When situations arise at work or home that need our attention, we often find ourselves trying to manage them as best we can.
Think of:
- A new boss in the office who is difficult to handle
- New work that is different to you, that you are inexperienced at
- The need to vacate your home immediately and move to another
- Relocating to a new city due to a job change
- Changing your kids’ school
These, and many similar situations, require us to manage them appropriately, to come out better on the other side.
We all are managers in life—at work, at home, and even on a personal level, managing situations as they come, to the best of our abilities.
However, let’s think of leaders for a minute, in comparison to managers.
- Leaders lead, and manage less.
- Leaders are more proactive than reactive.
- Leaders envision inputs and related outputs.
- Leaders use their most valuable resource, “time,” to do work that is the most impactful.
When we adapt leadership aspects like these to address situations in our family life, we can potentially change our whole game plan. We no longer have to just “manage” situations, but lead our way through them.
This may be a bit intricate to understand. To clarify, a modest leadership formula has three components: vision, action, and spirit.
A manager is someone who does work “actions” to complete tasks. When you add vision and spirit to this formula, the manager now is a leader.
Imagine yourself as the leader of your family with a vision to reach a goal (buying a home, closing a home loan, reserving money for your kid’s education, etc.).
Now that vision needs to have follow-through actions (saving money every month). Those actions then need to be done in the right spirit (a spirit that inspires others at home to have the same “save money” attitude).
To enjoy a strong, healthy, safe, purposeful, and supportive family, aim to become a family leader.