But That Won't Work In The Real World!
How often do we hear this from those whom we are developing as leaders? How often do we share a leadership principle, or demonstrate a leadership skill, encouraging others to follow suit and we encounter that one person who will either look at us with that look, or if brave enough blurt out: But that won’t work in the real world!
When I first heard that thrown at me, I was taken aback. Then when I got used to it, I began to analyse where it comes from and why it surfaces in the first place.
It comes from a mind that goes with the flow, a mind that enjoys the comfort of being like everyone else, a mind that likes the status quo and firmly believes: Why fix what isn’t broken?
It surfaces because the person who thinks or speaks it really does want it to work in the real world. They listen and imagine what life could be if they could actually apply the teaching consistently to their life situation at work or on a personal level. They wish it would work and they wish they could implement it, but they hesitate because of several reasons.
First, we all like to be comfortable! We are all creatures of comfort, and we love our little comfort zones, our rabbit holes. To change means to drag or push yourself out of your comfort zone and do something that your mind may resist because the body doesn’t like change.
Second, no one likes to go against the flow. This is because of fear of alienation or failure. But often our very survival depends on going against the flow. Salmon are known to jump 12 feet upstream to get to the river from the ocean, so they can spawn to survive their species
Third, we all find it hard to learn new things. It is even harder to unlearn something old in order to learn something new. It takes time and effort, the two resources that we can never have enough of. To be willing to implement new learning, one needs to slow down to speed up. This gives the impression that one is losing time, when actually one is improving how one functions to increase effectiveness and momentum once the new skill is mastered.
But if we want to grow as leaders, we need to get out of our comfort zones, dare to be different and go against the flow, stick our necks out if necessary and not just be teachable but also willing to put in the time and effort to unlearn old ways and replace them with new, more productive ones that will help us get to our goals on a smoother ride, at a quicker pace, because, as the old adage says, time and tide wait for no man.