A Leader's Challenge; The BIG 3 all leaders must face and win!

Andre Young

July 2, 2020

If you’re in a professional position of leadership or a leader of your own life… All leaders have the same BIG 3 Challenges to evolve through. As you accept and work through these challenges, your leadership and work/life harmony will enhance; as will the leadership and work/life harmony of your people!

Challenge Your People

As a leader, you must be willing and able to challenge your people. Challenge them to meet their full potential and beyond, meet the standards and expectations you’ve set for the organization and team, and to always be moving forward regarding the expressed vision and mission!

Some of your people: employees, co-workers, and organization… or, in your personal life… your significant other or kids are underperforming. As a leader, first be sure they aren’t underperforming due to YOU and your leadership or lack thereof! Perhaps they’re underperforming due to a lack of attention to detail, a poor spirit, or they simply don’t care. Perhaps you have people that are doing well, but you know they’re coasting… they could do more and be more. No matter which type they are… CHALLENGE THEM!

Share what you see, your vision, expectations, and rules. Get an understanding of who they are, what they want, the language they speak, and challenge them to a goal; allowing an evolution for the organization, team, you, and their life!

The challenge may sound like, “I see _____(something positive)_______ in you. Lately, I’ve noticed ______(The Issue)______. I’m presenting a challenge to you, to ____(The Vision/Goal)______. I know you can do it and I’m here to help and answer any questions you may have to achieve it”. Feel free to use your own words; this statement implies the positives you see in them (you’d be surprised how few times people hear positives about themselves), your belief in them, a plan of action, and offers your assistance if they can exhibit the leaderships skill of asking for help when necessary. This leads to the second challenge, The Challenge of Letting People Go.

The Challenge of Letting People Go

A hard rule to accept of leadership is… Not everyone that starts with you will not finish with you… and that has to be OK! Of course, as a leader, you care about all of your people: employees, co-workers, friends, significant other, your kids… however, care and love doesn’t mean soft and enabling!

Once you’ve presented Challenges. Those that DO get to stay. Those that are willing, striving, and all for the vision and bigger picture… stay. Those that don’t must go.

Accept the challenge of letting people go to create win-wins! Their mediocre effort and results are better than someone else’s horrible efforts and results; therefore, they could be a win for another organization, team, or relationship. It’s a win they get to be somewhere else that will value them… and it’s a win for you as you get to replace them with an inspired and motivated person that fits the standard and expectations of your vision!

I mentioned kids earlier; I’m not recommending you drop your kids off on the nearest street corner and wish them luck if they’re not willing to meet your challenges. I present challenges to my children. When they give high-effort they get a high number of “Yes’s” for things they want to do. When they give low-effort, they get a low number of “Yes’s” for things they want to do… along with possible consequences they don’t enjoy. My rule is simple, a person can’t do less then come and ask for more! Be sure you are clear and agree within the relationship as to what “winning” and “success” looks like. I was horrible at Math and still am. When I was in school a “win” math-wise would have been then grade of C… an A would have been way too ambitious and sunk my battleship! Winning and Success may not mean that all of your people have A+’s; rather they are operating at their best and always working to improve!

Challenge Yourself

The last of the challenges is to challenge yourself. Are you being a continuous learner of your craft, your role, and the future of your craft? What do you know you need and should be doing for your organization, people, partner, and/or family? Remember, just because you can… doesn’t mean you should. However, every leader must know this list.

The things you want to do or are willing to do… do they match the wants and needs of your people, the organization, the world, the future? If so, great! If not, marry the concept of what you want to do with what is needed and be of influence, impact, and evolution for your people, team, organization, and life!

Be willing to challenge your people, accept the challenge of letting people go, and always ready to challenge yourself and watch your and your people’s leadership and work/life harmony evolve!

“Of course, as a leader, you care about all of your people: employees, co-workers, friends, significant other, your kids… however, care and love doesn’t mean soft and enabling” – Andre Young

Source: LinkedIn