Leadership on the Ground Season #4 – The Tensions of Leadership
April 21, 2017#LOTG Season #4 Podcast Episode #2- Leading Yourself – Part 1, Establishing Your Leadership Voice
April 26, 2017Season 4 Episode ONE of the intrepidNOW podcast series, Leadership on the Ground, with Erica Peitler and co-host Todd Schnick, editor-in-chief at the intrepidNOW Network.
The Tensions of Leadership…
Listen in as we discuss tension, what causes tension, and how to RESOLVE leadership tensions!
[Tweet “What tensions do #leaders face when they advance their #leadership practice?”]
SEASON 4 EPISODE ONE – An Introduction to the Tensions of Leadership
Discussion Guide for this episode:
1. What do we mean by tensions? What exactly is a tension in the context of leadership? Don’t forget that leadership is a skilled profession that requires discipline and practice…but what tensions do leaders face when they advance their leadership practice?
2. Tensions are things you, as a leader, have to resolve before you can advance in your leadership career.
3. How do you know when you are actually facing a tension? You are being prompted to do something, and you will either take action, or you will do nothing. Are you willing?
4. We will learn that the secret to being a successful leader is learning to recognize these tensions, and then knowing what to do, and how to do it! In other words, leadership tensions are a good thing – they give you direction (an entry point).
5. Learning to tell the difference between distress and eustress!
6. Next, what causes leadership tension? An expectation of you that’s a stretch beyond your readiness; priorities are not aligned, for example.
7. The key is to not allow the tension to become a pain point!
8. So, now you have tension, what do you do? (and note that a leader can choose to not take action, just as long as you do it as a conscious discipline, but communicate so people know why you made that decision).
9. When tensions become pain points, you lose focus, you decrease productivity, you lose creativity. Now when you take on the tension in a positive way, you move forward, and that’s the goal!
10. The internal battle you have to face when choosing to face a tension is are you willing to take a risk, overcome personal resistance, and are you willing to be vulnerable. The external is that you have to communicate and articulate your choice to others around you.
11. Modern business leaders cannot succeed if you are NOT willing to take risks, overcome resistance, and be vulnerable. The new reality!
12. How to RESOLVE tensions: CHOICE (you can do this OR that); INTEGRATE (you can do this AND that); SEQUENCE (you can this AND THEN that).
13. Finally, we discuss some of the actual tensions we’ll discuss over the course of Season Four, when it comes to leading yourself, leading teams, and leading organizations.
Click here to listen to Leadership on the Ground, Season 4 – Episode 1 NOW!
And be sure to follow Erica on Twitter @EricaPeitler for more #LOTG tips, articles and advice!