Leadership and Laughter

I’m really enjoying the coaching we’ve been doing lately around leadership communications (Courageous Conversations) and growing leaders into amazing coaches for their team. And the results have been nothing short of amazing which makes the work all the more rewarding for me.

My clients come in every imaginable shape and size—young and old, new managers and seasoned pros, those with stern countenances and those with light-hearted personalities, people of different ethnicities and backgrounds, and many shades of grey in between.  And I enjoy them all.

But one coachee has stood out for me lately.  We’ll call her Kim.  Kim is serious about becoming a truly outstanding leader for her team.  She’s committed to it and works hard.  We do serious work in our coaching sessions.  But I’ve also come to know that it will be a given that in those same sessions we will laugh, sometimes uproariously.  She is just a pleasure to work with!

In our most recent session, she told me, “I’m loving this work. I’m having so much fun with it.”  When she said that, it clicked for me just why she’s such a pleasure to work with:  because she loves the process. She doesn’t take herself too seriously (though she definitely takes her leadership position very seriously), and she has fun.

Think about that. She’s having fun with change, growth, and challenge, being pushed by a coach to be better. She wants to be better, and she is getting better.  And, she makes sure to enjoy the journey along the way.

Now, don’t get me wrong, this isn’t where I tell you that you must be fun-loving and laugh through coaching sessions to work with me. I enjoy working with all different types of personalities and all different types of leaders.

But this is where I encourage you to ask yourself if you enjoy the process of becoming because this is such an important part of it.

You won’t enjoy everything. The path to becoming an amazing leader is filled with ups and downs. But once you’ve reached your goal, wouldn’t it be rewarding to look back at your journey and feel like you enjoyed it?

This week, consider whether you could be serious about your work and your commitment to improving while at the same time lightening up about the journey you’re on to do it.  This week, laugh a little more, poke fun at yourself a little more, and make your intention to love the lessons and the crazy beautiful journey we’re all on together.

“Trouble knocked at the door, but hearing laughter, hurried away.”

~ Ben Franklin