One of the tenets of effective leadership is being responsible vs. reactional. We all run into situations that cause some sort of disruption or challenge. Many managers, supervisors or executives will identify a culprit to blame for whatever happened, bring that individual into a room and angrily admonish or maybe even fire them. Then they have to deal with the repercussions of that anger through the rest of the company because that reaction triggered a ripple effect of tension and fear.
Suddenly, others may feel as though their jobs also are at risk, which means the leader who cave into anger must deal with repairing all of the shrapnel from that deciding on that approach. The far better option that is available to business leaders is to take full responsibility for the problem at hand. Now that doesn’t mean leaders should shoulder the blame for what transpired. My point is that once leaders pass blame onto others, they have no possibility to impact anything along that route. But once they’ve decided to be responsible and thoughtfully assertive, leaders begin to take charge of the situation.
They’re able to think clearly and now solutions show up. And ultimately, it is all about coming up with solutions to problems. There’s a vast universe of difference between these two approaches to leadership. A responsible reaction positions leaders as being a cause in the matter of whatever it is that needs to be resolved. It’s not a self-help strategy. It’s not a philosophical theory. It’s just reality, and it’s actually a very simple concept.
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