Addicted to Busy

Thank you for subscribing to The Crucible? newsletter, which goes out to leaders like you every other week and always offers a thought on something I’ve learned from clients, interviews, or an idea that seems worth sharing.

You might have seen the survey – maybe participated. I asked three questions, and this is the response I received:

The three questions were based on an inventory of 14 problems, challenges, and issues I have assembled over the last few months:

1.????Retention issues – too busy to diagnose the real reasons and provide remedies.

2.????Selection – going too fast and hiring the wrong people for the wrong reasons – not hiring based on aligned values.

3.????Ambiguity – this most often shows up as leaders have back-to-back meetings, which means they are neither prepared for meetings (expectations), nor do they allocate time to follow up after meetings (accountability)

4.????Poor ?Sales – plenty of leads, but not closing them because they don’t discover the compelling event that will lead to a decision.

5.????Toxic culture – people get sucked into the drama triangle as a victim by criticizing, complaining, and condemning, or they try to provide quick fixes as a hero where they end up becoming the villain – and then a victim themselves.

6.????Scale – not adapting to balance efficiency with adaptability. And not realizing that compressing time (efficiency) maintains the status quo.

7.????Confusing winning and achievement as fun versus fun and games and mediocrity.

8.????Humility – ?Teams not seeking help from each other, which does nothing to build real trust.

9.????Putting Team 2 before Team 1 – Putting the team you lead over the team you’re on reduces a leader’s ability to provide resources and clear obstacles.

10.?A Reorg will fix everything – Structure is a lever, but so are processes, systems, incentives and people. You can’t adjust one of these levers without taking into consideration that all these levers are interconnected.

11.?Confusing Values – Thinking personal values are the same as corporate values. I may personally value creativity, but the critical behavior that will move the business forward may have more to do with tenacity or responsiveness.

12.?Team dysfunction – Teams not taking the time to really come together regarding how they communicate, how they will meet, how they will decide, and how they will constructively disagree.

13.?Misunderstanding Roles – thinking one’s functional area is one’s only role on a team versus bringing a perspective, insight or expertise that is truly unique to team meetings.

14.?Not listening – waiting to speak, making assumptions, and not seeking first to understand, and to find strengths in others.

I think the antidote for those problems, challenges, and issues fall under the three pillars of Self-Reliant Leadership?.

First – everyone has to Lead SELF by assuming Ownership and demonstrating GRIT.

Second, leaders need to Lead OTHERS by establishing Accountability and a sense of DUTY.

Lastly, the top leaders in the organization need to Lead the ORGANIZATION through Alignment and FOCUS

I also happened to speak to a number of clients last week, and asked them about it, too. Anecdotally, here is what I heard:

“Whew – we are swamped – so busy…” And then most of them said something like this:

“Once we get through ____, things will slow down.”

What? You don’t believe them? Me either

I once attended a small workshop led by the well-known business coach, Marshall Goldsmith. I remember him telling us he could read our mind. He said he knew exactly what we were thinking. “Three weeks from now, I will be caught up.” Of course, we all laughed, because we knew it was true, and we knew that we would not be caught up in three weeks.

That meeting with Marshall was probably 20 years ago, and his insight, unfortunately, still holds. We completely underestimate our ability to get work done. But worse than underestimating is not focusing on what only we can do – i.e., what will produce the greatest return on time, energy and dollars. And there is only one way I know to focus…

With regard to all the problems, challenges, and issues, let us each commit to figuring out what you are not going to do by asking yourself – For How Long Will This Matter? If the work will matter for hours or days instead of weeks, months or years, you are probably addicted to busy.

Decide now that the only way three weeks from now will be different than today is for your approach to work to be different starting now. After all, I don’t know a single leader who is paid to be busy!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A relevant and recent podcast was with Dr. Marianne Lewis who is renowned for her research on the paradoxes of leadership and is coauthor, with Wendy Smith, of Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Greatest Problems. The conversation covers how we can learn to think about paradoxes, and why tension is necessary for balance – and to achieve innovation.?https://theleadershippodcast.com/tlp326-today-is-becoming-tomorrow-faster/

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My latest course on LinkedIn Learning that may also help you with your journey:

How Leaders Generate Energy and Cultivate Commitment

Leading your team through periods of crisis is akin to a kind of art. It challenges you to leverage your entire professional skill set, as both a leader?and?a human being. It’s tough work, though, and over time it can take a toll on you: stress, burnout, poor performance—you name it. In this course, instructor Jan Rutherford shows you how to generate, share, and sustain creative energy to drive engagement on your team.

Discover the roles and responsibilities that befall leaders in today’s workplace. Learn about some of the challenges associated with these roles, especially during periods of uncertainty. Explore practical techniques drawn from the Head, Hands, and Heart framework, an innovative approach to group leadership through transformational learning and creative change. Get the skills you need to set a pace that’s appropriate for your team, alighting hope and commitment, eliminating distractions, and turning moments of crisis into opportunities for growth.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

P.S. If you like this newsletter and want to support it, you can:

1) Buy a book.

2) Take one of 5 courses on LinkedIn Learning.

3) Take one of 5 different courses on Teachable.

3) Forward this newsletter to a friend with an invitation to subscribe right here: The Crucible? ?

~~~~~

Jan Rutherford is an executive coach, keynote speaker, and LinkedIn Learning Instructor. An author, former Green Beret, and founder of?Self-Reliant Leadership??- he also leads Crucible? wilderness expeditions with executives and military veterans.

?

#linkedinlearninginstructor #leadership #power