Elizabeth Lyle, Principal of BCG Boston in her TED Talk, talked about how she began leaving dirty dishes in the sink during her college days and how that has now developed into a bad habit that has become tough to break. Similarly, soon-to-leaders that develop bad working habits now would find it had to break them when they become leaders of an organization in the future.

Does any of this sound familiar? Are you a soon-to-be leader stuck running in circles thinking ill do it better when I am the leader and all the while you are accumulating more dirty dishes in the sink unknowingly? If so, keep reading…

The way it has been done is no longer the way it is going to be done. Future leaders who remain in their comfort zone and adopt the “it has always been done this way” mindset would find themselves on the losing end. Thus, they have to step out of their comfort zones now and take a proactive role in shaping the type of leader they are going to be and the type of organization they are going to lead.

Break the bad habits now when there is only one dish in the sink, instead of later when the dishes are piled up high in the sink and it becomes a challenge to change the way you do things because it is easier to just leave the dirty dishes in the sink and just go on as usual rather than put on those washing gloves and tackling that mountain of bad habits you have acquired in the path to becoming a leader of your organization.

So what are you going to do about it? Here is what…

Having said that, this venture would not be possible without the support of the current leader of the organization. So, to put it simply, in order to mold our future leaders, the effort has to begin in their formative years in an organization and it needs the collaboration of both the leaders of an organization and soon-to-be-leaders.

Soon-to-be leaders, find opportunities to provide your own ideas and strategies on how to change how an organization operates to make it more agile and suited for the future of work: pitch an idea, change the status quo, provide a solution; and leaders, provide your future leaders the space and opportunities to showcase their skills and capabilities and to learn: ask them to chair a meeting, give them a project to lead, ask them for innovative solutions to old problems. This would make them formidable leaders of your organizations in the future without any dirty dishes stacked in the sink.