How much control do you try to exert over your leadership development team?
I’m not talking about a kind of iron fist control that you’d find in a totalitarian government, I’m talking about how deeply planned you’re meetings are, how much we try to influence outcomes, and how hard we try to steer our lessons in a certain direction.
While each team is different, I have been finding lately that the more control I try to exert over activities of the leadership team, the less the team thrives. Most students need structure, and even welcome it, so why does more control equal less outcome?
I think it has to do with the very nature of leadership and leadership development. While some structure is necessary, the more structure we put into the system, the more it chokes the life out of our young leaders. Our students aren’t normal (whatever normal is), and being leaders, they don’t always operate under the same norms that we’d expect all students to. The more I work with young leaders, the more exceptions I find to developmental theory as explained in my many college classes on the subject.
Leadership development is messy. It happens in real time, and no lesson plan, no matter how good and how detailed, can take into account every student and their personality. No activity, no matter how well planned and what outcome it’s supposed to achieve, can fully take into account every student on your team.
What I’m trying to say is this: plan for the unexpected. Plan to get off-plan. Your lesson or conversation or activity may take your team in a direction that is totally unexpected, and may even seem like a waste to you. Don’t judge it too quickly. Don’t shut it down too quickly. Real growth can happen where you least expect it.
Control is comfortable, control is planned, and control is, well, controlled. Leadership development is messy. Embrace it.
Training Tomorrow’s Leaders Today,
Matt
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