Don't ignore the seasons. Perhaps you felt overwhelmed as I covered the different roles involved in cultivating leaders. Each is necessary & profitable, but you don’t have to play all of them simultaneously. There are seasons.
When I first took on the role of team leader, I received a 2-page job description. As I read through it, I thought, “I can’t do all this. Nobody can do all this!” I then reminded myself that this wasn’t my “Tuesday job description.” What I mean is this job description was not a task list for me to do today. This was a description of the kind of work I would do in this role and probably do for a long time.
“Even though I knew I didn’t have to do it all today, the prospect of just deciding where to start seemed pretty intimidating.”
Whew! I felt relieved, but then came the question, “Where do I start?” We had moved around the world and seen our second child born all within the previous year. Margin already felt thin. Even though I knew I didn’t have to do it all today, the prospect of just deciding where to start seemed pretty intimidating.
I began a new habit. At the end of each month, I recorded what had seemed to be most important for that month. Because we were working on a college campus, I knew there would be a natural rhythm to the year. I hoped this reflection would teach me the seasons of this new context.
The seasons are different everywhere. I can’t just tell you what the seasons are like where you are. I’m still learning so much for myself. And culture changes. What used to be the consistent rhythms of society transform into something new. So instead of giving you a schedule to follow, I want to share my journey of learning about seasons and invite you to take your own journey.
I began a new habit. At the end of each month, I recorded what had seemed to be most important for that month.
I think there are three steps in learning to live and labor according to seasons.
This journey is not one you should take alone. We each have our own biases in observations. Everyone tends to observe, explain, and retain things that naturally fit their current worldview. So it is essential to invite others to learn with. Look for those with lives and worldviews shaped by different cultures and personal stories.
You would naturally be critical of a farmer who wasted what he had because he planted or harvested out of season. But how often have we done something out of season?
It pays to know the season. Recently I’ve had to make some decisions relating to international travel. These tickets are never really cheap, but the season can make a difference of $2,000. Sometimes you get stuck needing to travel last minute at an inconvenient time of year, but it literally pays to consider the season.
In life, there are primarily two kinds of seasons: regular and irregular.
Regular seasons happen at a given interval of time. A year is probably the most common interval, but maybe it's a semester if you’re around education. Other contexts could create monthly, bi-annual, quarterly, or some different intervals. The common factor is that it occurs at regular, repeated intervals.
“You can’t ignore these irregular seasons, or they will become a crisis.”
Irregular seasons occur, as you may have guessed, irregularly. They usually have a clear emphasis or objective. Examples could include a project, a conference, a move, turnover/transition in a team, or phases of someone’s personal life like the first year of marriage.
Even though these aren’t regular, you can often see them coming. You can’t ignore these irregular seasons, or they will become a crisis. If you continue ignoring them, you'll always be working from a crisis mode.
As you cultivate leaders, their growth will go through different seasons. When you're in these seasons, you can’t ignore or pretend like nothing is different. The cost of ignoring will be paid by both you and them, as well as by those around you. You must intentionally respond to them.
If you don’t know what season you’re in, making sense of what’s happening around you can feel overwhelming. What you need are some simple steps to help you walk through the chaos toward clarity.
Each time I’ve stepped into a new role, it has taken a couple of cycles before I felt I had a good understanding of what I should be doing when. As I work with other leaders, the third year almost always feels like the turning point.
Three habits to help you discern the current season:
What do I need to look for? Is there something big coming? If you’ve made a plan for the coming month, where are you on that journey today? And what’s the next step? What is the main obstacle you’re facing right now? What are the best things you’re experiencing right now?
Ask these often and broadly. Write down your answers to help you look for themes. I like my observations to be in the same place as my reminder to capture them. I’ve set up recurring tasks to reflect and take note. I've used both Trello and Asana recently for this.
Where do you look for these observations to discern a season? One place you can look at is in the past. If it’s now the spring, you can now ask, what was most critical last spring or last summer? What did you do or not do the previous spring, which has a significant impact on you today?
Journalling can be helpful. It can be insightful when you record observations along the way and then look back at them with context from today. I’ve set a monthly and semesterly habit of trying to reflect on what season I’m in.
A few years ago, I began recording my observations of the seasons in the growth and maturing of our new team members. This helped me grow in leading new team members in the future. After a few intervals, it can be very beneficial to look back at what you’ve recorded. You'll see patterns arise from your observations.
Discerning a season is not to be done in isolation, so who else can be a part of this process? There are likely others who are currently in a similar role or have been in the past. Seeking input from others is essential for anyone, especially if you are starting a new leadership position.
Here are some questions you could ask of someone:
The answers to these questions will be rich with insight, and by asking them, you are probably also giving the gift of insight to the person you’re asking.
In discerning the seasons, you’re trying to see the overall picture of what is happening. You're also identifying “what is most important?” and “why?”
