Good Morning,
My current read is John C. Maxwell’s “Be All You Can Be” (http://www.amazon.com/All-You-Can-Challenge-Stretched/dp/1564765164), one of his earlier books.
In several places Maxwell talks about people being like rubber bands. That each rubber band has a lot of potential, but this potential is only seen if it is stretched. People are the same way, if we do not stretch ourselves we do not reach our potential and live in a much smaller world. In stretching ourselves we learn more, we do more, and we take risks which force us to step up to the plate and no matter what the outcome, we come out on the other side with more experience, knowledge and abilities.
I remember working in the Dispute Resolutions department of a credit card processing company where I originally felt I was dropped in over my head. I did not know the rules and regulations, which seemed endless, and there was a lot of money at stake for mistakes. Instead of buckling (I did whine a bit for a few days, then got over it) I became determined to take on this challenge. I learned the basics of the rules, and I embraced the team that was there and ultimately turned that department into a highly efficient team. Through the process I was stretched. I was not broken, but it sure felt like it was going to happen some days.
Rubber bands will eventually snap if they are over-stretched. This can happen to people as well. They will not rip apart, rather they will give up, burn out, quit or be let go.
We have to balance the stretching of our team members as well as ourselves with making sure we grow, but at the same time without taking it too far and causing harm. Unfortunately there is no meter to say when someone has been stretched beyond their limit. Good indications of nearing the breaking point is the feeling of burn out or apathy after being stretched for a period of time (feeling this at the beginning of the stretching is something different).
The good news is that limit is always beyond what we feel we can do at the time. If it wasn’t, then we would not be stretching.
In the end, we are better off for the experience and our rubber band is now bigger and if our rubber band breaks, we get another one, a larger one. Our potential grows as we grow as our knowledge and experience grows. This means our goals should grow as we grow. It is a continuing cycle.
When the going gets tough, realize your rubber band is being stretched. Learn from the experience, but also realize that too much stretching can be bad, so keep your eye on what is going on with you and those you are stretching.
Enjoy!
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