The Elephant in the Room

Life evolves constantly. Decision-makers are responsible for steering a business or project along an impactful path. The elephant in the room, as it were, is the pressing need to make good choices in a world where clarity is both cumbersome and fleeting.?

Assessing information as it arrives and moves in great volumes at high velocity is demanding. Focusing on individual tasks generates differing perceptions of both information and the environment. Meanwhile, a large presence often looms. Acknowledging it might be difficult, but ignoring it could impede our business.

Each elephant is different. In fact, you can have different elephants depending on the season. When you consider that neither your elephant nor your room exists in a vacuum and the world around is also in constant flux, leaders are constantly facing difficult choices and less than ideal outcomes.

My background is multi-discipline. I am an entrepreneurial problem solver, management consultant, New York attorney, engineer, and yoga teacher. Aligning the lessons and experience from these disciplines helps me to understand there are not just many ways to find the right path forward, but there are many right paths. The ways to move forward are continuously evolving, as are we.

Working with aspirational businesses to build better companies, there are several approaches I have found useful for examining our elephants and delivering a positive impact.

?

Communication, Relationships, and Understanding?

Building relationships through active listening and transparent communication lays a foundation for effective examination. Businesses are made of people and, fundamentally, people want the same thing. We want to succeed; make a positive impact and find fulfillment in what we do. Communicative relationships are key for collaborative exploration. We need to understand and resonate with each other before we can begin to understand the elephant that we’re approaching.

Genuine observation of our elephant and the challenges it presents can be tricky at first. We may have different perspectives. Each of us might see the situation in a different context. We may be applying diverse or partial information.

Breaking down the barriers and building a space of collaboration, clarity, and genuine understanding is our role. Don’t misunderstand. The words may imply compassion and inclusivity, but this is not a process for the faint-hearted. It requires rigorous and uncompromising examination, meticulous observation, asking difficult questions, challenging fundamental assumptions, and facing uncomfortable truths. It demands a willingness to be humble, to test existing beliefs, and be open to new possibilities and ideas.

Accepting this is not about establishing complete immovable truths is important. Getting the clearest possible picture of the current situation from the information available is our aim. Understanding what is known, what may change, and what is unknown.

?

Alignment and Intention

Articulating where and what we wish to be is just as important as understanding where and what we are. Alignment?requires knowing the point we are stretching from and at least a point we are aligning to.?Designing a future state is about recognizing businesses are living organisms that evolve and we are here to guide their growth with intention.

Exploring and articulating our intentions is valuable for refining our choices and deploying our resources deliberately. Commitment to sustainability throughout the dynamic transformation ahead is key. As with the examination of where we currently are, designing this future state requires rigorous communication and inquisition. What do we want our business to be? What is its purpose and why? What are the goals we wish to embrace?

Prioritization and Strategization

When we shine a light, we drive out darkness. When we don’t just address our elephant but commit to its thorough observation and relentless examination, we push out misunderstandings and obstacles. We open opportunities for agreement, connection, and innovation.

Developing priorities and strategies come from gathering and reframing information to allow us to come together, make choices, and embrace the next steps. A clearer view of the immediate and wider situations supports us in assessing what impact may come from each possible action. It enables us to select our priorities and identify hazards and distractions to avoid.

Rally around core concepts and build a framework instead of being attached to prescriptive actions, refine through periodic evaluation as the context evolves so we may amend and adapt our movements as we progress.

Big Picture Flexibility

There is a key theme running through the approaches above which bears highlighting as an approach in itself - never forget the big picture and embrace change.

We exist in a complex and evolving world. I believe it’s counter-productive to assume there is one correct path, and that path will remain constant. Stepping back and reassessing should be done regularly and consistently if we are to maintain a genuine awareness of the context in which we are making our decisions.

Building a better business is a combination of discipline, understanding, acceptance, exploration, and awareness, of the big things and the small things, the things we can exert influence and those we cannot control. The elephant in the room is not a threat, it is a catalyst for understanding, improvement. and creating the space we need for innovation, creativity, and growth.

Jovita Tam

*****?

If you have found this article interesting, reach out for a conversation. I'm happy to connect with people who are passionate about building better spaces and achieving a positive impact.

#management #futurism #leadersship #innovation #managementconsultant #findtherightpaths #buildingbetterbusinesses #bigpictureflexibility #alignment #collaboration #perception #businessgrowth