Edition 3 – When there are few with you at the top

Dear Leader,

As you rise as a leader, the circle around you becomes smaller.

The ‘top’ is not a title or designation. It is a vantage point and it looks different to every leader.

This change happens not intentionally; you may have just naturally transitioned into it.

Partly because the issues you deal with changes, fewer people share the context you have. Decisions become undiscussable, the doubts become less visible. The responsibility increases and you are expected to rise with it with fewer sounding boards.

This can become a challenge.

You are expected to be clear, decisive and composed and yet there are moments you may wish for one honest conversation. One place where you don’t have to simplify or always be certain.

Many leaders don’t speak about this. They assume that is a part of their role. And it is...I am making no bones about it.

But if it is not named and acknowledged, it can turn into self-doubt or isolation.

I recently worked with a senior leader, highly respected and capable. From the outside nothing was missing but internally she was questioning herself. Not because of the results she was delivering but because she had started questioning her belonging and there were barely any spaces where she could think aloud.

The altitude had changed her vantage point and because years were spent in silently dealing with it, she now had to work on the cost of it.

When you acknowledge it, this problem no longer remains personal but you will see it as structural. 

Leadership at the top changes the quality of conversations available to you. And without intention, leaders begin carrying more than they need to, alone.

Leadership Practice – Creating One Honest Space

This is not about cribbing or venting. It is about a space to think aloud with freshness!

This week, think about one space (groups, community, person) where you can think aloud not for validation or answers or clarity and neither for performance.

Ask, “Where do I get to speak without simplifying my view?”

If that space does not exist, can you create one?

“The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them" ~George Bernard Shaw

Warmth, 

Sheeja Shaju, Executive Leadership Coach | CEO, I Create

Letters to a Leader | For those who know strength begins within.

www.icreatecoaching.com