When my children were small, we sometimes played a driving game. I would drive from our house and the kids would decide which way to go at every intersection.
Turn left turn right go straight u turn…
We had a lot of laughs, the kids loved being in control, and we usually got hopelessly off track.
Life can sometimes be like the driving game.
You end up where you are by chance. Those in control don’t know where to go.
You just make decisions.
We’re all on a journey through life and always at the end of our journey so far.
From child to adult, sometimes to leader.
But real journeys aren’t inevitable.
The more chances you take the less likely the journey will match the plan.
You make unplanned decisions.
Turn left turn right go straight u turn.
Those decisions matter.
Good and bad.
Do you think you’ll make different types of decisions in the future?
If you don’t reflect on those decisions you won’t.
It’s no coincidence that teams with leaders who promote accountability do better.
Being accountable means suffering the discomfort of seeing your own shortcomings. So you work on them rather than ignore or rationalize them.
That discomfort is one reason leaders are paid more.
Discomfort is also a symptom of learning.
More importantly, when you are accountable, your team can be too. Your example drives their performance.
They suffer the same discomfort, and learn too.
Try it.
Look back over the last year.
“..unplanned decisions matter..”
Don’t just focus on what you’ve done, try to recall what you thought you’d do.
The decisions you made.
Did you do what you set out to do?
Did you have unplanned challenges?
Did you gain more knowledge? Did you change direction as you went along?
If you’ve been learning as you go you can keep learning. If you changed direction before you can do it again.
If you haven’t been learning and growing, and changing direction, why do you think you will start now?
Leaders should focus on decisions as well as outcomes.
Of course it’s even better if you’re reflecting on those decisions soon after you made them, not waiting till the end of the journey, or the end of the year.
If you start now you’ll start to grow as a person and as a leader.
And you’ll be in a different place in a years time.
.
.
“I might be wrong, but at least I’ve thought about it…”