“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.”
~Maya Angelou
A client confided in me the other day that he really wanted to get involved with a certain project at work, but he was afraid to bring it up to his boss. “I might not be great at it yet,” he explained to me. “I’m not sure I really know what I’m doing with it. It just excited me so!”
How often do we hold ourselves back because we’re afraid that we might not yet know the answer to the problem we’re digging into or have a sure way to handle something in front of us. We doubt ourselves. We doubt the contributions we might have to offer, even if we don’t have all the answers. We doubt our ability to learn enough along the way…or to receive enough grace from others to learn along the way.
We talk about Thoughtful Leadership here at CCG – being present, being intentional, and being authentic. And as I listened to my client talk about his passion and his fear, I couldn’t help but feel that that approach was the opposite of Thoughtful Leadership. I couldn’t help but think that if my client let himself be present with his desire and interest, let himself be intentional with how he approached it, including the parts he didn’t yet know, and let himself be authentic to authentically express his excitement, he might be more likely to step up and ask to be involved.
I think we’ve somehow learned that we need to know what we’re doing before we do something and we need to have an answer before we step in and get involved. I’m wondering how freeing it might be if we trusted ourselves and let ourselves step in and sing the song we have, even if it doesn’t fully solve anything yet. I’m also wondering how many more delightful, passionate and problem-solving songs might get sung.
Yes, there’s a time to be certain before we say something and to have a solution before we speak up, but there’s also a time to let ourselves ask for what we want and find something that really excites us…and to trust that the song we’ll be singing then will be helpful and fun.
How have you sung your song, even if you didn’t fully know where it was going?
Click here to answer.
If you enjoyed this post, you can read more like it in our book, The Power of Thoughtful Leadership: 101 Minutes To Being the Leader You Want To Be, available on Amazon.
For support in stepping in and stepping up, contact Lisa at lkohn@chatsworthconsulting.com.
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