Doubts, uncertainty, rejection, feelings of inadequacy come attached to every idea.
And the answer, of course, is not to stop having ideas, developing them, sharing them, advocating for them. The answer is getting comfortable with the uncomfortable, accepting that having ideas is but the first step in a long process that could, and actually most of the times will get you nowhere.
When you are ready for that, you might even end up somewhere. It is worth trying.
When you let go of things you are not good at, you find the space and energy to double down on your strengths. And, equally importantly, you leave the space to others in your team to do the same.
For leaders, this is particularly crucial. We tend to think we should know it all and do it all, that if we are not going to do something is just because we really do not have time. And all that translates, day after day, into a demotivated team, poor deliveries and many chocked processes.
Not knowing is ok.
Say it out loud: “I do not know”.
It is the only possible step towards building a team that can deliver the change you are seeking.
The faster way for you to build a story is to record what you do.
Do it daily and consistently, and after a while, as you look back, you will find threads that already are the seed of a narrative. Put them together, water them, double down on recording, and you have everything you need to stand out from the masses.
The best time to start doing this was yesterday. The second best time is today.
Change does not happen because you want to.
Change happens because enough people want to.
And so, the first step towards change is figuring out what others feel about it.
You might get stressed, impatient, irritated by the whole process. But if you cannot handle that, how could you handle what is coming after things have changed?
The fact with difficult conversations is that you can delay them, but you cannot delay the negative effects of the situation that made them necessary in the first place.
If a colleague is under performing and you have to pick up their slack, silence will not improve things. If your boss is not giving you what you demand, silence will not make them change. If the team you are working in has a toxic culture, silence will not make that more digestible.
Also, more likely than not, eventually the outcome you fear and that justified the delay is going to materialize no matter what. That colleague is probably going to be fired anyway, your boss is going to get rid of you, or you are going to get rid of them, the team will have to make some drastic changes one way or the other.
So, at the end of the day it is mainly a matter of being an agent of change or a spectator. The former makes you waste a lot less time, and you have no time to waste.
You've got this 