It All Starts … and Ends With YOU

by Melody Stacy

A positive leader, in the purest form, is someone who influences the people and environment around them for the better.

We all want to be such a leader and, on our best days, are actively seeking ways to continually improve and amplify our impact.  

We are all capable of being powerful change agents within our organizations. Eliminating blame, victim thinking, complaining, and procrastination are all important in our personal and work lives.

Interested in actionable steps to help break the ever-so-easy, downward spiral that we can get caught in and instead lead a more impactful and rewarding life?

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

Holding ourselves accountable to asking the opportunity-driven, rather than incorrect, questions will ensure results and move us forward on our path to greatness. In the book, QBQ! The Question Behind the Question, John G. Miller explores and outlines how we can apply this in our lives.

Two determining factors will help ensure that we are being impactful as a leader:

1. Great leaders practice personal accountability. The habits we create in how we think about our role in any given situation determine our decisions and reactions. Make no mistake, this is a practice that requires constant attention. The trap of blaming and taking on a victim mentality is super easy to fall into.

Leaders are intentional with questions that focus on what they can impact.

🔅 “How can I communicate more effectively?”
🔅 “What can I do to show I care?”
🔅 “What can I do to develop myself?”

Leaders ask questions that are constructed of three components:

🔅 I (not You, They, We, Them)
🔅 How or What (not Why, When, Who)
🔅 Action (leaders take action)

2. Great leaders choose to make a positive contribution. There is a definitive and personal choice made in any situation. Those who decide to contribute rather than criticize are the same people who decide to be leaders.

Making ourselves a dependent variable with no choice but to give into the circumstances that surround us is doing an enormous disservice to the awesome gifts we hold. We always have a choice to be an independent variable and better a situation. However small we might feel, we can always decide to unleash our impact and create a positive ripple.

If we practice personal accountability and choose to make a positive contribution, we will be more effective leaders and see more positive, impactful ripples in our wakes.