HR West: March 2014 - page 17

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17
And it starts with you. Leaders once responsible for
relying on their own experience and training to make
decisions are now called to architect and facilitate
robust decision making process. Increasingly complex
challenges demand greater cognitive capacity, and
innovation requires a diversity of perspectives to
intersect. Leaders need to seek out, create, and care
for these intersections. This is where the future is found.
As with anything else, the most powerful thing
a leader can do is to provide a consistent living
example. You need to fly your freak flag. “Being
authentic” is simply too safe and passive of a way to
say it. Being authentic is activist, and it means that
you will at times be the freak or the oddball. Do it
anyway. Put your flag up.
> Spend some time reflecting
on some basic questions:
1.
Who are you?
Besides your name and your
title, how would you describe yourself to
someone else?
2.
What are you here for?
What is your
purpose for being on this planet? What are
you called to do?
3.
What is your gift?
What is the thing that
you have always been able to do that
makes you unique?
4.
What are your core values?
What are the
2-3 values, ideals or beliefs that guide you?
Once you have spent some time getting some
clear answers to these questions, you can then ask
the most important question of all:
Are you acting
accordingly?
Does this stuff show up in the world?
If you wrote down your answers to these questions
and read them to your friends, family, and coworkers,
would they know who you were talking about?
Make it your job as a leader to bring more of yourself
to your work. Set the example for others to follow.
Are you able to share your hopes and fears with your
colleagues? Can you learn from your failures? Can
you allow others to learn from your failures? This is
powerful stuff—powerful stuff that we have almost
stripped out of “leadership” entirely. You will know
when you are stretching to share more of yourself
at work because it will bring a certain amount of
discomfort and uncertainty with it. Follow that. Fly
your freak flag.
Take your freak flag to work with you today and
start thinking about how to make it safe for the
people around you to do the same. It will make your
relationships more real and robust, and it will make
your conversations more candid. It will also generate
more conflict, and that’s a good thing. As much as
we tend to avoid it, conflict done well is healthy and
valuable for your organization.
The world has changed. You cannot afford to keep
powerful stuff in your back pocket. Fly your freak
flag today.
HR
Learn more about “flying your freak flag” at HR West
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Read Joe’s bio on page 10.
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