When you face troubling challenge, the upside is the empathy you gain for those who are oppressed or challenged. When you face challenge, you now know what it feels like to be greatly challenged.
Over the years, I have faced challenges that continue to develop my sense of empathy. Each time I face similar challenges, I realize more how a sense of positivity, team, shared mission, and collective vision matter in the work we do.
We can't go it alone in organizations. It's a shared effort to do the good work possible. We have to work together, respect each other, communicate, and move forward with inclusivity to do the best that we can do. We also have to be mindful of our expectations since what one individual believes is reasonable, another may perceive as a mountain. One also has to have empathy by "standing in the shoes" of the people he/she works with--what might that individual feel or think as she or he makes a decision, encounters a challenge, or works to do a great job.
The upside of every troubling downside, is we develop our own leadership skills, empathy, good process, and understanding along the way. And as mentioned in an earlier post, new work and effort often invite challenge, challenge that some embrace with positivity and enthusiasm, and challenge that others face with trepidation and greater challenge.
My weekend was unexpectedly and unhappily usurped by the challenge at hand as I await next steps by those that understand the details in ways that I don't know. When you volunteer to do something new, one has to expect the unexpected. Onward.
