On the Batman Syndrome & Reflection

You are called upon by your top management to take control of a project in crisis. You comply because that is what you do. Before your decision sinks into your mind, you find yourself on a burning platform. There is crisis all around. It is indeed as chaotic as your colleagues had warned you. The place is an example of Murphy's principles (with a notch personified). But then you are a believer. There is a reason why you have been chosen. You tell yourself you can do it. You have the required energy and motivation. You immediately get to work and take the project by its horns. Your health, family and friends, hobbies are worth sacrificing. There is nothing more important, this needs singular focus you tell yourself. And you start delivering what you are expected to. In the first 3 months, the project has started showing better results. The client, the management, the team is feeling there is a breath of fresh air and it is showing results. You feel great about it. You believe your methods are right and can be continued.

Here's the first high-cost mistake you make.

Such projects are not sprints, they are marathons. If it was a sprint, you wouldn't have been called. Running too hard in the beginning though yielded good results, gave the taste of success and positive signals that you were on the right track, is not really sustainable. Sooner than later the troubles start catching up. But you are a mature leader and you know it, don't you? You had calibrated the project when you joined, so of course, you know! You made a conscious choice.

Many times leaders make mistakes that get them into the 'Batman Syndrome' (I would have called it as a 'Superhero syndrome', but I prefer, 'Batman' because I like him). Save Gotham, at all cost! There is nothing as important as Gotham, not even your own life. This makes him larger than life. Even his self-image is elevated. But then villains are not always Joker or Penguins, and Batman also confesses that there are the likes of Steppenwolf, and you need to call upon the Justice League (watch https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974015/?ref_=nv_sr_1 if you have not made it so far, at least for Gal Gadot!). 

You cannot save the world alone!

The self-imposed obligation of bringing the results is so strong, with all those noble intents the leader dives into the thick of things. Works harder, believing that if he worked hard enough, and gave a lot of emphasis on quality, he will bring the needed change. This is the Batman syndrome. The initial few weeks/months, the hardcore actions of the savior were rewarded which convinced him that he is on the right way to take the project ahead. It creates an unconscious bias towards action. And before our hero understands that he has enlisted himself for a marathon and not a sprint, he is already on the brink of fatigue. But he doesn't give up, he accelerates, even more, he works harder than ever.

As he gets deeper into the crisis, he is looking for some help from his team, but he finds that the team around him is not good. Not good enough at least. At the same time, the project is moving fast and he does not have time to search for good 'A' team. He is fighting the battle from the front on the bloodiest patch. You can guess what happens next.

Let us analyze this leader

Was he the type who would resist a change? Is he egoistic? Would he not give others credit? Most probably NO. He would have got help if he had known in time that he needed to ask for help. But he was so busy fighting the battle that he did not realize he could not save the world alone and it was time to get the team. So what makes him not realize? Just one thing.

He missed taking a break. He missed taking a pause. Reflection!

It is not the 10,000 hours of deliberate practice that makes a person genius, it is the "reflection". Unless the leader takes a deliberate 'pause', even in the middle of the fiercest battle, he will not be able to reflect. And if does not reflect, he will not realize what is going wrong, that probably he cannot do it alone, it is time to call the "A" team, or the strategy he has engaged is flawed. In the blind frenzy of fighting, he does not see that his most trusted leaders are not the right ones, probably they are the square pegs in the round hole. His team was of trusted, good people, but not the people he needed for the job at hand. But he didn't see it early enough.

Reflection can be the single most powerful tool for a good leader. The one that can make the good leader into a great one. It is not meditation or mindfulness or something of that sort (though those are great tools as well, that deserves a separate discussion), it is about taking a pause and leveraging the power of pure reflection.

If it is not done for quite some time, then take a necessary break. Breathe in some fresh air, and disassociate from the problem, get to a dispassionate platform, and then reflect.

What were you trying to solve? Is it the right problem to be solved?

What was avoided in doing this? What is missing?

Who can help? Who are friends?

Who are the stakeholders who can become the strong ally?

What is the number one hindrance? Who can take care of that?

What are you consistently doing wrong?

Who are the people who should be taken out of the project? (Act fast on that.)

Who are the people to be persuaded to accompany you on this journey?

There is no substitute for reflection. Slowly, but surely, this can be made into an effective habit. If you breathe in and breathe out your outlook schedule, put 10 minutes of peace in it to reflect. Take a break, when you think you have stopped thinking anything new for a while. Your RAM needs a flush. If a window is a tool for the leader to look ahead, a mirror is an equally important tool in his kit.