Hoops, Circles, Rings and Wheels
Leadership is always on my mind and I’m constantly on the lookout for examples of it regardless of where I am or what time of day it is. Today I saw a video of my youngest granddaughter trying to master the hula hoop and I immediately had a thought come to me.. Something I’ve mentioned in some of my previous writings is that we make Leadership more complicated than it has to be. We get distracted, deterred or disappointed and we forget that as long as we focus on the simple things that we will be able to lead at an exceptional level. I know plenty of people would disagree with my philosophy of leadership being simple but look no further than things like hoops, circles, rings and wheels.. My little granddaughter and her hula hoop really brought this to my attention. She was smiling, laughing and trying her heart out to make one of the cheapest and most simple toys in the world work.
We hear references and see symbolism that shows us just how important something as simple as a circle can be on a daily basis.. Think of colloquialisms like “circle the wagons,” “the circle of trust” or “a full circle moment” that have found their ways into movies and have become quotes that we can all recognize. Those three quotes are references to defending your people, loyalty, togetherness and a sense of strength. Take a look at the wedding ring. It's a symbol of our love and devotion to our partners in life. The Olympic rings are also symbols of togetherness, hope and peace. The wheel, how significant was it in the history of the world? One of the most important and dependable inventions of all time. Not only did the wheel keep us moving but it made moving much easier and allowed us more time to be more productive in our jobs and in our personal lives.
A circle is roughly defined as a shape that consists of all the points in a plane that are equal distance from the central point. When I hear this definition I don’t think of the mathematics behind the shape itself, but I go back to some of my favorite memories as a head wrestling coach. When we would start and end our practices and meets we would circle up and talk about what was going to or had happened that day. This was a time where we got to look each other in the eyes and offer encouragement, accountability and support. We knew we were in it together for better or worse. We were all equal distance from what we wanted to achieve and our job was to move together and maintain a unified distance so we could get closer and closer to achieving our goals and dreams as one cohesive unit.
The problem we would often run into was some people did not keep their eye on the prize or do their part and the circle would start to look more like a flat tire and get harder and harder to turn over. This wouldn’t necessarily be something that happened on purpose or even intentionally. We simply had times where we stopped doing the simple things. We might get bored, complacent or we may even feel like we could skip the small simple things because we had become too advanced. In other words we were over confident and took the simple things for granted. When this happens what do we do? Just like any situation, how we choose to react will make the biggest impact. This will ultimately decide if we will improve our situation or if we will keep trying to drive on that flat tire that I mentioned earlier.
Leadership was no different for me than it was for most of you. We do the best we can and in the beginning we are going to make a lot of mistakes. It took some experiences where I broke the circle of trust, failed to circle the wagons or drove for too long on a flat tire before I would learn how to react appropriately. I would grasp for straws and try to find some new and innovative idea or program to lead me back to where I wanted to be. I would also even try to ignore the problem and hope it went away, but neither of those strategies ever worked too well for me. After I learned to reflect and evaluate my situation I discovered that the best reaction that led to the best outcome was when I kept it simple. When I stuck with the fundamentals, maintained consistency and used best practices things would stabilize for me. It didn’t matter if it was in my professional or personal life it came back to the simple everyday things that made the greatest impact.
Taking a more simplified approach didn’t mean I stopped taking risks or trying to look at things outside of the box. What it did mean was that I needed to be selective and use the best data and strategies I could when I tried something new or was working to solve a problem. When I started to take a more simplified approach consistently using the skills and strategies that were proven to work, being a leader became much more enjoyable and exciting for me. I stopped worrying about things going wrong because I was more confident in the fact that I wasn’t trying to overcomplicate the tasks at hand. Have a great week and remember when your commitment is greater than your feelings you get results.
