I came across an old blog from Leadership Now that talked about allowing white space in your leadership as an active void for others to jump in and participate. It got me thinking about how good leaders are comfortable enough to allow others to help paint the canvas and provide their creativity and value to the finished product.
Providing space and opportunities for others to put their imprint on something that is 'your' vision can be difficult. By default, they will come at things from different perspectives that won't match your own, even if you are aligned. However, that diversity of thought and creative flow has proven to be quite beneficial in so many instances.
In fact, the leader can grow significantly by allowing others to create on their canvas, if they are open to what is created.
Make it OUR Vision
The first step you can take to provide white space in your work with your team is to see the canvas not as your creation, but our creation. You play a role in its creation, but when you put yourself in the mindset that the strengths and viewpoints of other quality people can make the final work more impactful, you put yourself in a different space as a leader.
Open up to learning about THEIR vision
As mentioned above, each person will have a different perspective on a situation based on their personal experiences. If you are aligned as a team, however, you can have similar viewpoints that can be additive, just like two wave peaks creating one larger wave.
If you open yourself to ask questions about their vision, how they see a situation and how they came to their conclusions, you not only learn more about that person, you expand your knowledge base because you have gained another perspective. This is a key component to the fundamental leadership force of Respect. Respect which, in Latin, means to look back at, is embodied in this process. If there happens to be mistakes - or different views or paths - in what others create, you are able to understand the processes used and be a valuable mentor to help future efforts. The mistake/viewpoint might even lead the team on a wonderful path towards greater insight. Learn more about the fundamental force of Respect in the video below.
Collective effort accelerates performance
While allowing multiple people to work on a canvas may take more time than creating a piece by oneself, the end results (performance) will be better. The impact of collective contribution and effort on a project creates a more honed and useful product. It creates greater individual and joint accountability as people are invested in the idea. It also helps those that worked on the piece to carry forward their knowledge to other efforts, which will be completed quicker and easier. This accelerates performance now and in the future.
Your job as a leader is to, primarily, develop people so performance can be enhanced. Including others in the creation of work will have an impact on customers and your organization which is noticeable and long-lasting.
I challenge you to open up to such possibilities or, if you are already doing this to a certain level, to expand upon it.