Navigating your way through the dark

In my practice of supporting executive teams in driving change, I notice a discernibly consistent pattern: these days, the essential leadership challenge is about wayfinding through the fog of ambiguity, complexity and constantly shape-shifting disorder.

The urgent call for leadership has a distinctly different ring today than it did even a few years ago. It’s no longer a Cartesian exercise of aligning resources to an established reference point such as a strategic plan or a management model like balanced scorecard or Lean. This is not about getting the car out of the ditch and onto a well paved road – it’s more like bushwacking a path through the jungle.

Organizations are aching for a distinct quality of emerging leadership – one that holds space for both humility and resolve, for not knowing and knowing, and for inviting engagement while also making definitive tough calls.?

Here are the three go-to touchstones I recommend to leaders navigating through darkness:

1. Focus on questions, not answers. In a world where easy answers are available at a click of an AI-enabled button, the power goes to those who ask the best questions. Here are my go-to questions to ask to clarify challenges in coaching , communications and change .?
2. Re-center on relationships. When facing a cacophony of distraction, chaos and discord, there’s a natural tendency to cocoon. That instinct may be restorative in the short term, but may lead to dangerous myopia in the longer term. Instead, deliberately focusing on key relationships is invaluable for sustainable leadership results. That may mean prioritizing time to connect with senior managers and investing in external peer relationships to help lead with outsight .
3. Eliminate before adding. One of the simplest ways to achieve more signal and less noise is to make a practice of eliminating before adding. Deliberately pruning the business and trimming out-dated or extraneous information/processes/systems is like a tonic for overwhelmed organizations. It is also a low-risk, high-yield path toward achieving more fidelity to leadership signals.

One thing we know for sure is that what got you here won’t get you there. Considering not only your destination but also your deliberate approach to navigating forward is a meaningful first step.