Go Slow to Go Fast

What does it mean “go slow to go fast?” When I googled to find an image for this, I was amazed at how many words and images I found.

Here is what it means to me: when I am the most stressed, stretched or unfocused, it is precisely the time I need to slow down and regroup. And this is precisely when I am most resistant to doing it – it’s counter-intuitive and contrary to my conditioning. My thinking goes like this, “AH! I don’t have time! I have to speed up and get all these tings done. There are too many competing priorities.” This is where the illusion of time – and bending it – comes into play.

Time is very much a mental construct. We’ve all had experiences where time seems to painfully stretch out or goes by in a nanosecond. It is not the linear concept of time but our experience of it.

When I work with my clients, we balance WHAT is getting done – the results – with HOW it is getting done. Everyone wants to just focus on the results. When you do this at the expense of the how, paradoxically, you will not get the results that you seek.

Here’s an example: I am working with a senior leadership team to set an offsite strategy-planning meeting. It has taken a lot of discussion for them to agree they need this concentrated time together. It has taken a lot of coordination of calendars to set a date. Then when we finally get everyone in the room, it takes a lot to turn off laptops, cell phones and be fully present to the issues that need a concentrated focus. Once this happens, I have often witnessed teams changing either the work itself or how they address it. This includes the priorities – how they think about them and align to them – and how they feel about the work. Inevitably everyone leaves thinking and feeling differently.

This shift can surface as experiencing a reality check in terms of what it is really going to take to move forward – renewed hope, optimism or just being more in sync.

With all our technology and ways to speed up communication, there is nothing that takes the place of getting in a room together and hashing things out. This is slowing down. This enables you to make better, more bought into solutions. This alignment can save you weeks and months of misunderstandings, conflict or churn.

This week’s reflection question: Where do you individually or collectively need some time out to reflect, regroup and re-energize?

I am off to a yoga retreat for the holiday weekend here in the states. I have no doubt I will return refreshed and different. After all, recreation is where we get to re-create ourselves to bring fresh eyes to our work. This is resiliency and the key to sustained productivity.

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Leadership & The Art of Boundary Setting

Being a great leader requires you to have clear, strong boundaries – and also know when to be flexible and collapse or expand them. It’s knowing in any given moment where your boundary needs to be in light of:

1. What you want to accomplish
2. How you need to lead your constituents – what they need to hear and the way in which they need to hear it.

Having clear boundaries means knowing when to say no and when to say yes authentically. Everyone talks about being strategic but few really do it. Truly being strategic means there are more things you need to say no to, so you can say yes to the few things that truly matter. It means making forced choices and really not trying to do everything. It means being very discerning and making a commitment about what gets on the “yes” list.

Having clear boundaries means having downtime and not being on call 24/7. Downtime is where we re-create ourselves. It’s what enables our true creative juices to flow. If we have no separation between our work and personal lives, this leads to many undesirable outcomes: burnout, unhealthy addictive patterns, eventually a lack of creativity or renewal in mind/thought and body.

This week’s reflection question: where do you need to be clearer about your boundaries – what is okay and not okay for you? What is okay and not okay for your people to focus on? Where do you need to reset a boundary?

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Leadership Tips from Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton shares his thoughts on what makes a great leader. He gives clear and varied examples from world leaders on four key aspects of leadership.

A great leader:
Envisions
Explains
Includes
Executes

A great leader explains “here’s where we are and here is where we ought to go.”
“You need to have a 30 second version, five minute, and 20 minute version of it.”
Clinton says our job today is to accelerate the positive ways in which we are interdependent and reduce the negative ways we are interdependent.

If you have a chance to listen to the whole talk, I recommend it. If not, then think about the ways in which you can implement his four key aspects in your own leadership.

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.

Focus Friday: What Inspires You to Exceed Your Own Expectations?

For me, it is surrounding myself with others who are striving or doing what I am trying to do. When I am going into unknown territory, it’s reminding myself that I possess a unique combination of skills, talents and experiences never before existing on the planet. It is my job to take full advantage and use my unique assets to make the world a better place. Sustaining this perspective can be hard amidst the challenges of life and self doubt that we all experience. I need to continually tap into my supports and resources to keep my focus while also heeding some of the feedback from my environment to make adjustments. What inspires you?

Reflection questions: How do you go beyond and step into your greatness?
What blocks you from being your magnificent self?
What supports and resources do you have to help you hold the space for your self to serve the world with your talents in a bigger way – in a way that you are meant to serve?

© Copyright 2016 Sage Leadership Strategies, LLC. All rights Reserved.