It's 2:30 am and I am wide awake, which never happens to me. I can't seem to stop reflecting on something someone said to me yesterday. After a meeting, I sent a follow-up email with a number of suggestions to the team. A fairly common occurrence, right? The issue is that I second-guessed even sending out the email for like two hours before actually hitting send. Then once I did, I reached out to a colleague and apologize for overstepping, to which she said I had taken initiative. Prior to that I had been messaging a co-worker and had asked if she thought I had overstepped. The comment that I was taking initiative completely reframed my perception of the term overstepping and really what it means. To say someone is overstepping hints that they have something to apologize for. While taking initiative implies that they have gone the extra mile. So now here I am thinking about overstepping vs. taking initiative and I realize in the last few weeks alone, I have probably either apologized or implied that I have overstepped at least 30 times. Why? Well, I am guessing there are a lot of factors that come into play with why I overuse the word overstepping. Maybe the fact that DiSC Profile labeled me as dominant, and ever since then I have felt the need to apologize for naturally taking charge. Maybe it's because I have always been that squeaky wheel in life where I speak my mind, I can't seem to stop from addressing something when it's done incorrectly or I identify a way it could be done more effectively. Instead of these being my weaknesses I realize now that they are my superpower. From now on I am going to actively focus on removing the word overstepping from my vocabulary. Taking initiative is not overstepping, it is helping to cultivate improvements, identifying weaknesses, providing solutions, and the list goes on. Taking initiative should be encouraged and celebrated. Leaders are driven to take the initiative and accept new challenges.
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Tiff HolcombI love my life! I have an amazing family that I love more than anything and a job that I am passionate about. But sometimes I am just blown away by the craziness that happens on any given day. Archives
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