For people who want regular personal or professional development advice from a qualified executive coach.
Leaders Need to Be Steady, Not Certain
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You should be steady, not certain. That’s your job, as a leader. Anyone who works in a complex environment cannot bring everything under control. If you run a production line, to a certain extent, with the right investment and attention, you can bring that under control. You will still need to monitor it, so you can spot when a belt is getting tired or a printer needs replacing. And you still can’t have absolute certainty it will work tomorrow as it did today. The roof might leak, a forklift driver might crash into your products or there could be an electrical fire. But, within tolerances, you can be fairly sure that a machine that produces a thousand parts today, can produce a thousand parts tomorrow. But, most of us don’t work in this way do we? Even production managers have to deal with the squishy, fallible operators who make mistakes, take breaks and crash forklifts. And yet, on some level, we all kid ourselves that, with the right workflows, Slack discipline, KPRs and OKRs, we can bring the complex world into some sort of order. Sorry to break it to you mate. You can’t. That’s not to say you shouldn’t try to bring some order, structure and repeatability to the work that your team does. You should. We’re all fighting entropy all of the time, so anything that makes things feel less as though they are falling apart will help us to be happier and more productive. If you can help the team to bring some order to things, you are leading well. But, don’t fall into the trap of being certain you know what’s right, what’s wrong, what will happen or that what worked yesterday will work tomorrow. It might. But when it doesn’t your job is to help everyone to dance through the storm. Not to try to control the weather. Stephen -- If you’re curious whether coaching could help you find more clarity or direction, book a free 15-minute Clarity Call and we’ll explore it together. If you want help to think about where problems might be arising in your organisation, try my Complexity Pressure Check. For anything else, hit reply. I answer every email personally. |
HeRO Chronicles
For people who want regular personal or professional development advice from a qualified executive coach.
You're in a meeting and everyone is talking, but you feel as though they are holding back. It has become performative, rather than honest. Do you recognise that? I've seen it lots of times. Often you spot it when you realise there are lots of urgent conversations in the corridor after the meeting. And you don't know why people didn't speak in the meeting. It probably is a sign that people are uncertain. That they are trying to read signs to know what they ought to do, say or think, but those...
Let’s talk about the meeting that shouldn't exist. Pick one recurring meeting in your calendar. What is the single, clear, mutually agreed purpose of that meeting? If you don’t know, cancel it. It’s a waste of everybody’s time. -- If you’re curious whether coaching could help you find more clarity or direction, book a free 15-minute Clarity Call and we’ll explore it together. If you want help to think about where problems might be arising in your organisation, try my Complexity Pressure...
Here's what you are going to do: Take a really deep breath in. Fill your abdomen and then your chest. When your lungs are full, sniff a little bit more air in through your nose. Hold for 3-4 seconds. Breathe out, slowly. Imagine there is a candle in front of you. You are making the flame flicker but not go out. When your lungs are empty, go back to step 1. Do this 2-3 times and see how you feel. This technique is scientifically proven to have multiple positive benefits. It should lower your...