Antoinette Allen

Recently, I saw a beautiful monarch butterfly, desperately trying to lift itself off the pavement to fly away. The butterfly was laying on the concrete walkway flapping its wings rapidly and this caused it to spin in a circle. Once tired, it rested for a few moments and began to do it again. Occasionally, it lifted itself off the ground, and moved a few inches, but it never gave up. The site of this caught my attention and I stopped to investigate this matter further.

Today’s executive leader is faced with a wide variety of roles to play in their pursuit to transform the government and those they lead. Executives are frequently faced with situations that require them to leverage the skills of a counselor, consultant, and most importantly, a coach. The majority of leaders opt for the role of the consultant, due to their excellent problem-solving skills. This is often a trap and keeps the executive mired in transactional work that their staff could easily handle. This role feels natural to the executive since these are the skills that helped them ascend to the seat of greatness upon which they currently sit. Likewise, executives may also find themselves serving in a counselor role, and for many, it is uncomfortable but necessary. Until our workforce is fully comprised of robots, emotions and interpersonal challenges will fall at the feet of those who lead. Crisis has a way of inviting itself in, whether you open the door or not. It’s a fact of life that the problems your team members face will find their way into the work environment, and on occasion, negatively impact the mission.