Be the Spark that Lights Your Team

“What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.” – Crowfoot, great Blackfoot warrior and orator

These were the last words of Crowfoot, and they are as true today as when he breathed his last breath in 1890. We are only on this earth for a relatively short time; no one knows which day may be their last. I have a passion for helping people to find joy and fulfillment in their professional and personal lives, and I truly mean it when I say to them, “Life is too short not to do everything you possibly can to enjoy the life you have now.”

My hope is that you will take these words as a call to action – for you to be the light you want to see in the world. I feel a tremendous sense of urgency to help individuals and team leaders to take a look around at their teammates, co-workers, colleagues, and significant others. What is going on right before you that you have not noticed before? Do you believe you are the only one who wants to find greater meaning and purpose in your daily moments and your life’s work? The odds are that you aren’t alone.

But you must take the risk of believing that it is possible to make a difference, and that you do have it within you to cause a change, even if it is as small a change as that caused by the proverbial wing of a butterfly. For as Mahatma Gandhi once said, “We must become the change we want to see.” You might be the spark that takes hold throughout your organization. There will be many stops on our journey and you will need tools and techniques, which we hope to impart through this blog, to improve your team’s effectiveness.

Do you believe that we all have creativity within us? Do you identify with this new definition of creativity: “To be original . . . to do something no one else would think of.” If so, then take a risk and find your unique creativity—writing, painting, developing a new process, or discovering problems and opportunities that others didn’t know existed. Remember something that made you special as a child. Look for those creative sparks throughout your day, then do something with them.

Do you like the idea of a new role of leadership, which no longer relies on command and control, but involves truly leading through inspiration and collaboration? If so, then look at your current behaviors and determine which are helping you to achieve your vision for leadership through engagement, and which are holding you back. Start small, and stick with it.

In our next post, we’ll discuss how to find the untapped talent in your team.