Raise the Lid

John C. Maxwell’s first law of Leadership is “The Law of the Lid”: Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person’s level of effectiveness. The lower an individual’s ability to lead, the lower the lid on his potential. The higher the leadership, the greater the effectiveness.

Your leadership ability always determines your effectiveness and the potential impact of your organization. If you were to be ranked as a leader on a scale of 1 – 10 and you were a 4, your team’s potential will never be more than a 3. However, if you can increase your leadership ability to an 8 or 9, the potential of your team will raise to a 7 or an 8.

When we think of great leaders, we often think of character traits like:

• Integrity
• Authentic
• Humble and Hungry
• Visionary
• Empathetic
• Disciplined
• Decisive
• Passionate
• Influential
• Listener
• Empowering
• Driven

What attributes do YOU associate with a great leader? If you were to rank yourself on a scale of 1 – 10 (1 – I’ve just begun to 10 – I’ve mastered it), where are you within the character traits that you feel make a great leader?
Example:

• Integrity – 10
• Decisive – 8
• Empowering – 6
• Disciplined – 4
• Visionary – 5
• Passionate – 9
• Listener – 7

The very things that you want from a leader are the very things the people you are leading expect from you. If your team, your organization, your group does not grow… take a close look at yourself. It starts with you… Where do you need to grow so that you get the results you want?

• Education – learn more: workshops, join leadership mastermind groups, read, etc.
• Character Development: i.e. working on and fine-tuning communication skills, effective listening, feedback, managing conflict, discipline, empathy, etc.
• Vision: have a clear vision, create a plan and work the plan.
• Thinking Patterns: be aware of your thoughts, beliefs, triggers. It’s been said that we think between 35,000 – 55,000 thoughts a day and on average up to 80% of our thoughts are negative! Most of our thoughts are unconscious… change your thoughts, change your life!

So where do you start on increasing your leadership potential? It starts with awareness and ownership. You have to know where you are in order to get to where you want to be. Then it’s your responsibility to do the work to “raise your lid”. The problem is you and the solution is you!

We don’t know what we don’t know.

Mary Belden-McGrath
Chief Relationship Officer
Driven Leadership
https://drivenleadership.com
drivenleadership.com

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