Thursday's Leadership Insight; Reflection The P.A.U.S.E. That Refreshes and is Essential To Your Leadership Practice

In 1929, the Coca-Cola company developed an iconic advertising slogan to remind everyone that buying and consuming Coca-Cola was a to pause and refresh. Coca-Cola marketed buying and consuming Coca-Cola as "The Pause That Refreshes." This phrase debuted ?In 1929 and was used until the 1940s and beyond. It is considered the most remembered of over 60 slogans since 1886. The Coca-Cola company's now classic advertising slogan can also ?remind leaders and their organizations about the importance to pause as ?it can "The Pause That Refreshes."?

Leadership is an up-and-down journey; Leadership expert John Maxwell often says, "A leader rarely has two good days in a row." leaders connect, learn, grow, and often prosper in their responses to success and challenges to develop long-term excellence in their leadership and with their organization. In the last two weeks, Thursday's Leadership Insight articles considered both the pain of failure and the joy and celebration of success present challenges to leaders in their practice and for their organizations. One practice available to leaders and organizations' challenges of pain and overconfidence is that most parents and coaches use routinely. That practice uses a timeout to slow the action and permit a moment to think as a dedicated, intentional period of reflection.

Reflection is an essential and often overlooked practice for rebounding or responding. This is partly due to the prevalent leadership myth that leadership means perpetual motion. One of the biggest and most dangerous leadership myths is about busyness and being the answer/solution guy. In reality, activity does not equal accomplishment.

Margret Wheatly wrote that" without reflection, We go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences and failing to achieve anything useful. "Early in my leadership practice, I was a willing practitioner of this myth in my early leadership practice. I remember a staff member once saying to me, "John, You are the busiest administrator at Andrew H.S." At the moment, I was very proud of myself. I equated being busy and solving problems with effective leadership. The fact was I was running myself ragged, overeating, and suffering nightly cluster headaches. A wise mentor, Lee Harsy, told me, "John, you don't have to have an immediate answer. It is ok to say I will get back to you, and you can think about it before responding." This advice changed my perspective and the trajectory of my leadership practice. I worked hard to intentionally reflect and respond proactively with forethought and reflection. My cluster headaches eventually subsided, and? I built relationships and made better proactive decisions with connections and engagement in my leadership practice. I got a lot more done positively and had more energy.

. Effective leaders have intentionally used scheduled time to practice reflection on history and present times. During the height of the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln noted that if he had 8 hours to cut down a tree, he would think, plan, and sharpen his ax for 7 hours, then cut down the tree. Concentration camp survivor Victor Frankl noted that there is a space for choice between stimulus and response. He credited using this space to reflect and choose his survival.

In Smart Leadership. Mark Miller's leaders must "From time to time, we must pull up deliberately, putting some distance between ourselves and the day's activities. If we want to lead well, only in the distance can we create a proper perspective." Effective leaders choose to schedule time for themselves to think, reflect, assess, create, and plan. He refers to this practice as "Building Margin." It is an intentional, disciplined practice that requires thinking, reflecting, assessing, creating, and planning. In her book, A Minute to Think, Juliet Funt notes that intentionally creating "White Space," a time to reflect, plan, and think, is essential to effective leadership. John Maxwell, leadership expert and founder of Maxell Leadership, refers to this practice as finding a place, a place to think and reflect, plan and apply. Paula Farris, a spokesperson for the Global Leadership Summit, refers to taking time to reflect as a "Strategic Pause. "Any athletic coach understands the value of pregame reflection, halftime reflections, and timeouts during contests and post-game reflections to build teamwork, engage players, and learn. Exceptional sports coaches, like past Alabama Coach Nick Saban, used halftime reflections to produce different results. These practices cited above highlight the importance of reflection on a leader's intentional growth in developing their leadership practice.

In my coaching, training, and consulting with leaders in all sectors, I often see my early leader self all over again. Seeing this in the novice and experienced leaders I work with hurts me. In the pre-session questionnaire for a leadership learning experience on coaching, I ask, "How often do you reflect on your leadership practice?".The answers are usually in the disheartening range of 30%- 40%, and I often see the phrase "not often enough !" Sadly, these same leaders report they deal with communication problems and personality drama over 20%-30%. That can equate to a day or two of their week! I find many leaders I work with need to learn skills to practice reflection and the permission to take what they consider to be off time by sitting /walking/exercising and thinking.

This Thursday's leadership insight will discuss the "Pause That Refreshes," the intentional practice of reflection to enhance a leader's practice and benefit their organization. A guide using the acronym P.A.U.S.E to clarify the essential parts of reflection will be described. Secondly, the benefits of reflection using the P.A.U.S.E model will be shared. Finally, five questions will be shared to help leaders design a personal plan of reflection using the P.A.U.S.E. model.

.

"It is better to go slow in the right direction than fast? in the wrong direction."

John Wooden

Developing an intentional practice of reflection is rarely taught in "leaders' schools. "Many of my clients say, "I just think about it. "I worry that just thinking about it is not enough to cultivate an intentional practice of reflection. The 1929 Coca-Cola slogan does provide a reminder acronym for a step-by-step guide to an intentional reflection practice," The Pause That Refreshes." That guide is the acronym P.A.U.S.E.

P. Purposefully Practice and pause to slow down and think.

?? A. An Authentic Awareness of the use of time to reflect and get better

? ?U. Utilize a process to be intentionally quiet that best

???fits your leadership practice and addresses your leadership growth and the organization's needs.

