Are you in alignment?
Everything you do as a leader matters; all of it. You cannot separate who you are at work from who you are at home, for the same reason you don’t cease to be a leader when you stop working for the day. I might even go so far as to say what you do away from the eyes of your followers matters more than what you do when they are watching. Today is a simple reminder that the moment you choose to lead is also the moment you begin to sacrifice your rights and prerogatives. The leader that believes that what they do in private does not affect their leadership in public, will eventually be found out. Therefore, the focus for the leader should be in absolute alignment in all areas of their life.
This alignment of values and actions becomes especially important as you begin to build trust relationships with your team. There are going to be times when you will have to ask a lot from someone. Perhaps sometimes more than many would consider reasonable. When these moments arrive, there will be a split-second reckoning in the minds of your followers of whether you as the leader have earned the right to expect an agreeable answer. Everything you have lived out in front or your organization, the way you treat people, the way you handle relationships; it all has significant bearing on how your team will respond to you in challenging situations. Have you found yourself asking things of your team that you are unwilling to do yourself? Don’t expect your people to be loyal, if you are not a loyal friend, spouse, or parent at home. Don’t expect your team to handle increasing amounts of responsibility if you are continually running from responsibility in your personal or professional life.
Right now, take five minutes and analyze an area of your life that needs alignment with your leadership values. What will it take for you to level-up your leadership by aligning your words and actions? You don’t have to look too far into our government leaders today to find a politician who has some serious alignment issues. I guess I’m not so surprised that these alignment issues exist (we all have them), but rather that these leaders believe that alignment doesn’t matter as long as the personal doesn’t affect the professional aspects of their leadership. That’s the lie we are addressing today. There is an extraordinary need for leaders who will set the bar high for themselves and then choose each day to reach for that goal. Everything you do matters!
