Leadership Workshop (11 of 12) – Help People Assume Responsibility
Leading at Light Speed is a must-have leadership book by Eric Douglas highlighting the 10 Quantum Leaps to build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization.
Quantum Leap #10 is all about Helping People to Assume Responsibility.
Are you able to alter your own behaviors to achieve higher levels of performance? Are you able to ask powerful questions that enable other people to assume responsibility and perform as effective leaders in the organization?
“The price of greatness is responsibility.” – Winston Churchill
To assume responsibility invariably means making a personal choice. This statement points to an important truth: No one can tell you to change. Committing to change means making a choice. You have to choose to assume responsibility for the way things are and for making them better.
Holding yourself accountable for improving yourself means acknowledging the paradoxical truth that: We cannot see what we want to become. We only see fleeting glimpses of it in our best moments. Assuming responsibility means asking a series of questions: “What do I truly envision for my organization? How do I want to be remembered?Reaching your full potential as a leader requires trust in a better course – one that’s invisible to you now. The very word leader has its roots in the Anglo-Saxon word “leith,” meaning “to be out in front.” The root of the word also means “to die.” It’s important to understand that building a new life means shedding parts of your old one.
Once you start tackling these questions seriously, the door opens to all sorts of possibilities. You can discover natural allies, appropriate teachers, and the supports you need to create. You have to take those initial steps in order to change. Over time those highly effective leaders are the ones who continually evaluate their behavior, hold themselves accountable, and throw off pieces of their old lives to build a better one.
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