The Risk of Belief

Believing in people is a risk - and it is one worth taking. 

As leaders, we have the opportunity and the responsibility to empower others. Reaching team goals and fulfilling vision requires us to lean into the people around us and give them responsibility.

Our need to empower often sits in tension with our desire to do things a certain way. You and I have opinions about how things should be done. We have experience that tells us our model and method are the right way forward.

Leadership often requires us to sit in this ongoing tension:

• Empowering others to go reach goals and fulfill vision means offering space where they can take creative freedom - to do things in the ways that make sense to them.

• Attempting to control the way others go about reaching goals and fulfilling vision can discourage people from taking ownership or responsibility. It has a way of undercutting their ability to lead.

The question to ask yourself is this: which team do you want to lead?

• A team where people hold back, stay reserved and shy away from accomplishing big things for the sake of doing things your way.

• A team where people move and make things happen, with the understanding that things won’t always be done the way you would have done them.

My encouragement for you is to take the risk of belief when it comes to the people you lead. Take the risk of trusting that they are capable and know that even though they might not do things the way you would, your team will be better when people are believed in and empowered.