Where are you prepared to go?

Simple Rich reminded me of the truth that comes from a simple quote:

“You can only lead others where you yourself are prepared to go.” — Lachlan McLean

It’s a little reminder, but it’s a powerful one. I learned this one early on, when I tried to dump, er delegate, all the little administrivia I didn’t want to do an someone who reported to me. I tried to force them to go along to get along, and for some reason, it never worked out very well. Sure, the task might get done, but it never got done with the precision and care I would have done it with, so I ended up re-doing it, or worse, going head to head with the person who did the task, challenging them to do it again, to do it better. All because I didn’t want to do it myself.

It didn’t work then, and it doesn’t work now.

Now, I realize if I want to delegate something, I have to find what’s in it for me, then find out what’s in it for my associate, and then find the middle ground and then, and only then, can I truly delegate it to the person on my team. It gets done once, and it gets done right…most of the time.

Questions for you:

• Where are you prepared to go?
• Where are you leading your team?
• Do they match or do they conflict?
• Where are you headed? Is it in the direction you wanted to go or somewhere completely different?

Image and quote courtesy of SparkPeople