Letting Go of the Ithoughts

One of the many qualities that make leaders stand out is their ability to see the big picture. They have an impressive way of putting others needs ahead of their own. Not everyone is naturally built this way. In fact, most of us are naturally Ithinkers. In other words we naturally ask questions like "how does this impact me?' before we look at anything else.

As a leader we have to help our team members understand the big picture and answer their Ithoughts such as:

*Who is responsible? Am I?

*How does this impact me?

*Where can I put this besides on my plate?

*What does this have to do with me? What do I get out of it?

*When is this happening to me?

*Why do I have to do this?

Try to help the team focus on these leadership thoughts instead:

*Who does this impact?

*How can we make this easier for everyone?

*Where do we start?

*What is the best way?

*When can we get started?

*Why is this important to us?

 It is our responsibility to get our team on board with the vision and be the cheerleaders for changes. Leaders make the plans, make the decisions, implement change, and most importantly listen to the team while they are doing all of that. While it is important to not muddy the waters with information Ithinkers do not need, it is more important to be honest and transparent. Leaders should always be solution-oriented and be conscious of Ithinkers who are problem-oriented. Realizing some of the team is going to be focused on the problems can help a leader be more effective in shifting focus back to the solutions. It is important to remember the mission statement is the big picture, and everything you do, all of you communication should reflect the values in the mission statement. 

A few limiting habits to be aware of (from http://blog.iqmatrix.com/habit-of-thinking-big):

• Procrastination holds you back and pulls you away from moving forward in your life.
• Short-term thinking denies you the ability to see solutions that lay a few steps ahead.
• Negative thinking prevents you seeing things that are possible to do now and in the future.
• Making excuses focuses you on what you don’t want to do, be, have and achieve.
• Solving insignificant problems distracts you from what’s most important and from the BIGGER picture.
• Over-analyzing things wastes time and energy on small matters that are of little significance.
• Seeking perfection forces you to dabble in things over and over again in an attempt to achieve the impossible.

Before implementing any big change identify your Ithinkers and some of the Ithoughts they may have so you can address them early and often to help them through the transition. Dave Ramsey said it best, “Weaknesses should not be seen as limitations, but rather as opportunities for change.”

Scriptures:

Philippians 2:4          Proverbs 21:5             Proverbs 4:7