Geoff Wasserman

Step On Some Toes

Posted by Geoff Wasserman in CEOs & Leaders

I had a baseball coach in high school who, when he saw any of us standing around, would shout, “Get moving, you’re not here to kill grass and make my turf brown!”. People who stay in one place too long, get offended, and refuse to recognize their own pride, usually get their toes stepped on by those following a leader’s vision. For a vision to be fulfilled, leaders need people willing to constantly be in motion, growing, changing, challenging “that’s the way we always did things”, carving out new ground of opportunity and new turf. Those who complain about their toes getting stepped on are usually spending far too much time attaching their self-worth to the turf they’ve firmly planted their own feet in. 

Problem is, when leaders cast vision, those called to the leader respond by blazing trails to fulfill the vision. The only way new ground gets ploughed is by digging up old turf. Progressive, growing organizations have leaders who are constantly willing to allow people to take risks, challenge old paradigms and build new bridges to the future. The problem is, you can’t build 2 sets of bridges, simultaneously, in opposite directions. It drains too many resources, zaps too much energy and sucks too much life and joy out of the journey. In large organizations especially, when teams begin building bridges to the future, the hope is everyone will cross the bridge. Reality is, not everyone will. As a leader, the easiest way to figure out who’s on board, who’s got their own agenda and who can’t go with you is to see who’s trying to build a bridge between where you are and where you used to be; in other words, they’re building a 2nd bridge to create a path, a way for them to stay the way they are and not work with those you’ve brought in to effect change. You can’t afford 2 crews, so make a decision which crew to pull, and give everyone the opportunity to get on the same bridge building project. 

As a leader, you aren’t responsible for the feelings and frustrations of those who feel their toes are being stepped on, if you’ve clearly articulated the vision and given them every opportunity to get off the old turf and start building toward the future. You are, however, responsible for recognizing who’s complaining about their toes getting stepped on, and helping them see that, in reality, they ARE getting their toes stepped on, by the very people you’ve put in place to bring the organization to the place you envision. The other responsibility you have, to them and to the team, is to give them only one choice, and give it to them with compassion: They can stay if they get their toes out of the way, out of the turf they think is theirs, and get their feet moving on the new bridge. If not, that’s okay. There will always be people assigned to different stages of your vision who helped you get here, but can’t help you get there.

In the bible, we see that almost every significant thing that God did, as part of helping people and groups get to their destiny, was attached to a request (sometimes even a command) for motion. People who stay in one place too long are the people who get their toes stepped on because they’re standing idle, pointed in the wrong direction, and a vision only waits so long. For the vision to be fulfilled, the people who have the resources and the drive will make it happen and be there when the final bell sounds. 

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