This is the hard part. Putting these insights – these leadership principles in play, hour-by-hour , day-by-day. This is really what every organization and business is seeking, and so desperate for…but so many want the QUICK FIX.
We think that if we send our people to a workshop, or a course or two that everything should be fixed and new behaviour will begin.
We all know there is no quick fix in institutionalizing these principles into your organization and an employee’s DNA. It is the law of the farm – You have to plant the seeds, nurture and water them, it takes time. But you reap what you sow.
Here is what I did…
Internalize First
I worked on myself. I figured if I don’t have it together – then shame on me to try and ask others
I call it…Get MY Ship Together ( the SHIP analogy is from a good friend and mentor of mine – retired Captain Mike Abrashoff)
I worked on myself first. I spent quality time to deeply study, understood and internalize the principles
I think leaders need to ask themselves – how can I was others to embrace the unconventional if I am not there first?
I bombarded myself with leadership teachings, books and living examples, found examples of those putting parts into play…I was looking for the common attractors within the CHAOS of leadership that resonated with me and the insights I was discovering
I commend all the reader of this blog – what a GREAT WAY, a NEW AGE way, to develop and internalize their leadership tool kit
Externalize Next… I call it… Get OUR Ship Together
I took one bite size piece at a time, and began applying it hour by hour…day-by-day. On Sundays, before my work week, I would plan my week around the Insight I wanted to apply. I would build it into my work week. If the weekly INSIGHT that I wanted to apply was, for example…fun (Making the workplace somewhere everyone wanted to be) – I would look for ways that I could… and my leaders could … well make it fun.
I would show humorous 1 minute video clips before our DAILY meetings. I would give gift cards to my leaders and have them take their team for coffee – or I would have a surprise pizza delivery to my investigators while they were working on a very intensive criminal investigation.
What worked for me is that I did this every week – As I got more comfortable, I was able to combine and enhance the INSIGHTS into application.
My Suggestion to the Listeners… pick one insight and introduce that into your work week through daily activities. Then inspire your team to do the same. Keep applying this insight until it becomes a routine for you…so it becomes your habit – your default.
