As I said yesterday I am going to work through and begin to try and identify the weaknesses that I have. Before doing that though I need to show you the matrix that Allender developed in for the challenges that leaders face and their potential responses. It’s helpful and it’s a bit of a diagnostic tool. It also provides a good grid for framing the discussion.
There are five leadership challenges with which every leader comes face to face. I have re-created the grids that Allender developed on pages 8 and 9 of Leading With Limp.
The challenges are obvious. I don’t think that anyone would doubt them. If you do doubt them then, I would have to assume that you have never led for any length of time. Now consider these five ineffective responses. Which of them do you most struggle with? I want to pick and choose. Yet, as I honestly evaluate my own leadership I think that I have failed in every one of the categories.
The effective solutions are the places where we want to get to. I find that courage is easier for me. The reality that I have to grapple with is that the ineffective responses are easier to control. If I am going to legitimately move into these effective solutions the core of my being, of who I am, has to be open to change. If it is not then I simply will not get there.
One note of hope, I don’t want you to think (or me to think) that I am a constant failure in leadership. I think that in many ways I lead well. I think that there are times when I actually live out the effective solutions that are listed above. I simply am aware that I have a very long way to go.