Trust the Process!

The Transformation space feels like it’s particularly full of juxtapositions at the moment.

“We want to focus on sustainability” often contrasts with being profitable in many ways, because whilst it’s a big virtuous commitment to do the right thing, it is obviously a huge investment of time, energy and resources. Ultimately (and sadly) it predominantly comes down to the bottom line.

“We want to focus on wellbeing and how people are feeling” often (and again very sadly) goes against the grain of the compulsion to ‘get things done’ and therefore make sacrifices that impact all of us as individuals, both mentally and physically. Similarly, people want career progression and the assurance that they are moving their lives forward, but much of this growth is being stunted by the conservatism that is so prevalent within the market.

As I’ve discussed previously as well, there seems to be an element of a fear of missing out too. People feel that they need to focus on things that they’re still not fully equipped to give their full attention to, or they lack the internal capability to truly master. AI is a classic example of this. It all sounds like a fascinating concept, but how does it apply to your own business and what do you want to achieve by using it? Or is just to say “we’re using AI?”

To make matters worse, many organisations are trying to do many of these things, and sometimes all of the above, at the same time, whilst being faced with tighter budgets and restrictions on how many people they can hire.

So, what’s the answer, you might ask?

I’d say that companies need to be more deliberate and honest with themselves as to what really is and isn’t genuinely important. Act with purpose. Just virtue signaling by saying “it’d be good to do this” won’t wash, especially not with your employees, so have a clear vision and a strategy for what you are aligned to and plan and execute towards that goal.

Why? Because it’s important to your people and if your communication is littered with mixed messages and half-hearted attempts to do lots of different things, with less, then you will leave people disenfranchised.

There’s clearly so much talk of the plethora of job seekers actively out there in the market, but there’s also so many who are in jobs and burnt-out, overworked and overwhelmed and who would love to not feel so stifled in their role, dizzied by ever circling conflicting communication and priorities.

And once again, we’re back to people’s wellbeing, which in my view, isn’t being looked after nearly as well as it could be. It’s a vicious circle and I’d love to know what people’s views are of this and what they are doing to combat these sentiments. It feels like we’re all in the same boat.

‘Trusting the process’ has become a common narrative and for very good reason. Incidentally, this morning, after I’d started creating this blog, I watched James Smith’s latest video which talks through that very topic in relation not only to health and fitness, but also to wider habit building: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXluV0U9fug .

On the English cricket team’s recent tour of India, the captain Ben Stokes also talked about the need to be “less emotionally invested in the outcome” and more focused on the process, which is perhaps a notion that is central to the philosophy of 'Bazball' that has, in many ways, transformed English cricket and international cricket on the whole.

Both individuals talk about building a process, believing in it and trusting it, as well as enjoying the act of following it to create positive incremental change.

This is what we should be adopting in the world of Transformation; rather than a cacophony of conflicting, juxtaposing ideas that are clouding us from clarity and creating unnecessary noise. Cut through the noise, break it down into a simple, easy to follow path, and things I’m sure will seem less overwhelming. Plus, you’ll probably get to where you want to be much faster.

I appreciate there’s a few different elements discussed here, and once again, I’m far from an expert, but all of these themes are intertwined and the underlying message is that we should just be focusing on controlling what we can actually control, developing a process and sticking to it.

I know it all sounds very simple, but maybe that’s all it needs to be.

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