How to Sleep Nights

Good leaders worry about their people. Good leaders worry about their part in employee dilemmas. Good leaders lose sleep at night.

I don't know about you, but I hate conflicts at work. I, like the Chief Happiness Officer, have come to realize that conflicts are inevitable. The very best and most efficient workplaces are not the ones without conflict, he says, but those who handle conflicts constructively. For me, handling conflicts constructively = resolution. Now, how often does that work for you? Knowing that it doesn't work that way (it should, shouldn't it?) doesn't make sleep come any easier for me.

So, what's a good leader to do?

Jean A. Hollands, the author of Red Ink Behaviors, offers this advice: good leaders will sleep well if they plant a seed. Good leaders will sleep well if they remember that they, too, are only human. Good leaders will sleep well if they do the best that they can;have their own support team;and appreciate their own courage.

Good leaders want to make it right. Good leaders, even the best leaders, can't always do that.So, plant a seed. Have a good night sleep and come back at it in the morning. Or not.

Originally posted May 2008 and reposted now, well because, it was exactly what I woke up thinking about this morning. Funny how things run in cycles. I wonder if I should reread my June and July 2008 posts as a crystal ball of sorts to see what is coming back around for me in the next few months of 2009! Wait, does this mean that I am utterly and hopelessly predictable?! Say it isn't so . . . .