Leadership is About Creating Space

Leadership is about creating the space for your organization and people to thrive.

Great leaders give their teams the space to learn, explore, and grow. They create a culture of trust and ownership and a culture that embraces failure and openness to new ideas and new ways of doing things. 

In many ways, creating space is like teaching a child to ride a bike. You first need to instill in the child confidence in their ability and confidence that you will be there if they fall. You need to establish trust. Once you have done this, you need to take the training wheels off, take your hand off the back of the seat, and let go. If you swoop in and prevent every fall, the child will never learn to ride a bike. But, if you create the space, the child will ride the bike on their own. They will likely have a few scrapes and bruises, but those are part of learning, growing, and stretching themselves.

Stepping back and creating the space for your people and organization to thrive is not easy. It is about striking a balance between intervening and letting go and between control and autonomy.

As you move through your day, think about what you can do to create space.

The relationships you hold, the types of relationships you create and nurture, and the intentionality with which you approach them define who you are as a leader and the impact you can have.