Stay in Your Lane!

A common theme or saying in today’s society is “stay in your lane.” The phrase means, “Mind your own business or keep moving straight ahead and don’t veer over into what others do best because in all honesty, it is not your forte.” My interpretation sounds humorous, right? Yet, it is true, for many reasons, including for the purpose of building stronger leadership skills. 

As I have been sharing, great leaders know their strengths. They are focused, meaning they pay attention to the path that brings out their personal best. They concentrate on areas where they can make the greatest contributions (most leaders can successfully excel in no more than three areas) and they spend the bulk of their time in that or “those lanes.” Picture this, you need to get to Orlando from Ocala and the local news has already reported that there is a major accident on I-75, it would make sense that you would avoid that particular highway, bound to be filled with distracted rubberneckers going way below the stated speed limit. You would most definitely take an alternative route like State Road 441. 

Rather than get into some else’s lane where they will not add the greatest value or where they might feel deflated, the best leaders delegate responsibilities to leaders-in-training and more importantly, they eliminate as many distractions from their day as possible.  This is the true example of efficiency, a skill all leaders must possess.