#WednesdayWisdom #005: Two Ways A Leader Overcomes Relationship Setbacks

By now, most of you football fans know if your team is going to the playoffs or not. As a lifelong Cowboys fan, I’m heated because we are not! We had some setbacks this year we just couldn’t overcome. What’s worse is our division rivals, the sorry Washington Redskins (yes I am hating), is going to the playoffs. So now…I have to wait for the NFL draft to get someone who can help us get to the playoffs next year.

Relationships are similar to an NFL season. Everything looks promising in pre-season. You start out with great expectations. Then regular season starts…where everything counts. And someone doesn’t perform their role and responsibility according to the team’s expectations. Then, the other teammate has to step in and pick up their slack. These setbacks start you off to an unsuccessful start.

But the presence of setbacks is not a factor of whether a team/relationship is successful or not. Setbacks happen to both winning and losing teams…successful and unsuccessful relationships. Two key factors in a team/relationship overcoming setback are:

1. The LEADER’S ability to see the larger vision…combined with their ability to achieve the next smaller goal, and
2. The LEADER’S interaction with their teammates throughout the process.

A leader knows how to marshal the resources of the team/relationship and utilized them to achieve that next smaller goal. But a successful leader does it in such a way that solicits buy-in, welcomes feedback, communicates details, answers questions before they’re asked, and has their teammates’ best interest in mind. A team/relationship will face setbacks along the way. But the successful leader makes sure the team is fighting together against the setbacks…instead of fighting against each other because of the setbacks.

Whatever setbacks you’ve had in your relationship in 2015, I expect you to henceforth be the kind of leader who marshals your relationship’s resources to do what-cha-gotta-do to reach your next small goal; but communicate in such a way that your teammate feels heard, accepted, valued, involved, and not dismissed. Otherwise, you might end up like my Dallas Cowboys…spending 2016 getting rid of the useless…and searching for the next teammate who you can hopefully build a winning future with.

#WednesdayWisdom

A leader overcomes relationship setbacks by marshaling its resources against the setbacks…not against each other.

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