You Go First

When something’s broken on our team or in our organization, we typically look beyond ourselves for the fix. We want our leader or our leader’s leader or the leaders at the top of organization to Do Something.

In fact, we often spend so much time and effort trying to get other people to do things differently and fix the issues they are having that we fail to notice that nearly every challenge we have within a company can be resolved if each of us takes responsibility to first make it right with ourselves.

Sound too bold? Think about it.

• Accountability – If I hold myself accountable, my boss doesn’t have to.
• Conflict – If I handle it at my level, it won’t grow.
• Communication – If I share what I know, then others will know.
• Teamwork – If I do what’s best for the team, the team works better together.

Of course, if only one person takes ownership, the difference will be small. But imagine what could happen if each of us took responsibility for living it out ourselves!

That’s when companies and cultures change – when we each decide to look in the mirror and focus on first changing ourselves rather than spending the bulk of our time trying to change others.