Take The Helm
How do you know when you’re ready to lead?
By Bill Plessinger
I had been at my previous parks and rec position for more than a decade when I landed a great job in central Ohio for a Gold Medal-winning agency, with more responsibility and many more employees to lead. It was tough saying goodbye. The position and the people had been good to me. Before the move, I kept asking myself, “How do I know if I’m ready?” At the going-away party, my old boss put both hands on my shoulders, looked at me, and said just two words. “You’re ready.” That was his goodbye present. I still think about those words, 15 years later. We are both different people now—he is retired, and I have gone from a bachelor to a married man with a now-fourth grader.
© Fizkes | Dreamstime.com
The question of being ready is relevant for any change, challenge, or endeavor. Starting a new job. Completing boot camp. Running a marathon. Being a parent. You might succeed, you might fail. Just because you try doesn’t mean you will win. Life is not like the sports leagues where people complain about every child getting a participation trophy. So why try at all?
Leadership And Anxiety
If there is one thing I have learned in the last year, it’s that anticipation is not reality. Reality can be worse, but for me anticipation revolves around worst-case scenarios. Entrepreneur Seth Godin put it best: “Anxiety is experiencing failure in advance. Worry is not preparation. Anxiety doesn't make you better.” Wondering if you will be ready is not training to be ready.
Thinking about returning a phone call to an unhappy patron versus making the actual phone call are two different things. You can worry about it or get in there and make the call and move on with life. Thinking about what type of leader you will be is one thing; getting in there and performing is a different story. You can be like Captain Ahab with a singular vision carried out through power and domination, cruelty, and oppression. Or you can take the Ted Lasso approach, where leadership is positivity, those with different ideas are included, and there is a willingness to forgive those who have failed.
What’s The Worst That Can Happen?
My dad taught high school English in the same classroom at the same school for 33 years and never wanted to do anything else. That was his happy place. For most people, there is a longing to see if there is something better, and whether they can make a bigger difference and live up to their capabilities. Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky said, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take.” What’s the worst that can happen? You apply for and don’t get the job, you move on. You try and fail, you move on. If you don’t try, you will never know if you had it in you. But that doesn’t mean throwing caution to the wind. At the Grand Canyon earlier this year, a sign warned people not to attempt to hike from the rim to the river and back without being prepared. There were dangerous possibilities:
Permanent brain damage
Cardiac arrest
Death.
This is an extreme example.
Are You Ready?
Are you ready to be a leader? Are you ready to make hard decisions? Are you ready to choose between outcomes where there will be loss and lives could be ruined? Leaders don’t sit on a fence. They must take sides. They must make decisions. They must take action when no one else will. Leaders are commonly described with action verbs. They are the climbers on the career ladder. If you’ve been on a ladder, you know the higher you go, the higher the stakes. The climb is not for everyone. Just watch the ladder failure videos on YouTube.
Leadership is not only getting others to do what you want through positional strength or influence. It is seeing what needs to be done and doing it.
Winning And Losing
How do you know if you are ready? All the training in the world can prepare you, but there are some things you won’t see. At one conference, as the keynote speaker was being introduced, the individual handing off the microphone said, “Good luck.” As the speaker climbed the stairs to the stage he said, “I don’t need luck.” And he didn’t. He killed it. But hubris can be blinding. At some point, you will be wrong, and you will fall, and you won’t see it coming.
How Do You Know?
The answer is you won’t know if you are ready. You won’t know if you can do it until you get out there and do it. I used to think people looked to a leader to make the right choices. Now I think people look to a leader to make choices—period. Don’t waffle or vacillate; take a side, make a choice, and move ahead. Teddy Roosevelt once said, “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. In the end, only fate will decide that.
Bill Plessinger, CPRP, is the Aquatics Manager for the Westerville Parks & Recreation Department in Westerville, Ohio. Reach him at (614) 901-6510, or william.plessinger@westerville.org.