Lessons for a father - Driving Leadership

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Know what's really annoying? A traffic jam! Add to that a busy schedule and promises to keep and we have a recipe for high emotions, drama and the possibility of a lot of things going wrong.

There are websites and devices that can help us not get in these bad traffic conditions. If we, however, do manage to get into one, the stop and go traffic can also teach us a lot as well.

This week gave me such an opportunity to learn from my fellow travelers. These lessons in motion (literally!) can easily be metaphors for leadership and business. Here is what I learned:

• Whether in driving or leadership, communication is key: Changing a lane while driving or direction of business is an easy enough maneuver as long as good and clear communication is in place.  People following our leadership or our vehicle are dependent on us in letting them know when and where we want to change the direction and going through a smooth change.
• Movement should be at an appropriate velocity: Our movement, on the road and in teams that we belong to, should neither be so fast that we might get out of control nor so slow that we become bottlenecks for people that might look up to us for guidance. These movements, at optimal pace, must also have direction. Haphazardness usually leads to ugly results.
• In times of adversity slow and methodical helps: Think of snow days, or of heavy rainfall. These mark days of adversity (and for the adventurous spirit in us, of a lot of fun!) on the road. We should keep moving forward, albeit with some extra caution.
• Continuous checks maketh a reliable system: We usually do not wait for the tires to blow out or the gas to run out to go to the gas station for example. Similarly, we should not wait for plans and processes, that might have worked in the past, to go past their expiration date to do a routine checkup and, if need be, change them.
• In times of extreme darkness, rely on the leadership: What do we do in times of darkness? Switch on our headlights of course! At that time, a well functioning headlamp helps us see the road ahead. Is that a lot different from a well oiled executive machinery that allows us to steer through times of uncertainty?
• It does not matter what we drive: We might be driving the finest and newest vehicle money could buy or we could be in an old van. Who cares? Similarly, we could be working on big or small projects. We could be in teams that span the globe or are local. The idea is to get to our destination, be safe and have fun. 

Let us have fun then! Let us plan but not get too fixated on them. Plans change. Roads disappear. New ones appear. The unknown path, might be long and confusing at times, but still take us to our destination.  The fastest cars with the best GPS systems might get stuck in long traffic jams while the old jalopy might get us home on time.

Happy driving people!