Prepared

#Beingaleader means you need to be prepared. Or get prepared. For as many eventualities as is possible. Personally. Professionally. Your team. Your family. Yourself.

What are some eventualities that you might encounter? And they can change depending on the year. But they might include: team member loss; sales loss; conflict resolution; personal loss; health issues; financial issues; etc. etc. Obviously, this list is endless and you can’t be prepared for everything. But think about the things that are likely to happen in your lifetime as a leader and prepare for those as best you can. Here are just a couple of examples.

Financial preparation. You will inevitably experience financial ups and downs in your lifetime. They should be expected. Things break. Jobs are lost. Expenses go up. Medical issues arise. Retirement. Think through what you are doing to prepare for such events. Spend less. Make more. Save. Invest. It reminds me of something Dave Ramsey said once about people being surprised every Christmas when they have ‘unexpected’ large expenses. You know December is coming. Every year. Prepare now.

Team preparation. Team members leave. Or they get promoted. How will you continue to serve your customers/clients if you lose essential information? Have you saved critical files? Do you know the process(es) that are used for this customer/client? Do you even have the contact information needed to sustain a relationship with them? Do you know the billing requirements? The status of ongoing projects with them? Always have as much redundancy of information as is humanly possible to prevent or limit the damage from the potential loss of a team member.

#Beingaleader means you need to be prepared. Start now.