I use the phrase “battle of leading” because for me leadership often feels like battling. It involves struggle, it involves confrontation, it involves striving, it involves contending and campaigning. It involves having difficult conversations with an employee who is off track when it would be easier to just let them be. It involves leading a team through major procedural changes rather than letting someone else take the heat. It involves listening and trying to learn from staff who are unhappy with how things are going rather than avoiding.

I am intrigued by other leaders who  also describe their journey in leadership the same way. Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and Martin Luther King Jr. come to mind. I can’t really compare what I do to the kinds of issues those leaders faced, however I relate to  the mental focus and self discipline they had to use in order to accomplish their great missions.

Leading is full of hard things. For instance this week I am thinking about several issues that lie in the path of my agency. How do we make a high cost department that the community relies become fiscally efficient? How can we recruit employees who will align with our culture and mission? Given major changes in third party reimbursement, what kind of organizational structure and business model will be most effective in two years? The answers to such questions are dynamic. In other words I have to keep answering these questions because what works today will not be what works in 12 or 24 months.

Leading is hard, but it is worth it. Some people cut corners or try to coast. I do not know how a leader could be successful by doing that. To move your organization forward you have to be in the fight. You have to be striving along side the rest of your team. If you don’t strive with them they eventually will not respect you. 

Leaders,
Focus on your agency’s mission, serve your team, encourage others, celebrate every success no matter how small, and take one day at a time. The Creator will give you the strength you need for each day and when you look back you’ll be amazed at how far you’ve come.