If you make the new leader continue to pay for the sins of the previous one, will things ever get better?
Heads up! This is a story about first responders. But it applies to all of us.
On more than one occasion in the last twelve months, I have worked with fire and police departments that are recovering from a bad experience with a previous leader. There were wounds that continued to fester inside the leadership team. These were the leaders just below the executive leadership team.
The wounds weren’t evident at first. But as we began discussing The Six Habits of Character: Courage, Humility, Integrity, Selflessness, Duty, and Positivity, I could tell people had more to say. As we moved from discussing individual Habits of Character to Organizational Character, the proverbial can of worms burst open.
I’ve seen it before and I am sure I will see it again. The wounds left by the past leaders were still open. In the most recent cases, the new leadership team was already in place, but the people in the room had wounds that weren’t healing. In these cases and many others I have faced, it was the wounded party who was not allowing the healing to occur.
We all know that if you keep picking at a scab it will never heal. But many of us do that. We look down, remember the day we were injured and then we start scratching. The wound is reopened. Sometimes it even gets infected because the healing process is never allowed to take hold. And many times that is the patient’s fault.
This was the case I was facing. The new leadership came in with a positive attitude and a true desire to move the agency forward and rebuild the positive environment of the department. But nobody gave them a chance. The middle leadership was picking at the wounds of the past, and therefore was not buying into the well intentioned plans of the new leadership.
Maybe you have been in this situation. Maybe you have been wounded by your previous leader. But, if you make the new leader continue to pay for the sins of the previous one, will things ever get better?
Most new leaders don’t walk in with the intention of ruining a culture, writing policies that make everyone mad, and then leaving or retiring. Most leaders start with good intentions. Most leaders start with the passion to leave the department in a better place than they found it. But without the support of the rest of the leadership team, those intentions are just dreams that fade away into the monotony of surviving another work week, month, or year.
I am not trying to negate the wounds some people have from the past. I am just challenging all of you to give the new folks a fighting chance! Without your support, they are doomed to fail and your wounds will remain open. That requires the wounded people to exercise:
Courage: Acting despite perceived or actual risk.
Humility: Believing and acting like “it’s not about me.”
Integrity: Doing what is good, right, and proper even at personal cost.
Selflessness: Putting the needs of others before my own needs, desires, or convenience.
Duty: Taking action based on my assigned tasks and moral obligations.
Positivity: Displaying a positive and/or “can do” attitude in all circumstances.
To allow the wound to heal we will need to trust the new leader and risk getting burned again. We will need to put aside our feelings because it is the right thing to do for the team, the leader, and everyone else involved. We need to recognize our moral obligation to give the new leader an opportunity to succeed because it will ultimately be better for everyone. And we have to realize that will never happen if we let the circumstances left by the past leader determine our attitude towards the well intentioned plans of the new leader.
Wounds leave scars. But scars are a sign of healing. We can look down and see the scar and be reminded of the wound. But it is no longer bleeding, festering, and causing pain. By the end of our career we will all have scars. Those scars are proof we continued to move forward and allowed healing to happen. They are also signs of the moments when we had the opportunity to exercise our character.
Question:
● What old wounds are you still scratching?
● What could be the positive results of moving forward?
Here is a quick assessment that will take you 5 minutes to figure it out. Nobody will ever see your results but you.
Warning: If you are not going to be honest with yourself this is a worthless assessment.
To take the assessment use the QR code above or go to www.MYCHARACTERTEST.com
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