After 3 long days of an intensive seminar in Toronto, a group of us decided to go canoeing for a day, up to Barrie, Ontario (an hour north of Toronto) on the Nottawasaga River. It 'was a hot day, the water was warm, and no one else was on this pristine river winding through a flat-water marsh protected.
We had idyllic moments outside of time, we have had mishaps and laughs, and we had the slogs to bring canoes and equipment (called portage) around logjams in the river more than a couple of times, so unbearable the company of mosquitoes.
Why am I sharing this with you? I want to share some of the ping of the day, and tennis were all about leadership and the dynamics of leadership. E 'was reassuring and inspiring to see leadership come from a number of different people in the group by adding strength and depth all around.
Great leaders are always working on themselves. In this case, the leaders have never ceased to children. They set the example. Despite the mosquitoes, have remained focused on the goal of the day, total 19 km through the desert.
Exemplary leaders do not push or run a lot. They solve the problem, then inspire and motivate the team. You can be a strong leader, without being rude. When a canoe capsized, a leader did not wait for the organizer to suggest that just delivered a leader of people and life jackets said: "Put It On", because it was the right thing to do. Another leader figured out how to recover, right, and empty the canoe.
Leadership is learning to be courageous without being a bully. To build your influence, you've got to walk the talk in front of your team, organization, or customers. You've got to tackle the first problem, seize the moment and make quick decisions. In our case, it was a choice of leader portage.
Leadership also means learning to develop humor - but without folly. Okay to be funny, but not stupid, have fun and be funny without being silly. the response of a leader to the first person getting dunked in the river was to put a positive spin on the slight mishap - just like we all do for a child learning to walk or a child learning to ride a bike. This ability of leadership was carried out in many of our leaders after the trip in which we continued to sink into the mud, or shoes got stuck in the mud. A fearless leader sang old songs on the portage as a distraction from the mosquitoes feast on us.
Leaders are good at dealing with reality. They accept life as it is. This is not fatalism or the opposite of optimism. This is a convenience. It 's a constructive approach to the truth. On the river, when the mosquitoes and logjams got to all of us at the end of the day, there was a dramatic switch in group dynamics. The leaders recognized that what had to be done, just took the pace and did so without discussion, negotiation or complain.
In the end, I think we had more fun and adventure was more memorable for the challenges that brought out the strengths in each of us. As leaders, we want to inspire people around us to bring the strengths too. So what to organize adventure to inspire people around you?
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