Limit your choices, limit your options.
Mike Chanat, MS, NRP
Shaping EMS Leaders through Dynamic Keynote Speaking and Personalized Leadership Mentorship.
INFINITE POSSIBILITIES
Years ago, I took a course called Wood Badge. Wood Badge is a Scouting leadership program, for its adult leaders, which has five central themes: Living the Values, Bringing the Vision to Life, Models for Success, Tools of the Trade, and Leading to Make a Difference. A few years after taking my course, I had the privilege of being asked to come back as a staff member. Each course generally has a unique totem. The course that I staffed had a key in which the head of the key was an infinity symbol. The motto for that course was "Infinite possibilities."
LIMITED CHOICES
I have often watched people become disgruntled because they cannot move up the ladder or get that extra shift in a pay period. What I have obeserved is that these people have limited their choices and therefore limited their options. Sometimes moving up the ladder in an organization is not a straightforward ladder. It may mean taking a lateral transfer to a different department, a different division, or even a different company. The same for getting that extra shift. I have witnessed employees tell the scheduling officer that they "deserve an extra shift'" but when offered the additional hours in a different division, they decline it saying, "I won't work there."
UNLIMITED OPTIONS
Some of the more successful C-level executives that I have seen have made sacrifices, through not limiting their choices, and have moved up. Some have been willing to move to different parts of the country, and even world, with their family. Others have stepped down from their positions and gone to other companies. Success, in their view, was infinite, so long as they did not limit their choices. So my tip this week to all of you aspiring leaders is to keep open as many choices as you are willing to live with and your options will be endless. Companies are typically looking for leaders to think outside of the box, to come up with that unconventional solution. Are you doing that for your own career problems?
What have you done to get something that you have wanted at work? Please leave your comments below, so that we may inspire others and show them the way.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Mike Chanat currently is a paramedic Field Training Officer at Rockland Mobile Care (Rockland County, NY) and has 32+ years of emergency services experience.
He holds a Master's degree in Public Safety with a concentration in Emergency Management from Capella University.
His field of experience is diverse and he leads and trains EMS clinicians so that they can provide quality care to their communities.
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