There are countless blogs, articles, books, and resources about good leadership and strong leadership. But what do you do when you find that your leadership is limping? What should a leader do when they realize that their stride has been shortened and perhaps even taking another step is filled with pain, difficulty or second-guessing? In this post, I would like to propose three simple baby-steps that leaders with a limp can take.
Limping leaders need to discover what has caused the limp. If we don’t know why we are limping, how will we ever fix it? Is it as simple as a pebble in the shoe that needs to be removed? Or is a tendon or ligament worn out from overuse? Is the limp from something worse like a break or carrying too heavy of a load for too long? If you are a leader and you have a limp, please take the time to go to the people with the insights, experience, and wisdom to diagnose the cause of the limp and prescribe a treatment for healing.
Limping leaders need to let others help carry the load. No matter why a leader is limping, the reality is that health and wholeness can only come if the burden is lightened during the recovery process. Make sure to find people around you that can easily pick up and run with your load so that the work that must be attended to will still be done. Limping leaders know that to get to the finish line and still be able to walk they must have dependable burden bearers around them.
Limping leaders must not assume that the limp has any final say in their leadership. Many people live with a limp for their entire lives. A limping leader may be able to look back at what caused the limp, learn from it and be careful not to repeat it, even if the limp never completely goes away. A limp by itself doesn’t keep people from walking, running, hiking or even completely the most arduous of journeys. Remember that no single situation, circumstance or occurrence defines you. Your identity is so much more than that! Limping leaders can go as far as their perseverance, tenacity, outlook and support team helps them and allows them to.
In this season of your life and leadership you may have discovered that you have a limp. Don’t throw in the towel and don’t let it derail the great things you are working towards. Instead discover the cause and get on a plan for recovery, let others carry the load and let the vision and hope of what you are working towards continue to spur you on.
Do you have any other practical steps for limping leaders? If so, leave them in the comments below. Or, reach out to me via email by clicking the button below.
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