The Leadership of Letting Go
In less than 12 hours I fly out of the country on a ten day trip. And rather than being excited about getting away with my husband for a much needed vacation, I’m freakishly trying to make sure I’ve crossed all my t’s and dotted all my i’s. I’m sure the staff are about fed up with all the last minute emails they are getting from me.
This is one of the greatest challenges to my leadership… letting go.
Maybe it’s just control, but I think it runs even deeper than that for me. “Responsibility” is one of my top strengths according to Strengths Finder and let me affirm that the feeling of responsibility for EVERYTHING quickly becomes a burden to my leadership.
My obsession with feeling responsible leads me to:
- freak out over details
- concern that I’ve not communicated
- fear of not providing clarity
- anxiety that something will come up that I didn’t plan for.
CRAZY! Yes, and I’m pretty sure I make everyone crazy around me.
So here’s what I’ll be practicing this week: the leadership of letting go…
What do you need to let go of this week?
This sounds exactly like me! I KNOW I get on my husbands nerves sometimes…haha! When I had my tonsils removed last week it surprisingly helped me to let go of things. I was so nervous leading up to the week because Jasen was going to have to be Mr. Mom, and take care of everything else too. A good friend of mine finally told me that I needed to chill out that he will do fine. She told me that granted he might not do everything to my standards or as I would but reguardless it will get done. I keep trying to remind myself of her words daily, and it’s helping! Have fun on your trip, and try to relax! 🙂
Jenni, it’s not letting go. It’s trusting in your staff to do the job you have trained and developed them to do. There come a point when you have to find out how they will perform while you are gone. If all goes well, than well done by you. If not, then you have to review your staff and make decisions on what they are capable of handling. A successful leader has staff that can fill in for her at any moment. You develope people to take your position at some point so you can move on to bigger and better things.
I need to let go of my expectations. I easily limit my ability to see God working in my life b/c it may not line up w/ my expectations.