they lead people. And it can be very easy to try and blame outside factors for that tall in your leadership growth, or the growth of the organization. But it is rarely an outside factor that stalls out the leader. Nearly always, it is internal blocks that exist in the belief system of the leader that impacts growth both inwardly and outwardly. In other words, you are to blame, not others, not circumstances, and not attitudes. Your own beliefs are holding you back. Maybe some of these will hit home. Some won’t. Let’s take a look at beliefs that will hold you back in leadership. The previous article looked at the first two beliefs:
I have to decide - the belief that you should give input to, or make, every decision. This belief is nothing but micromanagement and it will logjam the decision-making process. Let go of control and trust the team to make the bulk of the decisions. Make the ones that only you can, and should, make.
This is urgent - the belief that everything is most important, a huge deal, and the expectation of immediate results. This belief is just burnout waiting to happen. Very little is actually urgent. Take time to identify what things are most important and focus time and energy on those things. Great results take time. Give that time.
Let’s take a look at more beliefs that hold you back.
I am always right
No you’re not. No, really, you aren’t. Your idea is not the best one every time. This belief is basically that you are the only one who really knows anything, and your ideas are the only good ones. This thinking shuts down the team. Why bother when you already know everything? You are not the only person who can solve a problem and give answers. This belief will turn into a massive blind spot. Holding this belief and attitude will shut down the collaborative efforts of the team, you will begin to dismiss input and the team will stop offering it, and you will miss great opportunities. There are those who will feed this attitude on the team and you should be wary of them. “Yes” staffers will stifle the forward progress as well.
The truth here is that you are right, sometimes. And you are wrong, sometimes. Everyone is. In fact, the only way you will be right is by learning to be wrong at times. You will go farther as a team, develop more as a leader, and see more success if you seek to help others find the solution. You may know it, but it is vital that you help those you lead developing the skills to solve problems without you. If you teach them to just ask you, then eventually you will be wrong and no one will stop to realize it. You can and should boost others to make decisions. You might be right in your solution, but you might not have the best solution. Yes, that might mean that someone you lead moves on at some point to lead a team. But, isn’t that the point? Great leaders expect those they lead to take steps forward in their lives and begin leading other people.
Things must be perfect
Perfectionism impacts a lot of people and there can be many different reasons in their background as to why it is a struggle. The belief here is that everything must be flawless. There can be no failure. This thinking will breed an unhealthy sense of perfectionism in the team and it will lead to a deep sense of fear. That sense of fear will cause people to become indecisive and avoid taking risks because they feel like they can’t fail. As a part of this belief, far too often the idea of “perfect” is equated with personal preference. You equate things done perfectly only with what you think it should be, or look like. That is dangerous ground to find yourself on.
The truth is that things, in whatever you do, should be done well. Very well. Excellently. But excellence does not equal perfect. It is the moments of imperfection that most point people to Christ. Things are not going to go perfectly, and that is okay. God is still happy and loves you even though you fail. His love isn’t based on your performance. It’s based on Jesus. Perfection is unattainable, but that doesn’t mean give up. Do all things as if you are doing them for the Lord Himself, because you are. But accept and recognize that failure is always an option and that the only thing that is a mistake is a failure that you don’t learn anything from.
Growing as a leader requires that you never stop seeking to learn. Learning about your own tendencies, giftedness, background, and experiences is vital. Often, a leader stops learning and develops blind spots. These areas end up stalling the leader out. But you can restart your learning and work to overcome these false beliefs to grow as a leader. Stay tuned for the next few beliefs that hold a leader back.