“Leadership demands that we tackle the problems.”

A thought by John C. Maxwell from his book, Leadershift (p. 94). HarperCollins Leadership. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

It isn’t an option, leadership demands it.

John says, “That includes tough conversations. And their difficulty increases when the issue is not easy and it involves people on our team. But we should never delay tough conversations. The more you wait, the more difficult they become. Why?

·      Silence to most people means approval.

·      ​When people have to fill in the blanks themselves, they do so negatively.

·      ​Problems left unaddressed have a snowball effect: they become larger and gain momentum.

·      ​Problems left unaddressed cause inner erosion: we lose respect for ourselves internally.

·      The Law of Diminishing Intent is in effect: The longer you wait to do something you should do now, the greater the odds that you will never do it. One of these days becomes none of these days.

He goes on, “Back in the days when I directly supervised a lot of staff, I used to tell them, ‘Never worry about how you are doing. I will let you know immediately if there’s a problem.’ I don’t sit on issues. If I need to have a tough conversation, I have it as soon as humanly possible.

“You’ve probably heard the saying that all’s well that ends well. I also believe that all’s well that begins well. That’s what establishing up-front expectations does for you as a leader. It helps you begin well so that you can challenge people to become their best.”

Good advice.  Tough advice but good advice isn’t it? 

Yes, yes!