When in a position of leadership, it is easy to form habits that stem from a place of ego rather than for the betterment of the team. Over the past couple weeks, I have changed my tune from “I need you to do X,Y, and Z”, to “We need to accomplish X,Y, and Z. What can I do to help?”.

When the person took me up on the offer for help “Well actually I could use this or that from you, it would really help”, my instinctive response was to say that the task can be complete without neither “this” or “that”. I had to check myself, and called the person back for clarity, “When you say you need this, can you explain what you need it for and how it will help the project?”, after hearing their response, I knew I had to provide the help that was asked for. The explanation made sense, and what was being asked for was not this particular person’s strong suit, but guess what—it was mine. It would be wrong of me, as a leader, to ask them to “let me know what you need from me”, or say “What can I do to help?”, and not mean it. So I provided the help that was asked for—it took out a good few hours from my day, but at the end of that day, I knew if nothing else, I had this person’s respect. They knew I’m not just a person pointing the finger saying “do this and do that”. I am getting my hands dirty right there with you. That’s what leadership is about right? Lead by example. 

What’s more is it felt good to be of service—it’s  a beautiful thing

Share a time you lead by example, using tag “Lead by Example” 

with Love,

Pool House