The wake-up call

It wasn’t quite important enough for me to do anything about it. Then I got cancer.

Hi, it’s Anthony here again …. writing this week about how important it is to interrupt unhelpful behaviours and thinking.

Let me get personal here. I had to get cancer before I really took my diet seriously. Before that diagnosis (7 years ago) I thought I could get away with eating and drinking pretty much whatever I liked. And because I exercised a fair amount and stayed vaguely in shape I told myself I was doing pretty well. Well the wake-up call I got from my GP certainly interrupted that story!

Now I’m not saying my diet was the cause of my cancer. There are all sorts of hereditary factors involved. But I also don’t think it helped. And more importantly I’ve known for many years that I wanted to become vegetarian and eat more healthily. I was just putting it off.

So what does this have to do with leadership?

Everything.

In just the same way that I was tolerating my own lazy diet we find that people at work are often all too willing to tolerate poor behaviours, unhealthy habits and mediocrity in themselves and others.  Instead of challenging the status quo people adapt to their daily circumstances and choose to look away when frustrations occur. As a result nothing changes and opportunities are lost.

So the best leaders pay attention to what’s draining energy in their teams and what’s moving too slowly in their businesses. And they are bold enough to instigate wake-up conversations with the direct intention to challenge current thinking and prevent the build-up of more serious long-term problems.

So let’s get practical. Here’s how to start great wake-up conversations ….

  1. Identify an area of work or life where you are tolerating mediocrity or allowing frustrations to thrive

  2. Clarify who is involved and the unambiguous challenge you want to bring to the current situation

  3. Ensure you are fully owning your part in what has happened and not blaming others   

  4. Now start a wake-up conversation with the intention of opening up possibilities and seeing what new thinking might emerge 

To buy a copy of 4i leadership: start a bolder conversation click here

Anthony Landale