Take Care of the Corners
Due to my work, I fly a lot. I have my packing and travel day routines down to a science and I know what I need to do to be at my best when I’m traveling. I often fly on Southwest Airlines which means I don’t know my seat selection until I walk onto the plane and see what options are remaining. As a frequent flyer I am usually one of the first people to board the plane so getting my desired window seat is rarely a problem. I like to sit by the window because of the privacy and the view. It really is amazing what you can see from 30,000 feet. The earth certainly looks different from a distance.
On many trips, particularly those that take me over the Midwest, I find myself amazed at the colors and patterns of the landscape below. Often times the farmland is a patchwork of squares and circles in various shades of green and brown. For a long time, I was confused as to why it appeared that farmers were planting their crops as circles inside of squares. Come to find out, that isn’t the case at all; I was misinterpreting what I was seeing.
What we see from the sky is that the crops are in fact growing in a circle, but this is due to the irrigation system that is popular among farmers. Nearly 80 years ago Frank Zybach invented the Center-Pivot Irrigation System, which waters crops in a circular fashion. The crops aren’t planted in a circle, they are watered in a circle. More often than not the water never gets to the crops in the corners, so those seeds never grow. The plants that do grow and develop are the ones that are closest to the water supply and they form a circular pattern that replicates the pattern of their water supply.
The most effective leaders I work with understand this concept and how it applies to people. To maximize the potential of the people you are leading you must provide water for those in the corners. In other words, you need to invest in all your people, not just those who are closest to you.
The water you supply might come in the form of personal growth opportunities, acknowledgment of others, meaningful connections, or providing additional resources that someone may need to be their best. Great leaders seek to grow and develop everyone on their team regardless of their proximity and we must be intentional about providing for our team members in ways that are meaningful to them.
It is, however, much easier to invest in those who are closest to us because we see them and know them; we really don’t have to go out of our way to take care of those people. But for those we don’t see on a regular basis the effort must be deliberate. We are going to have to leave the safety of our own inner circle to reach out to, to develop a relationship with, and ultimately to serve those we may not know very well. When we do this, we are strengthening the entire team by allowing everyone to bring their best to the group. When we fail to invest in those who seem out of reach, those who are in the corners, we are weakening the team because part of the team will die.
As a leader you might need to take a step back or even get a 30,000-foot view to figure out how you can better serve others because leadership, much like the earth, looks very different from a distance.
Who on your team is planted in a distant corner and in need of attention? Be the leader who takes care of the corners.
If you enjoyed this post, please use the social media icons below to share or tweet this blog so others may also benefit.