Down The Steep Road

Two weeks ago, my fuel tank went empty. The car has a system that shows you how many kilometers of travel you are left with. I have depended on this for years, it has never let me down. This time around, it hinted that I was left with 50kms of driving. I decided to fill in the tank at a filling station which is 3.5 km from my home. As I went down the steep road, suddenly the steering became stiff, I couldn’t control the car neither slow it down. Imagine, the degree of fear and cluelessness that engulfed me at that moment. I could see the filling station and now my worry was, how am I going to turn the car and how will I stop. Fortunately, I was prompted to put the car in the parking gear, I managed to turn and the big speed hump at the filling station helped to stop the car. That was so close! I thought as I looked at my sweaty and shaking hands and feet. After ten minutes, I got back my composure, filled the car tank and continued with my journey.

As an OD practitioner, I love to reminisces on life experiences and find some lessons from it. This experience reminded of the reality in life that we sometimes get tempted to keep on going even when our tanks are empty. I remembered how some have genuinely told me that they work in pressurized environments such that they and their teams have no time to engage in personal and team development programs. They view such efforts as worthless, and yet when you dig deep into the conversation, you realize much of their energy is not channeled towards productivity but towards managing unproductive politics and people issues. Such issues are like the dashboard telling you that you are in empty and you chose to go for the extra 50km in crisis.

At personal development level, we go down the steep road when we ignore refilling our source of energy. As Marshall Goldsmith says, “what got you here will not take you there”. It signifies the importance of self- development, keeping stock of where you are versus where you want to be whilst adding the necessary skills that takes you there. Remember, your belief about humanity is not divorced from your belief about yourself. Leaders who believe in self-development upholds the development of their teams and associates. On the other hand, leaders who do not believe in self -development regard employee development programs as a waste of time.

Few lessons we can take from the experience above:

• We don’t need to wait for a crisis to appreciate personal growth.

• The steep road will force you to be in motion even when you want to stop.

• It’s always good to stop and gain composure when in a crisis.

• Motion without control is heart racking. It can cause serious damage to you and others.

• You stop growing when you become too busy to focus on your own growth.

• Being busy does not always amount to productivity.

Your challenge as a leader: Please add your own and share with us.

Author Naomi Chitambira