Implementation Principle 10: Savor The Journey With A Leadership Journal
February 20, 2024 – This article is one in a series of articles about ACJI’s 10 Essential Principles of Implementation Leadership. If you’re new here, take a look at our first article in the series on principle 1 to start.
ACJI’s 10 Essential Principles of Implementation Leadership™ were inspired by our co-founder Glenn Tapia’s personal leadership journal that covered 10 years of applied implementation science work in the field of community supervision.
In the early days of ACJI when Glenn shared his journal experience with the team, it quickly became clear that this exercise was one worth repeating for anyone working in a criminal justice setting be it pretrial, jails, probation, prisons, parole, or even community-led reentry settings. Journaling is a form of inward learning that is an important part of leading change.
What To Write In A Leadership Journal
For Glenn, the journal originated as random and seemingly disconnected thoughts and observations of the best to the worst of his leadership experiences. For example, after some profoundly difficult meetings, Glenn wrote, “It seems as if I am the emotional climate setter of my group – as if they appropriate MY emotions rather than having those of their own.” (That would later become the basis for the emotional contagion concept outlined in ACJI’s Implementation Leadership Principle #1, “Trust the Vision.”)
On another occasion, as Glenn was learning how to apply certain implementation science best practices, he found that he felt dumber and not smarter. He wrote in his journal, “The more I learn about this, the less confident I feel.” That would later become the four stages of learning and growing that we talk about in our Academy.
There are many ways to journal. Here are a few that we’ve seen work well for implementation leaders:
- Keep a small, soft-cover journal in your bag and jot down ideas from the daily moments that give you pause.
- Use your phone to voice record summaries of fruitful conversations and difficult ones, too. (Handwritten or spoken journals are more impactful than those you type in digital form.)
- Every night before bed, inventory your day with a pen and paper.
- Use written sticky notes when you have a thought or learning moment and store them in a place to read later.
- If you are a creative mind or simply just don’t want to write, draw your learning and experiences to help you metabolize them into concrete form.
No matter how you choose to journal, be candid with yourself. It is far better to embrace the trials you experience than to camouflage them. A journal should be a gaze inward at your deepest thoughts — without judgment — and without the pressure to see the bigger picture that will naturally emerge later.
What You Will Gain By Reflecting On Your Leadership Journal
Effective leadership requires a pause; time to stop and reflect on what you have learned or what you hope to learn. You might find that your daily or weekly thoughts seem disconnected but they are a part of the whole of your leadership development.
The act of writing and re-reading your writing
- is an effective way to process your thoughts and feelings around experiences
- helps you to remember what worked and what didn’t
- reminds yourself how far you’ve come
To savor means to enjoy completely. Of course, not all aspects of leadership — especially implementation leadership — are enjoyable and meaningful, but if you move too fast, the enjoyable aspects will slip right by. You might also miss seeing the opportunities for making shifts in your plan. If you want better outcomes, then you want to savor the journey.
Share What You’ve Learned Through Journaling
What good is all that journaling if you don’t savor it for yourself and share it with others?
As we mentioned above, Glenn’s journal inspired ACJI’s 10 Principles of Implementation Leadership that we are fortunate to be able to share with the participants of our Academy (and readers of our blog). His journal entries also serve as a source of inspiration for his talks. You could do the same for use in your own presentations and reports. Best of all, you could find ways to integrate the insights into your daily work with your staff and stakeholders.
Additionally, find a person you trust and share some of your journal entries with them. You will learn by speaking your ideas out loud and getting their feedback and perspective on your thoughts and observations. You might find yourself surprised at what another person might take away from your notes and how that helps solidify your learning and growth. Glenn often says, “As a leader, you are a student who is cleverly disguised as a teacher,” which signals the learning we obtain by sharing with others.
To Sum Up
“Savoring the journey” means inventorying your experiences so you can see what you have learned. As a result, you’ll be in a position to share your learning with other leaders, too. When we all share our challenges around leadership and managing implementation, we contribute to the greater body of knowledge about how to effect authentic change in a challenging and complex environment.
If you are in a leadership position with the criminal legal system, learn more about the 10 Essential Principles of Implementation Leadership in ACJI’s upcoming Academy where we talk about all 10 of the principles in much more depth.
