Leadership: honing your craft

Leadership takes place in a context. It involves relationships. Given that contexts are evolving and relationships are dynamic - one’s leadership needs to be treated as a craft, honed over time.

Viewing leadership as a craft reminds us that we are on a continuous leadership journey: discovering more about ourself, about others. Discovering more about what works well and what seems to fall flat, or backfire.

We are on a learning journey. If we approach this journey with curiosity we are more open to what might emerge. The same-ol-same-ol approach may not best serve the context and the people & relationships involved.

Coaching can help resource you to hone your leadership craft. Taking time to raise questions, explore options, and reflect on next steps can spark curiosity and lead to new possibilities where you and others flourish.

How might you hone your craft today?

Where can you invite new perspectives to inform how your are considering the context?

What tools or resources do you have before you and how might your deploy them in new, creative ways?

In The Craftsman, Richard Sennett writes:

“Acts of repair are a proving ground for all tools. More, the experience of making dynamic repairs establishes a fine but definite line between the fixed and all-purpose tool. The tool that simply restores is likely to be put mentally in the toolbox of fit-for-purpose only, whereas the all-purpose tool allows us to explore deeper the act of making a repair. The difference matters because it signals two sorts of emotional responses we make to an object that doesn't work. We can want simply to relieve its frustration and will employ fit-for-purpose tools to do so. Or we can tolerate the frustration because we are now also curious; the possibility of making a dynamic repair will stimulate, and the multipurpose tools will serve as curiosity’s instrument.”