Navigating the Four Seasons of Leadership

Human history is a series of repeated cycles. Leadership like the rest of our affairs is cyclical in character. Understanding the different seasons of leadership can help you to remain focused and make the necessary transitions to get the results you want throughout the year.

The Leadership Cycle correlates with the The seasons of leadership.

1. Sometimes one season may lasts longer than another.
2. Sometimes in anyone season there may be days reflective of another season.

The Leadership Cycle

Spring – Leadership Awareness

Leadership Spring is the season of new beginnings and new growth. It is a time for sowing seeds. It’s filled with great expectations; a promise of wonder. It spells Leadership Awareness: transitioning in a new position. Spring also comes with fresh ideas, projects and we are ready to take on new challenges. In this leadership season we are excited and optimistic and our plans look achievable. During our leadership spring we are strong and confident, resilient and moving forward. It’s the no fault stage where we “dream of happily ever after.” about saving the day. It is usually met with the least resistance from followers. You seem to have all the solutions and hold the missing key. It’s very important at this stage to pull out the weeds—remove obstacles and have the right people on your team.

"From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow" ~Aeschylus  

Summer - Leadership Development

This season is the most activities and is marked with startling revelation as the heat soars. The leader is counted on to deliver results; growth in the bottom-line. There is a lot of pressure to meet objections. Your resiliency will be tested. The days are indeed longest and the nights are shortest. The realization on how heavy the responsibly is starts to sink in.  Cracks in plans begin to surface and conflict rises. It may mean revisiting plans and breaking down goals into smaller realistic outcomes.

This is the season to nurture your investment. Your efforts during the summer are a leading indicator of what you will reap in the fall. More emphasis needs to be placed on team building. Do not expect to reap a high-performing team and a solid culture if you have not sown diligently. This is the time to invest in others and work hard on cultivating your team.  It requires the  watering (coaching), sunlight (vision), care (mentoring), and feeding (communication)  to build a strong root structure and foundation for continuous growth.  

  " Summertime is always the best of what might be" ~Charles Bowden

Autumn – Leadership Maturity

Leadership Autumn involves cooling / settling down. Energy from the summer begins to fade. Autumn brings the harvest and spells reality check. It’s about performance. The hard work and drive from the summer leads to a harvest—it might be below average, average, or above expectations– and in many ways the results will reflect the strategies employed in the summer. You will be held accountable for the results and will have to give account for your actions.

In autumn we collect a harvest and begin to ask ourselves if the harvest was what we expected, or even what we needed.

Preparation for winter begins. It will mean analyzing results. Ask the following questions:

• What can we start doing to improve our service, product and company?
• What should we keep doing that worked for us?
• What can we stop doing that did not add value?

" Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons"  ~Jim Bishop

Winter – Leadership Reinvention and Decline

Your winter can be short or long depending on how hard you worked during the spring. Winter is a time for reflection - to pause, refresh, rebuild and renew. Look out for the occasional blizzards.  It’s a time of dormancy and replenishment however, it involves planning for the next year by analyzing Autumn "crop." Did you and your team perform as you planned? Recognition is key at this stage. Invest in filling any gaps--work on yourself and on your team.  In winter we must also plan and prepare for the next season of growth.

"Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop" ~Ovid

The Law of the Harvest—Even though your efforts do not always yield visible results keep sowing seeds. Your investment will pay off in the right season and at the right time. Times are changing, but one fact about life and leadership that is inevitable is, you reap what you sow.

"Some people plant in the spring and leave in the summer. If you're signed up for a season, see it through. You don't have to stay forever, but at least stay until you see it through" ~ Jim Rohn

 

To Your continued Success!

Cheers! ??????????