Chapters of Leadership: Strengthening - The Purpose
Starting to See?
As We Stretch We Strengthen
The process of being strengthened is like many things in life - we want it, but not what it takes to get it. We can see it lifting weights, training for a marathon, playing a sport or learning how to communicate. No matter what the target is, gaining strength will have a proportional amount of pain. Yet, no matter what our area of strengthening is, we all now have some level of awareness that pain equals growth. The longer we are on the earth, we come to a familiar love/hate relationship with the pain because we know intuitively what it means. In the pursuit of being a well | rooted leader the process is no different.
In the chapter of strengthening our roots have now begun to stretch deeper and wider. It is critical to our story to answer whether we believe depth and width can be realized simultaneously. More important than this, we must answer whether or not we believe influence can exist without being a deeply rooted person? If you are anything like me, you have been in cultures where the organizational answer is clear by the individuals who are celebrated. But being a well | rooted leader means you are in pursuit of a unique leadership impact where your widening influence is because of your depth.
In the Stretch We See
There is a unique movement from the often volatile chapter of settling into the chapter of strengthening. You are now, when it comes to your natural gifts and talents, entering the part of your story where you actually start recognizing them. The core purpose of this chapter is for your simple roots to move from their shallowness and stretch to find the depth and richness of healthy soil. As we saw in the intro of this chapter, the experience you begin to have is an increased awareness and understanding of the unique mix of gifting and talent that makes you who you are. This awareness means you are starting to actually understand how to leverage them.
So, as you cross the threshold of settling into the room of strengthening, ask yourself - what am I most aware of right now in this moment of my story? More specifically - which of your natural gifts and talents are you more cognizant of than other things? When thinking about those that you are leading, what do you think they would say are your greatest contributions? It is in the stretch of our leadership roots that actually creates the ability to see. When we stretch ourselves mentally, emotionally, physically and professionally - there is a phenomenon that takes place where those natural abilities reveal themselves by the way they grow and the way those naturally weaker areas get exposed. Both sides of the coin create awareness and a natural focus on how and what to leverage.
Stay Rooted ~
