Posts

Intentional Leadership — D4, W3, M11 — Initiative

Spend some time with your journal today. Here’s the exercise:

Identify a long-term project for which you are responsible. Reflect on what you’ve been learning over the past couple of weeks and use those lessons to build a plan for taking initiative with your project. Write it out…

If you already have a plan in place, how can you integrate some of the recent lessons to make adjustments to it?

As this month’s focus is initiative, I must encourage you to take action! What steps can you take in the next couple of days to get started or move to the next level?

What actions could you take now that will smooth the path and make the project easier over time?

How would getting some of the key tasks completed help you to see ahead more clearly?

/by

Intentional Leadership — D3, W3, M11 — Initiative

We often can learn from the experiences of others, and we should take advantage of those opportunities (do not, however, misinterpret this to mean that you should always wait for someone else to try something new first!). Spend some time reflecting on a time when you observed someone close to you taking initiative in spite of fear.

What was the situation?

How did they handle it?

What was the result?

What did you learn from watching them go through this experience?

Now, think of a situation you are currently faced with in which you need to take initiative and have some fear about moving forward. Get in touch with the person from today’s exercise and tell them the situation you are in. As them for guidance on how they would handle it. Then, spend some time in reflection about what they’ve shared with you. In your journal, note some of the recommendations you think are worth following through on. Consider the risks, implications, consequences, and benefits associated with any of the actions you might take. Then, make a decision about moving forward.

What value did you receive through someone else’s experience? And what value do you place on having them as a trusted confidant?

It’s good to know we have support when faced with significant decisions and challenges, and can deal with them before they grow into something more unmanageable!

/by

Intentional Leadership — D2, W3, M11 — Initiative

When in pursuit of a goal, how do you typically respond to unexpected challenges?

What do you allow to hold you back? The unknown? Fear? Obstacles? Resistance from others?

Think of a time when you took initiative to address an issue and had to drive through an unforeseen obstacle or challenge.

Describe the event, your actions, and the outcomes.

What was the situation?

What actions did you initiate?

What obstacle / challenge did you encounter?

What was your initial reaction?

What actions did you take to address the obstacle and keep moving forward?

What were the results?

What results do you think you would have achieved, had you allowed the obstacle to stop you?

What did you learn from the process?

/by