Leading is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Jigsaw puzzles have a picture on the box, so you know what it should look like. That is vision. The responsibility of leaders is making sure that the pieces are not only put together, but also the way they ought to be.
There are some things leaders need to leave to others to take care of. Leaders are responsible for making sure that their teams and enterprises make their goals happen. However, they’re amiss when they think that it will happen by the doing everything themselves.
You’re not ready to lead if you are not ready to let go. That is, sharing your reins and or control.
Reins
When leaders hold on to all the reins in the process of making things happen, they take away capacity to focus on other things. One of the ways of creating capacity is taking shedding some things.
Letting go of some of your responsibilities to people who can handle will allow you to focus on other strategic things.
Not all things leaders are busy with are of value to them or their enterprise. It is important for leaders to constantly assess what they are occupied with.
Losses
You are not ready to lead until you can let go of some things. This not only applies to giving responsibility to others but losses as well. Too many leaders allow the status quo of failure to rein when they do not let go of their failures or losses.
When you do not cut your losses and focus on the next thing, you’re not ready to lead. While there is something to learn from failure, not letting go of it will cause your team to be nothing but a graveyard. A place of mourning what could’ve been, at the expense of capitalizing on the present.
It will be a mortuary where post-mortems of decision and not strategy for the future is all that takes place. Learn from failure and let go of the losses and move on.
You’re not ready to lead until you can let go of what you did wrong.
Bad
Not every team member you will have just the right attitude, aptitude and ethic you need. You are not ready to lead until you can let go of people who get in the way of vision.
Your vision is worth more that the bad attitude you might get. You’re not ready to lead until you can get rid of people who stand in the way of vision. This sounds harsh but some people are toxic for you, as a leader and for your vision.
Self
You’re not ready to lead until you can let go of selfish ambition for the sake of others and the vision. Letting go of yourself means you stop being self-conscious, but vision conscious.
Many leaders fall in the pit of thinking they are the object of everything that happens in their organization or teams, when they’re not.
You must be willing to let go of an ego that can stand in the way, detracting you from vision.
There are a number of things that you need to be wiling to let go of to lead effectively… Be bold. Be /ˈherətik/.
Question: What else do people need to be able to let go of to be effective leaders?