With Spring comes the promise of renewal and revitalization. This is a great time of year for leaders to recharge their batteries as well. Here are five ways you can do a little “Spring cleaning” to take your leadership practice to the next level:
- Realign your behavior to your core values
- Recommit to developing your team
- Reinvest in your own development
- Review your initiatives and action plans
- Realize that it’s time to let some things go
1. Realign your behavior to your core values
Are you acting in a way that’s consistent with your values? For instance, if you proclaim an open door policy, are you making it easy for people to come see you – and okay for them to speak freely once they do?
If you value personal and professional balance, are you taking time for things other than your work?
If you value candor, have you been avoiding difficult conversations?
2. Recommit to developing your team
Is there someone who could benefit from being stretched with a challenging assignment?
Could you take on a mentee? Few things help us focus on what works, and what doesn’t, then teaching them to others.
Has it been a while since the team gathered to look at how it does what it does, and generate ideas to improve it’s process?
3. Reinvest in your own development
Have you attended a seminar lately? Bought a book on leadership? Took on a new project to broaden your experience base? What would you like to learn?
4. Review your initiatives and action plans
Someone once said, “You can have anything you want. You just can’t have everything you want.” With your focus on the rush of everyday activities, it might be a good time to step back and take a view from 30,000 feet. Are there some initiatives which are stalled? Can you make some adjustments?
5. Realize that it’s time to let some things go
Have you developed some habits that aren’t really serving you? Perhaps it’s time to change some patterns. Can a weekly staff meeting be changed to a bi-weekly meeting? Can a team member be given more accountability and responsibility, freeing you up for other things? Can a pet project that is on life-support can be dropped?
Sometimes you have to slow down to go fast.
The coming of Spring reminds us all that we live in a world of cycles. It reminds us to take a break, periodically, to clean up our act – to dust off good intentions and discard what no longer serves us. It’s a time to open the windows wide, and let fresh air sweeten our environment. In the midst of pressure to produce results and put out fires, it’s imperative that we take the time, from time to time, to pause, and see what we might do differently to achieve our goals.
