Are you doubting your leadership ability?
Are you worried about your leadership ability?
I know you. I’ve been you, and I’ve worked with you. You’re a mid-senior level manager or small-medium sized business owner. You’re passionate about your industry, your products and services. You want to give your team a giant hug for hanging in there. You like to move fast.
You’re normally super-motivated. But, OMG, the challenges you’ve faced in the past few years! The need to generate more revenue pronto. The near-daily budget examination when income is relatively static. Expectations from your boss or management team that you’ll produce magical results, regardless of external constraints.
In your team, there’s a lot of energy on the surface but you’re not feeling like folks are engaged or focused, and KPI’s reflect this.
You want new ideas that will ‘wow’ the management team, customers, and other stakeholders but it seems like there’s no time for coming up with them. And, even though you know there’s a need to change things up, your team has a history of resisting change.
Like you, I had sleepless nights and worked long hours when facing these kinds of challenges.
Are you feeling burned out just reading this?
Listening to the executives I’ve coached, and reflecting on my own experience, confirms that self-doubt can creep in when things aren’t going well. Sometimes it’s justified, and you know when that is. Sometimes, though, it’s just down to circumstances… but when this happens, we tend to take it personally.
Are you shouting “So what can I do about it?” yet?
You may be wondering how creative problem-solving, the area in which I coach and train, can help. Let me explain. The first phase of creatively solving problems is planning. Although most people get excited about the action phases (brainstorming, choosing the winner, and implementing the resulting idea), when we get the planning right, projects are more likely to succeed. And since, in this era of complex issues, great ideas are more precious than ever, effective planning to solve problems with creativity is more crucial than ever.
In Light Bulb Thinking™, we focus on the problem as part of the planning phase before we move forward: “What’s the problem, exactly? Is it the right problem?” We also check and adjust our mindset: “Are we thinking clearly? What’s getting in the way?” This planning phase is typically when the leaders I work with begin to question their ability and feel the pressure to find a magic solution...fast.
How to solve this leadership challenge
When you find you’re second-guessing yourself, first and foremost, remember that you were hired or promoted for your experience, your skills, and your potential. You got the first two covered. I can help you quickly tap into your leadership potential and future ability to facilitate creative problem-solving in your team. Then the real measure of leadership success is this: when they succeed, you succeed.
The Manager’s Hothouse
If this is the right time for you to do this work, then have I got a program for you! The Manager’s Hothouse Group Coaching Program is launching on Feb 27th; applications need to be made by Feb 22nd. There’s more info here. Be sure to schedule a call with me before Feb 22nd to be considered.
Shhh: Sneak peek - “Conversation With…”
I’ve begun having conversations with other professionals whose work I respect and which relates in some way to creative problem-solving and innovation. These will live on our Resources page (in progress), but until that time you can take a sneak peak here.