David Whyte says, “The severest test of work today is not of our strategies but of our imaginations and identities.”
No one is arguing the importance of sound strategy. Such planning can be the differentiator between a team being a contender or pretender.
With the complexity, pace and volatility pressed into each day, however, it is how strategies are executed that is worth examining. Even the best plans for 2023 are doomed to fail when team members lose themselves in faux identities:
- My identity is the “hardest worker.” (Look at me: I’m the last to leave the parking lot.)
- I’m the smartest person on the team. (Not really, but I have to prove it daily.)
- I get to stay quiet in meetings because I’m an introvert.
- My position entitles me to demonstrate behaviors inconsistent with even my own values.
- I’m not good enough to be in this role (but let’s keep that between us).
Is it okay to succeed in executing your 2023 plans while living out of an identity that makes you less of who you are?
Let your imagination work for you: How will you become more of who you truly are as you move through the year ahead? (What is the craziness in your job (and life) inviting you to demonstrate? To prove to yourself?)
The test you are taking is an examination of self. You can pass the exam. (You are still in control.)
