Leaders and the 8 ages of man: 13

As a leader, it is important to come alongside your followers and guide them rather than immediately cutting them off.

Discipline should not always be the first course of action. When your followers want to take initiative or already have, it is crucial to allow them to grow, experiment and venture into areas where they feel they can contribute.

You, as a leader, have the power to encourage and develop initiative, so why not take advantage of it? Allowing others to take initiative can lead to the strengthening of your team. As they say, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” Perhaps allowing others to grow in initiative is an area where you can develop as a leader?

I once faced a situation where someone took the initiative, and although it was all wrong, I had to stop myself from disciplining and correcting him immediately. In that moment, I reminded myself, “No, don’t be too harsh. He took initiative because he thought it was the right thing to do.” Instead, I guided him, and eventually, he got it right. As a result, he developed self-confidence in his ability to perform that task.

By allowing our followers to take initiative and learn from their mistakes, we help to grow their self-confidence. It is true that most of our learning comes from making mistakes and seeing how we should not do things. If we are too scared to take risks, we may never learn fundamental lessons that we need to learn.

Therefore, I encourage you as a leader to be brave and take on this challenge, and the reward will be great.

So, as a question to ponder, in what stage of human development are you?