I was out for a walk at the weekend and when I saw a patch of tall blue flowers, my friend said ‘oh, those are weeds!’ I had a patch of those exact flowers in my garden at home and had thought they looked quite good, so it made me wonder - who gets to decide if they’re a weed or not?
Naturally, I googled it…Apparently, a weed is a ‘wild plant growing where it’s not wanted.’
To me this seems a little unfair, given we’ve plonked a garden right in the middle of its home; meaning it’s not entirely unreasonable that this flower wants to live here too.
It left me reflecting on a few things:
Sometimes what starts as a weed (undesirable) evolves into something beautiful (desirable)
Your definition of a weed could be different from someone else’s
You don’t always need to follow the ‘rules’
There’s space for everyone
A perfectly curated garden (image) is unrealistic. There will always be a new weed to disrupt it
Sometimes you’ll think something is great, and someone else will tell you it’s a weed.
Well, that’s a whole lot of pondering from simply noticing a weed. So here’s what my point is:
when you’re reflecting on the team you lead, do you stop to consider the delightful diversity of thought that surrounds you?
To extend the metaphor further into a business environment, let me ask - if you don’t tell your team that something is a weed, what would they think? For example, if you approach a product flaw as an opportunity, what creativity might they show? Or if there’s someone on the team who seems like they’re struggling in your environment, how could you change the narrative to celebrate their differences?
Leadership is about defining things, listening to feedback and then redefining. So the next time you spot a weed, pause for a moment - because your default response is not the only response available to you.
It’s worth seeing how behaving differently might create a different outcome. Experiments like this help you flex your leadership style and also make subtle changes to this style - now is not the time to get stuck in a binary definition or old ways of thinking.
Hit comment and let me know how you’ve disrupted your thinking this week.
P.S. One persons weed is another persons flower. Check yourself this week. What assumptions are you making? How can you surround yourself with different opinions?
P.P.S. The 2x 1-1 coaching spaces I had for May are taken but I'll be opening up 1 space in June - email me to express your interest! kat@katthecoach.co.uk