“Try not. Do or do not, will or will not, there is no try.” – Yoda
Like most things in life , growing as a leader requires discipline. As we discussed last week, developing as a leader happens over time. However, time alone rarely gets us the results we are looking for. When I was in high school I remember several of my coaches saying “practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.” The point of that statement wasn’t that they expected us to reach perfection in every practice, but it was important that we focused our time on habits and techniques that would help us improve. Simply showing up for practice and spending time on old ineffective habits never helped us grow.
Leadership development is no different. It take a disciplined approach to continually and intentionally work on areas of our lives that will help us grow. One area I believe effective leaders must be disciplined in is their communication. While many things can impact a leaders effectiveness, a single conversation, handled poorly, can destroy a career.
This week we will explore techniques in the book “Crucial Conversations”. If this is an area you could use some guidance in, I would highly recommend reading through this book.
Here is an introduction to the topic by one of the authors, Joseph Grenny: