Courageous Leader BLUEprint®– 19th edition
Welcome back leaders!
This is the nineteenth edition of our Courageous Leader BLUEprint® newsletter.
Every three weeks, you’ll get quick, thoughtful leadership insights without the fluff.
Read time: less than 5 minutes
Our topic today is generosity.
From a leadership standpoint, generosity has little to do with money, perks, or bonuses.
We view generosity as a choice to lead with abundance, and to trust and share credit.
In this case, we’re referring to relational abundance – not financial abundance.
Generosity is having the courage to give what costs you something: your trust, time, credit, opportunities, and support.
This is how you empower others.
In a world where too many leaders fail to empower their team because they’re afraid someone will take their job, generous leaders have a much broader understanding of their responsibility.
Being generous communicates to your people that you care about them as an individual and you’re here to help them grow.
This requires courage because fearful leaders will only focus on temporary risks:
What if they outshine me?
What if they leave?
What if they try to take advantage?
Those fears are real, but they cannot be allowed to drive your leadership.
Generosity is not compatible with insecurity
Stingy leaders are concerned with protecting their position.
Generous leaders are more focused on growing other leaders.
What generosity is NOT:
Avoiding accountability
Tolerating dysfunction
Excusing poor performance
Letting people take advantage
Ignoring boundaries
Saying yes to everything
Throwing money or perks at a problem
Generosity is not avoidance or appeasement.
Rather than removing or lowering standards, generous leaders strengthen the standards because people who feel supported are more willing to rise
to expectations.
Here are some practical ways to be intentional with generosity:
Give Time
Become a mentor
Be intentional with your presence
Slow down enough to really listen
Give space to reflect before rushing to fix
Give Trust
Let go when it’s appropriate – of authority, not responsibility
Allow room for mistakes – while providing support and accountability
Let others try – even if they do things differently than you
Provide opportunities for shared decision-making, when appropriate
Give Credit
Celebrate others publicly
Acknowledge people the way they want to be acknowledged
Share the spotlight
Praise contributions and efforts, not just results
Give Opportunities
Find ways to help your team members become more visible
Let a team member make a presentation you’d normally do
Offer team members parts in assignments that will stretch their abilities
Open a “door” for someone they wouldn’t normally have access to
Give Support
Take the time to coach, rather than jump to fix
Advocate for people who aren’t in the room
Identify ways to help people progress in their career
Scarcity creates unhealthy competition
Abundance through generosity creates collaboration
This week’s courageous choice…well, normally we give you just one, but today we’re
feeling generous, so we’ll offer a few options:
Give credit away on purpose – specifically name someone’s contribution
Open one door – introduce someone to a person or opportunity they wouldn’t
normally have access to
Identify one person you haven’t spent much time with and take them to lunch.
Find out how you can support their career development, and follow through