Setting is for souffles
October 26th, 2009 | Published in Leadership Development | 2 Comments
- From karenandbrademerson’s photostream
Over the past month I have been blogging alongside Sam Davidson to provide young nonprofit professionals advice on how to develop their leadership skills through trying things that may make them uncomfortable. Over the last few weeks we have discussed standing up in front of a crowd, challenging the status quo and sharing your ideas. In our last week of the series we will be discussing how uncomfortable it can be to not settle and how much this can help you grow as a leader.
Unlike souffle, it isn’t imperative for you to settle to be a great. Actually it is probably better that you don’t. Pushing for your ideas, requiring the best of yourself and your colleagues, and pushing for your organization to be the best are all ways you can resist settling.
As a young professional I see the need to push myself beyond a point of “just good enough”. If I settled without pushing for a new website or the development of a new program I would lose the opportunity to expand my career and possibly miss out on an opportunity for something better.
As young nonprofit professionals it is also essential for us to continue to stand out. If you are a leader who always settles for mediocre and doesn’t push for expansion or innovation you could be left in the dust. More-and-more people today are moving into community benefit careers and most are being educated to do it. With an expanding pool of young leaders and a shrinking pool of open jobs it is even more important to stand out.
Stand out by not settling.
To push yourself look for opportunities to…
Become a leader in your community by joining a board.
Help lead community efforts by joining advocacy campaigns.
Stand up in front of a crowd.
Challenge the status quo.
Share your ideas.
What do you do to stand out in your organization? What do you to do stand out in your community? Share your stories by using the hashtag #devleadership.
Look for Sam Davidson’s post on Wednesday about how he doesn’t settle for “just good enough”.
October 28th, 2009 at 6:08 pm (#)
Good stuff, and I love the theme of doing uncomfortable things. Getting beat up and challenged is a constant for any active leader. Everyone should put themselves into the situations you describe – not only is it good development, it’s a nice ‘preview’ of what you’ll experience as a front line leader (and some may realize it’s just not for them!).
Just one alternative thought: why is it that everyone’s always so ready to smash the status quo? It seems a bit knee jerk. I mean, is status quo always really that bad? Aren’t there people and organizations (young and old) that are established within communities and doing great things? I mention this because I would advise young nonprofit professionals to also look for opportunities to SEIZE THE STATUS QUO AND RUN WITH IT. This approach lets you leverage existing power structures and networks, it sometimes accelerates your ability to interact with the ‘powers that be’, sometimes it provides a more gradual professional development framework, and it often accelerates personal credibility-building. Of course, this assumes that a given status quo situation provides opportunities for young leaders, which obviously isn’t always the case.
Great themes, keep it up!
October 29th, 2009 at 5:50 am (#)
Neel, your comments about the status quo are correct. There are always going to be times where the “old way” is the best way. It takes a great leader to decide that and balance between the two. We have to know when it’s time to challenge and when it’s time to ride with the flow.
Thanks for the great comments! Tera