The Leadership Challenge Workbook, 4th Edition

Challenge the Process

PEOPLE DO THEIR BEST when there's the chance to transform the way things are. Leaders seek and accept challenging opportunities to test their abilities, and they motivate others as well as themselves to exceed their self‐perceived limits. Understanding that change is the work of leaders. They don't sit back and wait for something to happen; instead, they are always inviting and creating new initiatives to make things better.

But most innovations do not come from leaders—they come from the people closest to the work. They also come from what we call “outsight.” Exemplary leaders venture out to find good ideas wherever they can. They seek diverse ideas and points of view, ask questions, listen, take advice, and learn.

Exemplary leaders move forward in small steps with little victories. They break tasks down and set short‐term goals. Knowing that trying new things involves taking risks, they create a safe climate in which people can experiment, make mistakes, and learn from their experiences.

To Challenge the Process, you search for opportunities by seizing the initiative and by looking outward for innovative ways to improve, and you experiment and take risks by constantly generating small wins and learning from experience.

Here are examples from personal‐best cases we've collected of how several leaders Challenge the Process:

• At the height of the COVID‐19 ...