Too busy to read this? You need to read on...
Why tackling the cycle of unrelenting busyness is key to creating positive change in stuck systems.
Over the next month as we open our search for our next cohort for Leading the Impossible? I wanted to share some of the insights from our work last year on our prototype programme. As with any prototype, the programme was itself an experimental process. Could we help people working on complex challenges to step away from applying sticking plasters and what we termed ‘the incrementalism trap?' Could we support leaders to work towards deeper, wiser and more systemic change?
What diverse leaders have in common
Our group came from health, climate, economic growth and local service transformation. It was a diverse group as we hope this year's cohort will be. But what everyone had in common was that they were used to being incredibly busy and rarely pausing. Each leader described a different version of being in constant action and reaction with days starting early, diaries filled with meetings and work continuing into evenings or weekends. If the impact had matched the effort, each of our group would already be creating powerful change, but instead people felt stuck.
When we started to interrogate and dig into this flurry of ‘doing’ we found something interesting. Often without realising it, people were engaged in activities that were not of tangible value to the long term goals they held. It wasn’t that days were spent working counter to these goals - more that many actions had a neutral quality.?Some were spending the vast majority of their time (90% or more) on things they felt they should do, or perceived ‘requirements’.? But all of this felt necessary, and very hard to change. We were encountering the first hurdle of impossibility that these leaders faced - their own time. This has been a theme across all my work in recent years.?Leaders with real power to create change and impact in their working area, feel that they lack the permission or power to take charge of how they spend their own time.??
Why does this matter??
We know we are facing complex problems that require us to look outside current ways of doing things. We will not get close to this if we have no time to think or if we are locked into patterns and behaviours that reflect the current norms of the systems we are working within.?The first step of initiating change or breaking new ground is to see where we are stuck, and not rush into a cycle of 'doing without thinking'.? We need?to look up and see where we are really going.?
As writer Bayo Akomolafe has said? ‘The times are urgent: let’s slow down.’?
Tech companies have been at the forefront of initiatives to clear space and time for example, Shopify's 'meeting doomsday' where everything was cancelled and only valuable meetings put back in after a two week pause. Or the famous Google 20% rule where employees work 20% of their time on projects outside their direct work on projects they think might benefit the company. The latter has become something of an urban myth with some questioning whether it actually happens, but it has also been credited for the creation of gmail. Somehow when the motive is delivering a public service or tackling a societal challenge, experiments with spending time on new approaches can seem more frivolous or simply not do-able. But if we think of a garden, we know that it isn't possible to grow something new if every inch of it is already planted or covered up. ?
What this programme offers?
Leading the Impossible offers leaders a chance to step back from the day-to-day and to really notice what is going on for them, and in their system.?Doing isn’t always easy when we are used to a fast pace and being impatient for results. It can bring us face to face with challenges that we know lie in wait behind the busyness.?Over the programme we will work with a range of creative and theoretical approaches to support this process with the aim that while it may be uncomfortable, it will also be enjoyable and even fun. And critically it will allow the space for new possibilities to emerge.
Do you need the space to pause and really consider the leader you wish to be???To reconnect with what is possible and vital in the work that you do rather than being trapped in day-to-day constraints and difficulties? If so, we are interested to hear from you.