Enrich Ministries

In leadership, I genuinely think that there are seasons- some that we enjoy and see fruit from during the entirety, some that are harder for us to focus on the future in because the weeds are so thick, some that are slow and restful, and some that seem to be on the verge of one of the three already listed. The way that we navigate those will either allow our team to thrive or completely sink below water. Let’s talk about how we choose to handle the times we aren’t able to see through the weeds.

In the past, I was your suck it up buttercup girl-holding strong to giving the appearance that everything was fine. After about three years I started to realize that I was going to burn out if I only allowed my team to see a happy, bright leader. I started to think through why it was so difficult to be bold enough to name what I was feeling to my team and come with a resolution just like I had trained them to do. I honestly think that years ago I feared this idea that if emotions were all that we shared that they would rule over our time and energy, hindering any and all fruit that could grow. I didn’t realize that that is an active choice. Once you get to a place where you stop recognizing joy- you have to put all the cards on the table and just try anything.

I will never forget the first meeting I chose authenticity instead a grin and bear it attitude. I told my team that I was frustrated and very disappointed in the way we were choosing to operate. My team was hurt by what I shared- not by my words but hurt that my perception was that we were not doing well. I didn’t blame anyone in the room or continue dwelling in those feelings- I shared and moved on to a solution. I shared two things I thought might help our productivity as well as stretching our team to get creative. We were in a season where the weeds were too thick for us to see clearly. We identified the problem as a team and then rather than continue to feed into one another’s frustration about how things were going- we decided to channel that into getting creative in the way we were going to solve the problem. We took that evening and all spent time brain storming, then craved out time together the next morning to all be on the same page about what we were going to try.

One simple change of the way I was managing myself and our team went from being completely unable to see through the weeds with no end in site to brainstorming, being solution oriented and allowing our team to take a breath together knowing we were going to get through this!

Take a look in the mirror leader- do a heart check and think through what else you can do to ensure that you aren’t allowing your team to stay in the weeds but encouraging them to rise up out of it!