Communicating Your Vision
Far too many leaders are afraid to speak up for their beliefs, values and vision of the business - just to keep everyone else happy.
What you need to remember as a business owner is that you have a higher level of risk than most of your team. You have committed to that next level of growth because you are taking on the risk of the business and have decided that you are going to take life to the next level. You also have a vision of where you want the business to go so that you can live your dreams of having a successful business. Not everyone is going to be on board with this or understand why you do what you do because they are seeing it through their limited lens. Their employee mindset. This means that sometimes you have to step on a few toes to get there. It’s going to happen. The more you are OK with accepting that your vision the less resistance you will get. They will feel the passion and determination. The challenge is when you are not 100% confident about your idea then they will smell the fear and that is what we want to avoid.
As an example: If you value success and you talk about how much profit the company is making because you want to be transparent about it then do it. These are your values.
What I have noticed with every leader that has started their journey with me is that they are energetically trying to protect their team members from any negative feelings. The truth is that everyone is interpreting life through their filters and you have no control over it. What this means as a leader is you need to trust that the team around you are adults who can take responsibility for their own lives. That is how you create an environment of trust.
This energy of trust is about knowing that everyone is on their journey and they will soon see why you did what you did. It's about not needing them to understand. It’s meeting them with compassion when there is resistance.
The best way I have heard this explained is; When we plant a seed in the ground we don’t tell that seed how to grow. We find out exactly what it needs to thrive. How much sunlight it needs of how much water to give it. When we nurture our inner world. Our beliefs, values and vision we are flowering into a beautiful flower. That flower is just perfect the way that nature intended it to be. When we bloom as leaders because we are claiming and owning who we are and what our mission is we are being as nature intended us to be. Eventually, all the tree roots and other flowers will grow around us and together we will make a beautiful garden.
If you have a block around confrontation or giving your team members feedback this may be you trying to bend yourself to ‘keep them happy’ mean while dis-honouring yourself and what you think, feel and believe.
I have done hundreds of hours of coaching and it is always the biggest indicator of leadership progress. How externally focused are you? How are you nurturing your inner world?
Id love to hear your comments and thoughts so get in touch.