“Leadership is stewardship. It’s temporary and you’re accountable.”, said Andy Stanley. I have never thought of my leadership positions as being temporary, yet all of them have been. As a leader we are focused on finding success for our team. We continually monitor and plan for both the short term and long term.
Being a leader is a bit of a paradox. As a human being we resist change. We like stability. However, change is what leads to success. Most of a leader’s time is spent managing change within his team or organization, not their own personal change and growth.
How can we better prepare ourselves for changes that are inevitable in our own lives? As a leader we should be good at it. However, this does not seem to be the case. Here are 3 ideas on how to prepare yourself for changes within yourself.
1. Develop a vision. A leader is responsible for creating and communicating their organization’s mission. Do you have a defined vision and mission statement for your life? A well thought out vision and and a well written mission statement can help you clarify where you want to be in the future. It seems simple, but very few people have taken the time to create a personal mission statement. If you reflect back on the major changes in your life, do you think one mission statement could capture your decisions, and describe your path to today? Would your path have changed if you had a vision and mission early in your life?
2. Create a sense of urgency. This is one of the key drivers of change in your organization. You have had to set the timing, the pace, the urgency. Do you create the same sense of urgency within your life? Most leaders are content to create urgency at work, and then come home and relax in the comfort of their stable and secure environment.
3. Clarify why change is necessary. In a work environment, we can determine the need for change through performance metrics and goals. Do you have any measures that will help you link your daily life with your personal vision and mission? Could you create metrics around your desired future? As a leader, you are very familiar with daily, weekly, and monthly reports. Create a process to summarize your personal life in a form that will create a view of your success. Maybe a quarterly report card will help reflect your progress towards your life goals, and help you clarify your focus.
Dan Cathy has said, “[In an organization], when the rate of external change continually outpaces the rate of internal change, disaster is imminent.” Reflect on how the rate of change around you versus the rate of change in your own life results in peace or conflict. Aligning personal change with external change is one way to increase your internal peace.