Capping The Flea

There is a leadership lid we all lead by in our departments or organizations. It is our responsibility to raise that lid so that we do not stifle the people below us.

Several years ago I worked at a church where the Pastor continually told me he was not a leader. I am not sure if this was his humbleness or just a lack of leadership knowledge and skills, but it caused me to always think about the lid I was capping on people I had leading in my department.

The flea is a great example of this: Put a flea (if you can catch one) in a jar and put a lid on it. This flea will jump and jump and keep hitting it's head on the lid until finally it quits jumping as hard. At this point you can take the lid off and the flea won't jump out of the jar. That is because you have capped its ability to leap.

This is where your role as a leader comes in. It is important that we continue to grow ourselves as leaders so that we don't cap the development of the people under us as well as our whole department. Great leaders always push their selves to become even better. They understand that the minute they quit growing their organization quits growing.

Leaders below us will experience the same frustration that the flea experienced until one day they quit jumping.

Don't cap your leaders or your organization. Grow yourself today.