Do you own your own home? If you do, you’re familiar with how I’ve spent the last several weeks. I’ve been doing repair projects to get our house ready to sell.
This isn’t my favorite way to spend my time, but while I worked I realized that home repair has taught me some important leadership lessons. Here are a few I’d like to share with you.
Having the right tools is important
Having the right tools can turn what seems like an impossible job into easy work.
My garage isn’t fully loaded, but I generally have the right equipment when I start a job. This hasn’t always been true.
Over the years I’ve collected quite a few tools to do a variety of tasks. When I did a job for the first time and realized I needed a tool I didn’t have, I bought it. Or, if I couldn’t afford it at the time, I rented or borrowed it then bought it later.
I now have hammers, screwdrivers, drills, and drywall tools, as well as electrical and plumbing equipment. I’ve gathered the basics I need to do most of my own repairs.
I’ve found this to be the case in my work leading projects as well.
I started out with basically no tools. But, over the years, I either created what I needed or borrowed a useful tool from someone who was more experienced.
I now have spreadsheets, scorecards, project schedules, meeting agendas, email templates, and many more tools of the trade.
So, when I start a new project, I can go to my toolbox and get what I need to do the job.
I encourage you to consider the things that make your job as a leader easier as your tools. Take care of them. Know where they are. So, when you need to do that leadership job, you can quickly go to your toolbox and get what you need to efficiently and effectively do your work.
Learning is important too
Having the right tools doesn’t do you any good if you don’t know how to use them.
I’ve had to refresh myself on how to do many of the things I’ve had to do to our house recently. And, I’ve had to learn some new skills.
I’m pretty handy, but there are many things I don’t know how to do. But, I try not to let that stop me.
With an endless supply of training articles and videos on the internet, we can learn to do just about anything. For the repair jobs I hadn’t done before, I took advantage of online resources. And, I also talked to several people who had more experience. They gave me some tips and tricks that saved me a lot of time and money.
This same approach serves us well in leading teams to deliver results too.
No leader knows how to do everything. But, every leader can learn.
The same strategy I used to figure out how to fix a problem with my house can be used by anyone who encounters a problem.
Seek out training online. Ask advice from someone who has done what you’re trying to do.
Most importantly, don’t be afraid to at least consider doing something you’ve never done before.
Take the time to learn what must be done to solve the problem. You may find a job that seems intimidating at first really isn’t that hard. Or, you may release you need to invest in the right tool and you can do the work easily.
You won’t know until you take the initiative to learn.
Even our unpleasant experiences are valuable
Over the years of owning a home, I’ve gained some experiences I really didn’t enjoy at the time.
I’ve had to fix toilets at inconvenient times. I’ve done tasks I would have much rather paid a professional to do but we didn’t have the money at the time.
Some of my experiences have been enjoyable. Others have been frustrating. Some have been infuriating.
Working on a house can be a pain in the rear at times. And, leading people can be too.
But, this month as I completed repair project after repair project, I saw the value in my past experiences. Even the ones that weren’t enjoyable at the time. Because I had done the work before (even when I didn’t want to), I now had the option to do it myself or the wisdom to hire someone else to do it.
Those experiences, pleasant and unpleasant, served me well. I was thankful I had the experiences I did.
So, just like with learning, I encourage you to take the initiative to gain new experiences.
Volunteer to do something you haven’t done before. You will gain a new skill and you will learn whether this task is something you want to avoid in the future or seek out.
Remembering the value of our past experiences can also help us have a good attitude when we have to do things we would rather not do.
If we can envision a future time when we will look back and appreciate the experience we have, we can get through even the most difficult challenges.
Things get done when you set a deadline
I’m sure I’m not the first one to say this, but this is one of my favorite sayings when it comes to getting things done.
Nothing stimulates action like a deadline
Greg Harrod (although I’m sure I’m not the original source)
My home repair experience the past few weeks reminded me of this truth.
I did projects this month that really should have been done years ago. I knew repairs had to be made. But there was nothing that required me to do it. There was nothing to drive urgency. That all changed when we bought another house and needed to sell ours. Now I had a deadline. And, those projects that I had put off for years? They got done.
I’ve found this to be universally true. When we set a deadline for a task, it will most likely get done. Without a deadline, it may be completed or it may not.
So, if a task is important, be sure to set a date when it needs to be completed.
Leadership lessons from everyday life
When it comes to completing projects, the same principles that allow you to keep a house well maintained will help you lead teams with confidence. These are just a few of the many leadership lessons I observed as I did what needed to be done in my life.
I’m sure you see lessons that help you be a better leader as you go through your regular life activities as well. I would like to hear from you.
What leadership lessons have you learned in your everyday life?
Please share your experience in the comments so we can learn together.
Let’s lead with kindness and confidence.
Greg
Great blog! I shared it on my professional page thinking it relates well with my clients on that page! Setting deadlines holds us accountable and we never want to let ourselves down!
Thank you for sharing the post, Lisa. I hope it those in your network find it useful.
The other thing to keep in mind is process flow. You’ll learn that there’s pre-planning needed and that understanding the process flow for the start and down flow is important to the project success.
Excellent point, Mark. Being able to anticipate and plan the activities so they occur in the right order is super important.