It's easy to lose your cool as a leader with so much going on, so much to juggle, so many people to be responsible for, so much information to keep present...it can be challenging to keep your composure, to know what to do next and to operate with the team in mind. Don't you just want to give yourself permission sometimes to go screaming out of the building?
Do we talk that much about losing your cool and the daily grind leading can be? Not so much because no one wants to hear it and it's not the most uplifting conversation. Betty Davis in "All About Eve" said the famous line, "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night," and such is true about leading. Every day leaders are running faster than the speed of light and we wonder why motivation is one of the most critical elements for reinvigorating teams when we may need some reinvigoration ourselves.
Here's what you do when you just want to lose your cool, run out of the building or shout from the rooftops:
-It's never too late - if you read trade magazines, they are full of stories of people who have made come backs from the lowest of places. America is full of icons that continue to come back when they are beaten down the most. Have a vision and follow it and know if all seems to be going awry, turn to your mentors, to those who believe in you, they will help you to see what you are blocked from in this moment.
-Be in a place of exploration - investigate what's really happening. Sometimes our vision is clouded by our own need to fix things without the help of others.
-Don't quit on your dream - it's taken a long time to realize what you want to achieve in this life. You are experiencing a bump in the road and treat it as such, not as the end of what you desire profoundly.
-Take a stand for you - getting upset is not pretty. Oftentimes you can beat yourself up, compromise valued dialogue and make those around you wrong. Take a stand for helping yourself to know the truth of the situation you are in. Beating yourself up only does one thing...prolong the guilt.
-Do an inventory - just as you would with a warehouse full of product, take an inventory of the current situation, your strengths, the strengths of those on your team and evaluate if what you are experiencing is really the end of the world or a call to shift how you do what you do.
We may not be able to change the situation we are in, however we can shift our perception and management of ourselves and those around us. Stepping up to be a leader means you've signed up for continuous self-examination and careful mindfulness of those around you. Let's celebrate all you have done rather than go screaming from the building. There's always some measure of good in what's going on, we are required as leaders to help lift the fog to find the truth, move out of anger/frustration/resentment and take decisive action with compassion.
