Relationships, both personal and professional, go through phases of growth. Are you doing enough to nurture that growth potential?
Today marks a milestone wedding anniversary for my wife and me — a partnership of love between two best friends. For us, we have approached marriage as a journey of lifelong learning. My wife serves more as the Sherpa in this journey, but we equally have challenged one another to grow as partners and business professionals over time.
Relationships, both personal and professional, go through phases of growth. From the initial euphoria of something new to times of deep struggle when times get tough, four principles have helped us navigate our lives along the way and have application in how one can operate as a business leader.
· Be honest with one another: There should be no hidden agendas in life. I’ve taken a path of being a leader in corporate settings while my wife is an entrepreneur. Both settings have posed great risk and reward for us, but best managed when we have truly been honest with each other. Being honest with how we have approached opportunities, where we see risk to our personal lives, what our dreams really are have been foundational to ensuring we remain true to ourselves and our relationship. The same can be said for business opportunities.
· Strive to be curious: My wife is a voracious reader and brings new ideas forward for consideration every day. This curiosity always leads to a discussion on “how can we learn from this?” In business, I have found too many times organizations saying they are curious, but then hesitate to truly deviate from the existing playbook. Expanding our lens can lead to more innovative thinking and potential growth.
· Always remain adaptable: About ten years ago, my wife was in the midst of growing her business which was all-consuming. It was important that I could support her by becoming the go-to-parent in coordinating the busy lives of our two daughters. When I took a job that required me to live elsewhere during the week, my wife took on the extra activities associated with running our family. Being adaptable and flexible as leaders and teams is the only way to get through the business challenges thrown our way.
· Be open to being vulnerable: Having both grown up in “stiff upper lip” families, it was easy for us to get caught in the trap of “just sucking it up”. Yet, opening oneself up to being vulnerable is a sure path to personal and professional growth. Making mistakes that you learn from, sharing your greatest fears with trusted partners to then grow from or simply learning you aren’t alone on how you feel can be so important. Providing your organization with a safety net for being vulnerable will surely yield greater communication and ideally better outcomes overall.
As leaders, ask yourself, am I:
· Being honest with what I need from myself and my team?
· Curious in ways that will uncover new opportunities?
· Helping my team to adapt to unexpected challenges?
· Encouraging a level of vulnerability that will help make the business even stronger?
Relationships, both personal and professional, need to be tended to like a garden. Are you doing enough to nurture that growth potential? I am excited to see how my personal and professional gardens continue to grow!
