Leadership: Taking Time to Be Grateful
The holiday season is here. One of the best things about
coaching during the holidays, especially at Thanksgiving,
is the season’s unique opportunity to invite my clients to
reflect with gratitude. During the weeks before and after
Thanksgiving, I ask my clients to think about the things
for which they are grateful. This year, for the first time,
I connected this exercise to leadership.
Dave, a manufacturing company vice-president, is a member
of his local town council who coaches his son’s soccer
team. He leads a very busy life. Dave came to a recent
coaching session overwhelmed by the effort to manage
everything on his plate. He worries about dashing from task
to task with no time to catch his breath. His fatigue and
frustration increase with each complaint. He has run out of
patience with co-workers, fellow council members and the
little soccer players. At times, he wants to turn and run
away from it all.
This telephone session took place the day before
Thanksgiving. After Dave spoke about feeling so
overwhelmed, we discussed which of his choices contribute
to those feelings. Then I asked Dave what he is grateful
for this year on Thanksgiving.
There was dead silence on the other end of the telephone.
Then more silence, and then some more silence. I thought I
had lost the connection.
Finally, Dave spoke up. Emotion evident in his voice, he
responded, “My life.” He elaborated, saying that he is
grateful for the opportunities life presents to him and for
the opportunities he has created for himself. He loves his
family, his work, his community. He is grateful for his
talents and for the ways in which he is able to express
these gifts.
A light had flashed on. Dave now realizes that while he
runs around feeling frustrated and overwhelmed, and
focusing on feeling frustrated and overwhelmed, he forgets
to think about how much he values the things that keep his
life full and busy. He really would not want things to be
any different.
Dave’s new focus on gratitude has energized him. He has
started to look for creative ways to do the things that are
important to him while allowing time for himself. In a
matter of seconds, with a simple refocus away from overload
toward gratitude, Dave was able to rediscover his values
and to reactivate his creativity as a leader.
Life’s myriad details, tasks and to-do lists trap us so
easily. We quickly forget why we do what we do. We forget
to take time for gratitude. When we forget to be grateful,
we lose our connections to our authentic selves and to the
things that are genuinely important to us.
We tend to gain more from those things that have our focus
and attention. Take time each day to reflect on the things
for which you are grateful. Encourage the people you lead
to do the same. In so doing you will create a culture of
support, growth and creativity.
• What are you grateful for today?
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Bill Pullen is President of Pullen & Associates, a
Washington, DC based consulting firm providing coaching and
consulting services to individuals making change as well as
corporations, the federal government and private
organizations. His work focuses on managing change,
developing current and emerging leaders and building
leadership capacity within organizations. Some of his past
or current clients include Booz Allen Hamilton, Marriot,
AOL/Time Warner, Cascade Health Care, Federal General
Services Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Federal Emergency Management Agency, Canadian Government
Fairfax County Public Schools and American Federation of
Retried Americans.
http://www.PullenAssociates.com
