Ik laat me graag inspireren door andere professionals. Clara Min is een collega die ik respecteer en met wie ik me diep verbonden voel op zowel persoonlijk als zakelijk vlak.
Her blog reflects some of my core beliefs; take responsibility for your own happiness and laugh a lot!
Take Charge of your Driver’s Seat
In my last podcast and blog post, I used the driver’s seat analogy for you to picture a mindset and attitude you should build to confidently “own” your life.
I received a lot of feedback of resonance and quite a few of you told me of your wishes to delve deeper into the story about the “driver’s seat”.
What does the driver’s seat mean? What does it look like being in the driver’s seat?
Imagine you are a car driver. You know your destination and you have total ownership of how to get there. Sometimes you change the lanes, slow down, speed up, etc. Whatever happens on the way, you make your decisions on your own. You don’t ask for permission or for solutions from other drivers, you just act on your own knowledge, experiences and your goal’s objective.
The driver’s seat is a position where you must have total control of yourself. No one sits in the driver’s seat without a purpose; everyone gets in with a clear goal in mind. Whether that is your own wish to change something, or a role, project, or task that is brought to you by your job, it is important that you are in your own driver’s seat, making your own decisions.
We can apply this attitude to both our professional and private lives. Unfortunately I often hear employees asking their companies or managers what plans they have for them as a next career step. Many times I see people working hard to fulfil their family’s expectations or expecting their spouse to bring them happiness and fulfilment.
You can definitely ask others’ opinions, but the final decision should be with you.
To master being in the driver’s seat of your professional life is crucial for true success, and though this matter gets slightly more complicated in the corporate world, it shares many similarities.
If you are leading a team, department or company and want to achieve a common goal with your employees, it is important to realise that you are not just driving your own car. You are also responsible for leading others into their respective driver’s seats and you have to help them drive their way with great motivation.
A leader, if you want to be called a leader, should be able to envision the future and describe what it looks like. You need to engage with your follower (not only upper management) and they should be able to picture themselves clearly in the joint vision. If they are captivated by it, they will be excited to achieve the goal with you.
Plus, it is equally important that you should give your follower the freedom of “how” to drive there. This is how anyone can be fully creative and take charge of their own driver’s seat. No one wants to be told how to drive each kilometer.
I invite you all to reflect on this aspect of your current position. This is one of the most valuable lessons I learned from my own experiences working with people from multiple cultures in leading positions in global organisations where people think, act, speak, and collaborate differently. If some of you are working in a company that has an international presence or a multi cultural environment, I believe you are nodding your heads while reading this.
Closing the story with a few easy take aways to start your own “trip” with confidence and happiness.
Buckle up: Safety first. Do you have all the information needed? Be prepared for situations which can come on your path. Be prepared for the things that could happen along the way. It will help you to feel strong and stable.
Be clear about your destination: Are you clear about where you are going and why? Double-check that you totally understand what this trip is about. If this is clear in your life, you will never feel lost.
Keep your eyes on the traffic: Broaden your horizons to understand overall situations. If you are the leader, periodically look around if everyone is still on track.
Take control of your speed: Make sure to choose the right speed. Don’t go too fast but also don’t creep along. Different from road traffic, there are no signs telling you how fast to go. However there are surroundings and teams on which you can reflect your speed.
Get gas: Give yourself energy, invest in yourself and take a proper break if it is a long journey. Otherwise, you run the risk of stopping in the middle of the highway which is not what you want.
Use indicators: Give clear signs. Don’t expect others to understand what you are thinking automatically without a clear expression from your side. Be clear where you want to go first so that others can cooperate with you.
Honk when necessary: Don’t hesitate to give early warning signs to prevent an accident.
Turn on the music: Have fun! Enjoy the process as much as the destination.
Cheers to you everyone! I hope you all will be in your own driver’s seat with a big smile of confidence! If this blog resonated with you and you want to work on your own driver’s seat, I would love to connect and help you. Feel free to reach out and ask me your questions.
Blog by Clara Min (LinkedIn Profile >)