No Excuses Leadership

Break the Mold

Identifying naysayers is easy.  Learning to crack their code is difficult.  Turning them into problem solvers . . . well, that's just downright challenging.  Even so, that's what we're called to do as BOLD leaders.  When we consistently model the attitudes and behaviors we want to see in them, we begin to break the mold.

A friend of mine is a principal at a middle school in California.  For a number of years, she's been developing a culture based on all of the things I've written about in this app.  Through her work, she's shared with me some tremendous examples of success as well as some deeply challenging stories of dealing with reluctant staff members who fought her at every turn.  Through all of the ups and downs, the only promise she made to herself was to continue to be the kind of leader others would respect and want to follow.  Some of her breakthroughs happened in single conversations.  Others have literally taken years.  But her commitment has been consistent.

Last year she finally made a breakthrough with one of her most challenging team members. One day, after school, he walked into her office and apologized.  Caught a bit off guard she said, "What are you apologizing for?"  He looked at her and said, "This year I have learned that I am clearly one of the few members of our staff that has been reluctant to change.  I made excuses, tried to rationalize my opinions and methods, and even blamed others for my own failings."  He then said something that proved to her that his mold had been broken when he shared, "I know better now.  I've seen a different approach.  I want to have the same joy that others on this staff have."

TAKE ACTION

Maybe you have a similar "breakthrough" story.  Or maybe you're waiting for yours any day now.  Either way, it doesn't change the mission.  Our drive has to be to offer guidance to the naysayers among us by modeling a different approach. If our BOLD leadership results in just one naysayer transitioning into a problem solver, then that's cause for celebration and rationale for a continued diligence to be BOLD.

BE BOLD

There's a great quote that I've heard marathon runners use:

"Forget the miles. Remember the glory."

This is the kind of mindset we need to have as we work to model a different set of attitudes and behaviors to our most challenging colleagues.