As the hike to Bomod-Ok Falls was about to begin, we were made to form a single line in no particular order. Gender, age, or strength was not given any consideration. The pace was supposed to be at the rate where our senior citizen groupmates could cope with. Then the impatience of the younger ones came in. This leadership secret was then revealed:
Leaders know how to give allowances to their people to make the next step as they lead.
Sagada Terraces photo by jojo Nicdao, licensed under Creative Commons
When impatience sets in, there is a tendency to step closely to the person next to you during a hike and stepping on the other person’s footwear sometimes happen. The other person then trips and gets endangered from falling off the path. An effective leader knows that people need some space so that they could move and determine the steps they need to take to make it to their destination. “Helicopter boss” is the term some people use for superiors who hover over their people and watch each of their steps so closely that there is no breathing room, so much so that the growth of the employee gets suffocated.
In a lot of enterprises right now, creativity is badly needed, but creativity can only flourish when the right environment and allowances are provided. Allowances to make mistakes (but never to repeat them intentionally) should be made so that each team member can try to innovate that can improve the way things are being done in the organization. Without the proper environment creativity may be hampered.
Can you give breathing space to a person who badly needs God’s grace?