S. Silence to grow using an Intentional silence slows down emotion and encourages intellectual activity and calm to enhance connection, engagement, and learning

?E. Expect and challenge yourself to learn this skill and use the process. Encourage yourself or others to reflect with empathy and seek understanding.

?

.

The leader's use of P.A.U.S.E. as an intentional reflection framework to think, reflect, assess, create, and plan has six and probably many more benefits.

?

1.?? Clarity

The intentional practice of reflection creates a space to slow down events enough at any time to gain clarity on several levels. This clarity is critical on several levels. These levels can be personal: Who am I ?as a leader? Am I acting in my purpose in an aligned manner to serve and lead? Reflection will also provide clarity on issues facing the organization and the vision of the organization. This clarity creates alignment for the leader in their practice to serve and lead.

.

"An activity reflected on becomes insights for future action."

John Maxwell

2. Effective ?Decisionmaking

The leader who intentionally carves out time to plan fully, think, reflect, and assess situations, challenges, and opportunities will make decisions based on data in response. This is what Juliet Funt refers to as "White Space."

3 Learning creativity and innovation

The power of using an intentional practice of reflection framework for learning can not be overstated. In a fast-changing world, learning, unlearning, and relearning is crucial. The Father of American Public Education, John Dewey, said it well. "We don't learn from experience; We learn from reflection on experience." An intentional practice of reflection is essential to learn from any event, success or failure, obstacle or opportunity. Leadership expert John Maxwell notes, "An activity reflected upon becomes insights for future action." I would add that activities that are not reflected on will become fading memories and lessons that need to be repeated

?4. Growth as a High-Level Leader

??In his soon-to-be-released book High Road Leadership, John Maxwell writes that high-level leaders who bring people together are in short supply compared to the many low-road leaders who divide people for their gain. He also writes that leaders can learn and apply the tenets of High Road Leadership in building people up and getting things done. The leader's use of an intentional practice of reflection framework will help a leader to build capacity by taking the time to think, reflect, assess, and create. The plan expands their thinking and fuels curiosity and clarity to add value to all and do the right things for the right. An intentional practice of reflection enhances curiosity, connection, engagement, and learning. Curiosity fueled by a disciplined reflection framework will spark innovations and questions to move forward, add value to all, and be a model for the organization.

?

5. Energy

Leadership is hard work and can be mentally, physically, and spiritually draining and takes much time. Using an intentional reflection practice framework slows things down to think, reflect, assess, create, and plan. This time allows the leader to gather and replenish their energy for the tasks ahead. This becomes a space to "breathe." We see this in practice at any sporting event. We call it a timeout. This practice also avoids rushed? reactions, which take time to "clean up." In reality, intentional reflection saves a leader's time and energy.

6. A Big Picture Perspective

An intentional use of the P.A.U.S.E model provides the leader the time or, as Funt notes, "White Space "to think beyond the day, quarter, or even the year to envision the "big Picture." John Maxwell often says that the exceptional leader sees far more than others. A disciplined practice of reflection sets the stage for this process.

Once a leader understands reflection using the P.A.U.SE model and the benefits of an intentional practice of reflection, There is one more question. What are some practical, applicable suggestions for applying the P.A.U.S.E. model? Where, when, and how would a leader practice reflection? Contrary to popular myth, taking time to reflect doesn't require sitting in a yoga position on a mat, listening to incense, listening to serene music, and listening to hours. It isn't a week in vacation or a monastery visit.

Northwestern University Professor in the Kellogg School of Business and past C.E.O. of Baxter Pharmaceuticals, Harry Kraemer, notes in a blog What Self-Reflection is Not "That reflection is not mindless wandering around "staring at your navel" but a time away from distractions to focus. Reflection is an intentional, structured process of focused time with minimal distractions routinely scheduled and acted on as an essential leadership content skill." Kraemer's examples are during the day, his reflection time, a 15-minute walk in the garden, and in the evening Kraemer, when the C.E.O. of Multinational Baxter asked himself two questions at bedtime: 1. Did I do my best? 2. Did I do the right thing? These two questions helped him get to sleep.

The questions below can be used to customize a leader's reflection practice using the P.A.U.S.E. model.

?1. Will? You commit to scheduling time for P.A.U.S.E.?

?2. When and where will you practice P.A.U.S.E.?

3. What questions will you use to guide reflection?

4. How will you memorialize ( Pan and paper, Device) learnings and thoughts?

5. Who can hold me accountable for practicing P.A.U.S.E.

This practice could be scheduled at the start, middle, or end of the day as a time to reflect on the day's happenings and glean insights for the next day. Reflection can also be a monthly, quarterly, or yearly larger event. Any leader can customize their approach.

Using an intentional practice of reflection with the ?P.A.U.S.E. model may seem cumbersome and time-consuming at first. All new skills acquisition processes are cumbersome, time-consuming, and will have ups and downs. Once the practice becomes more natural, it will be effective in any setting or circumstance. It is the same as learning to ride a bike or Putt. The value of practice, as my colleague and co-founder Nicki Keohohou of The Direct Selling World Alliance says, is that "Practice does not make perfect; practice makes permanent.An intentional practice of reflection can be utilized in the situations mentioned as "The Pause That Refreshes" and enhance the growth of your leadership practice and the organization's effectiveness.

The leadership question for you is,

1.?? Will you intentionally practice reflection to achieve "the Pause That Refreshes" and enhance your leadership practice and your organization's effectiveness?

?

?

.

?

.