5 Ways A Leader Allows Resistance to Win
5 Ways a Leader Allows Resistance to Win???
Leaders let resistance get the better of them. Not the usual external resistance they face from competition, challenges or obstacles around them.
Internal resistance.
Steven Pressfield details this internal resistance in his book The War of Art. He wrote it for creatives, but the same dynamic applies to leaders in business. Here are some examples.?
Delay Hiring Decisions??
There are good reasons to be thoughtful about hiring. There are good business cases for delay. But when leaders themselves delay hiring decisions because they don’t want to spend money, or they resist candidates who don’t fit their expectations (or biases if we’re honest), resistance is at work.??
Hogging the Work (or the Credit)?
Some leaders have a hard time delegating. Others are great at delegating but take credit for the hard work of those who they delegated to. There’s an internal resistance that keeps them from turning loose of the task or sharing the stage with others.??
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Pulling the Plug on a Failed Bet?
The truth is not all risks pay off. Some leaders don’t cut their losses soon enough. Resistance to admitting that you made a losing bet can often increase the pain and the loss.??
Playing it Safe with Sure Bets?
You don’t innovate without taking risks. Sticking to only safe bets is a defensive move. When it becomes a pattern because you resist making a “bad” decision, you leave yourself open to be disrupted eventually.??
Focus Externally on the Business and Neglect Internal Work?
Leaders who only look at the external opportunities and threats of their business are shortsighted. I’ve seen leaders identify internal strengths and weaknesses but then do little or nothing to really handle or leverage them. Worse are the leaders who resist doing their own internal work on themselves to get better and grow as a person.?
Resistance is often felt and rarely identified as a serious block until the consequences mount. Growth-minded leaders don’t wait for that to happen. They intentionally root out their own resistance first.???