You want your life to have meaning and impact.
What if your everyday work and life not only felt natural and intuitive but also aligned with your priorities and positively impacted those around you?
You're beginning to recognize the seasons, but what do you do with that insight. Holding these four themes in tension will guide us as we live well in season:
Focus on what is essential. Identifying what’s critical will require further discernment, but once you’ve identified a season, you must ask yourself, “within this season, what must I do?”
Set aside specific time dedicated to the essential things of the season. You will need to consider what kind of time is required.
These are questions you will work out according to your situation. As you identify what is needed, you will have to work to protect time because other things will come in and compete for that time.
Consider following the 80/20 rule. Identify the most critical 20% of what you need to do and focus 80% of your time on it.
When you say “yes” to one thing, you say “no” to another. I can struggle with not doing things on my list, so this can be hard for me. It was helpful to me to write out the goal I’m pursuing and then write a “not-to-do list.” I would list all the things I will need to tell "no" and then permit myself to do this.
This list gives me the freedom to focus on what is more important. This practice has forced some things not to be done and pushed me to delegate tasks to others. Not only did delegation free me up, but it also provided an opportunity for the development of others. Developmental delegation, done well, takes additional time on the front end, so account for this as part of your plan.
Flexibility is going to be needed. There are still a lot of surprises within a season. Sometimes these surprises frustrate me when they feel like they are getting in the way of what’s more important.
I'm not in control of what happens, and neither are you. When we accept this truth, we're freed up to adapt to new opportunities and challenges.
Fiesta! So maybe I got carried away with the alliteration. Seasons produce fruit. And it should be celebrated. Recognizing fruit is also part of my monthly routine, but I’m not very good at it. So I’m inviting others on my team to lead us to the fiesta!
Seasons continually change, and mastering these themes will prepare you for the journey ahead.
So take some time to review and reflect. Identify past seasons and see if you can name the current season. Consider what you can learn from those past seasons that applies to your context today.
Team leadership is a management approach focused on leading and guiding a group of individuals working together towards a common goal. A team leader is responsible for providing direction, support, and guidance to the team members, while fostering a positive and productive work environment.
Team leadership involves setting clear goals and expectations for the team, communicating effectively, and building trust and relationships with team members. It also involves empowering team members to take ownership of their work and contribute their unique skills and perspectives to the team's success.
Some key characteristics of effective team leadership include:
Overall, team leadership is a collaborative and empowering approach to management that values communication, trust-building, and results-driven performance.
There are several different styles of team leadership, including:
Overall, each style of team leadership has its own strengths and weaknesses, and effective leaders may use a combination of different styles depending on the situation and the needs of their team.
There are several key skills required for effective team leadership, including:
Overall, effective team leadership requires a combination of interpersonal, decision-making, and management skills, as well as the ability to inspire and empower team members to work collaboratively towards shared goals.
Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy and management style that emphasizes the importance of serving others first before considering one's own needs and desires. It's an approach to leadership that focuses on the well-being and growth of others, rather than solely on achieving organizational goals.
A servant leader prioritizes the needs of their followers or team members, providing them with support, guidance, and mentorship. They are committed to empowering their team members to reach their full potential and achieve their goals.
Some common characteristics of servant leaders include:
Overall, servant leadership is about creating a supportive and empowering environment for others to thrive. By prioritizing the needs of their followers, a servant leader can inspire trust, loyalty, and commitment, ultimately leading to better outcomes for the organization as a whole.
Learn more about how to cultivate servant leadership.
Servant leadership is a leadership philosophy and management style that emphasizes the importance of serving others first before considering one's own needs and desires. It's an approach to leadership that focuses on the well-being and growth of others, rather than solely on achieving organizational goals.
A servant leader prioritizes the needs of their followers or team members, providing them with support, guidance, and mentorship. They are committed to empowering their team members to reach their full potential and achieve their goals.
Some common characteristics of servant leaders include:
Overall, servant leadership is about creating a supportive and empowering environment for others to thrive. By prioritizing the needs of their followers, a servant leader can inspire trust, loyalty, and commitment, ultimately leading to better outcomes for the organization as a whole.
Learn more about how to cultivate servant leadership.
Servant leadership can be beneficial in the workplace in a number of ways, including:
Overall, servant leadership can lead to a more positive, productive, and fulfilling workplace environment, benefiting both employees and the organization as a whole.
Learn more about how to cultivate servant leadership.
Servant leadership differs from many other leadership styles in several key ways:
Overall, servant leadership is characterized by a focus on serving others, prioritizing empathy and collaboration, and taking a humble and accountable approach to leadership. While other leadership styles may be effective in different contexts, servant leadership can be a powerful tool for creating positive change and empowering others to reach their full potential.
Learn more about how to cultivate servant leadership.
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