Is Your Desire to Succeed Greater Than Your Team’s?

One of the things I was thinking about today is how come it is that leaders have a greater desire for their people to succeed than their people do sometimes?

Leaders are leaders because of their mindset. They’re wired tighter than other people and are more driven. They want to see people succeed. At the end of the day, though, I think that leaders have a fault. Sometimes we want to see other people succeed more than they want to succeed, and I don’t understand the thought process behind that even though I’m guilty of it.

I think we have people in our organizations that we really believe in and can see their potential. And it’s our job as leaders to reveal that potential to them and believe in them at a greater level than they’re willing to believe in themselves. But at the same time, there has to be a time when we as leaders cut the cord. We can’t consistently want people to do better than they want to do for themselves.

The truth is, in many organizations, people become cancerous victims that do nothing except complain about everything that doesn’t get done for them. Leaders cave. They go above and beyond. They do everything they can to honor the commitment they’ve given to that person when they come into the organization. But at that point, they’re in the death spiral. As leaders, we need to recognize when this happens. We need to remember when we need to quit. We need to recognize when we have to do something that we don’t like to do. We have to give up. I’m not particularly eager to give up, but we’re also responsible for running profitable organizations, and sometimes that’s what it requires.

As you think about how you’re going to go about your week, think about making sure there’s equality. Identify the congruent patterns of how you want someone to succeed and how they see themselves as succeeding. Everybody has a desire. It’s just a matter of what level. Ramp that up and get it. If you can do that, you and your team will kill it in commercial insurance.

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Is Your Desire to Succeed Greater Than Your Team’s?

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