Trust the Process

Have you ever been in a situation where someone else was promoted or chosen for a project when you felt your work warranted you being picked? Recently one of my coachees was feeling frustrated about being passed over for a promotion. “I guess I should just trust the process, right?”, she said to me. “A promotion will eventually happen when it’s the right time.”

When we finished our session, I reflected on her statement. I’ve heard this phrase “trust the process” numerous times! It’s even become a mantra for many. What does it really mean to trust the process? Does it mean we don’t get curious and ask questions? Does it mean we exercise patience and wait for things to happen for us? Are we even using this overused term in the right way?

I decided to research the origins of this phrase. It originated in the sports world. The phrase was coined by the Philadelphia 76er’s former general manager, Sam Hinkie. Hinkie restructured the losing basketball team through a controversial strategy he had termed the “process.”

What he meant in his original statement wasn’t that you just follow a process without question. On the contrary, he explained that you try something new, follow it through but then see what worked and what did not and re-evaluate. You commit to something and then are flexible to change directions if it doesn’t work out.

When my coachee used the statement, she was using it to resign herself to her fate. It made her feel better to believe there may be a “process” and somehow it will work itself out without her taking any action. But to the contrary, this statement was used when innovating and changing things up! Bleacher Report’s Pablo Torre commented that it represents “a big idea.” It’s the opposite of sitting still and doing nothing and just accepting. It’s “let’s try something new.”

In the next session, I explained this to my coachee. She reflected and recognized the defeatist way she had used the statement. I empowered her to think through creating her own “process.” What new ideas could she try? What new avenues can she go down to prove herself for the promotion? What could she attempt and then re-evaluate?

Here are three big questions you can ask yourself when something doesn’t go as planned:

1. What can I learn from this?

• This empowering question puts the control back in your hands and gives you the opportunity to change a future situation.

2. What does this make possible??

• Recognize that there is potentially something great that could happen from this situation. By getting curious and staying open-minded, you allow yourself to get creative with all the alternative possibilities to reach your outcome

3. Do my advocates and internal champions know my goals??

• We have to be our own spokesperson. It’s hard to advocate for someone when you don’t know what they want. Who can you reach out to today to discuss your goals and get their advice and support?

This is a good lesson for us all! “Trusting the process” doesn’t mean staying static. On the contrary, it means consistently getting curious, trying something new and then allowing it to play out, with the flexibility to change it up to achieve your desired goal!