“If your actions inspire others to learn more, dream more, do more and become more then you are a leader!”
– John Quincy Adams -
The importance of leadership challenges
Many people I have spoken with, both younger and older friends and colleagues, including leaders, have told me that learning is a process and that making mistakes professionally and personally is a part of life. One example is our founder and mentor Erin Roberts, who reflected on what she learned about leadership from making mistakes in a recent blog.
Most of our mistakes come from how we deal with the problems we face every day. These challenges aren't always bad, and neither are our mistakes. Because they all teach us the lessons we need to grow in both our personal and professional lives when we learn from them wisely.
Leadership challenges foster our development both personally and professionally. In her blog 10 Biggest Leadership Challenges And How To Deal With Them, Jacqueline Wolven highlighted some of the challenges leaders face which include dealing with difficult people on their teams, work environment pressure, challenges staying motivated for the organisation or project, cultural differences among teammates, maintaining focus, among others. Her advice for dealing with all of these situations is to embrace them with grace and kindness, avoid acting rashly or in anger, and acknowledge and be grateful for all of the positive things around us to get back on track.
In their blog entitled 7 Examples of Leadership Challenges and How To Overcome Them, the editorial team at Indeed talks about the internal challenges a leader may face, such as fear, lack of confidence, and impatience. The team also provided broad guidance on how to overcome these obstacles, stating that the leader must engage in self-reflection and identify any personal traits that restrict their capacity to become great leaders. Identifying the factors that may hinder your leadership abilities will enable you to overcome these challenges and become the leader your team needs.
Becoming successful leaders
As rising leaders who strive to be outstanding, we must always be prepared to overcome and learn from the challenges we experience along the journey. In her article Top 15 Tips to Becoming a More Successful Young Leader Paula Green provides 15 tips for being a successful young leader, but I will just emphasise a few of them here:
- Face challenges: Green stresses that a strong leader is both brave and prudent, and that they must be willing to face obstacles and accept responsibility for the outcomes of their decisions. My leadership experience has taught [is teaching] me that challenges will always be there, whether from external or internal sources, such as a lack of confidence in dealing with certain situations, pressure from a large workload, and personal life factors. When we handle all of these obstacles effectively, they teach us how to deal with both the good and the bad. It is also crucial to understand that certain undesirable situations can be controlled while others cannot; therefore, leaders should be aware of what they can control and what they have to let go of.
- Keep calm: Here, Green explains that leaders do not show emotions. In her article, Staying calm under pressure tells a lot about a leader, Joyce E.A. Russell pointed out that in order to perform successfully under pressure, calmness is a necessity, as it enables us to think more clearly and choose our actions with care. This is incredibly useful for making decisions regarding our professional and personal lives. There is no reason to panic, as my personal experience has shown that panic just makes matters worse. The best way forward is to stay calm and behave in a composed manner. Like the saying goes: Keep calm and carry on.
- Pursue your passions: We must ensure that our careers are taking us in the direction of our overarching mission in life. In his blog Why Passionate Leadership Matter Randy defines passion as a genuine good feeling for something truly and personally meaningful. Randy also emphasises that passion is about vision and contains energy, excitement, and enthusiasm; passion influences our daily decisions and ultimately leads to success, in large part because we are constantly thinking about and focusing on our passion.
- As leaders, if we recognise that we are on the right track by doing what we are passionate about, it will guide us in how we make big decisions, particularly in our professional development.
- Understand yourself - Again, Green emphasised the importance of doing everything possible to observe the impact you have on others. Once self-awareness becomes your strength, you are ready to embark on a long-term leadership path. In his article, The 1st Step in Building Great Leaders: Knowing Yourself, Nico Repollé articulated that self-awareness is the cornerstone of a robust character, purpose, and honesty. You are only ready to lead when you know who you are, not what the world believes you are. Understanding who you are involves having a deep understanding of your strengths, flaws, values, beliefs, and motivations.
If we need to become effective leaders, we must leave our comfort zones; this is more achievable when we have a great mentor. Having people tell us the truth, advise, guide and empower us, is extraordinary. Developing as leaders entails cultivating the capacity and willingness to allow our setbacks to shape us. Failure is educational; it allows you to grow as a leader.
Finally, let's forgive ourselves for all the mistakes we've made and be open to learning from them. An essential lesson is to understand my passion. Now that I've identified it, I wish to advocate for individuals who are suffering from the effects of climate change but cannot be heard. Who will represent them if I give up? My voice is crucial to the process of achieving climate justice, and I must ensure that I use it effectively. To engage in critical advocacy, I must be prepared to be more strong in every way. One question for my fellow young leaders: are you all prepared to face any challenge and fight for what is right for our fellow human beings? I believe the answer to be yes!
Hyacinthe Niyitegeka is a water scientist and member of the New Generation of young negotiators from developing countries. She coordinates the Loss and Damage Collaboration and works on various advocacy activities with the Loss and Damage Youth Coalition, which she co-founded, as well as The Green Protector, a youth-led NGO from Rwanda. She believes in the power and important role of youth in addressing the loss and damage caused by climate change.
