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The Answer is in the Room

A basic premise of all of our work is that whatever the issue or challenge, there is already an answer available ‘in the room’ – within your own people.  Even more basic than that, what it takes to fully take advantage of the answers available through your people is the realization that the answer is in the room – whichever room you are in. 

As a leader, your mindset; how you approach and look at the issue or challenge, will have the greatest impact on the quality of answers available to you.

The example below demonstrates how quickly the power of asking the right questions can impact an outcome.  In this case, I asked the questions but with AMP (awareness, mindfulness and presence) and some practice, we as leaders can begin to ask ourselves the questions.

 Two co-directors of a project team were struggling.  The project was behind and their stress level was increasing rapidly.

 

Having taught leadership for over two decades I was amused to hear my friend’s grandson declare: “I don’t want to be a leader”! He had just completed a weekend retreat for teens and was told by the event director that he possessed natural leadership qualities.

I asked him a question that everyone in a leadership role might pause to consider…

”What does being a leader mean?”

He didn’t hesitate before saying “I don’t want to have to be the one to tell people what to do and then make sure that they do it!” This young man’s definition is a common perception of what leadership is; and, thankfully it is not an accurate one. So what does being a leader mean?

Throughout the course of my career I have met very few really poor leaders. However, I have met many in leadership roles who make their own job harder every day because of some bad habits.