Today’s Tuesday Reading is from Ranna Farzan, Associate Director, Technology Strategy and Planning, Harvard University Information Technology and a MOR program participant. Ranna may be reached at [email protected] or via LinkedIn.
Last month, right around my first MOR workshop, I also started reading Adam Grant’s Hidden Potential as part of a book club with other IT staff. One of the key ideas in the book (at least the part I’ve read so far) is that true potential isn’t about innate talent. It’s about the willingness to embrace discomfort and persist through challenges.
That made me think about how uncomfortable it can be to stretch beyond your comfort zone. Throughout my career, I’ve had many of those moments, both big and small: debating whether to offer a differing perspective in a meeting, giving constructive feedback to a team member, taking on a new job responsibility with which I have no previous experience, and making a significant career shift. The temptation to stay in my lane and stick with what I know is often very real. But when I’ve pushed myself to step up despite the discomfort, I’ve found that that’s where the real growth happens. And somehow, each time, it gets a little easier. Not because the challenge disappears but because I’m strengthening the muscle of stepping into discomfort.
One example that’s come up for me lately is public speaking. I used to despise presenting to large groups, particularly if they included my organization’s leadership team members. I’m not particularly shy, but I would get nervous whenever I had to present. I’d worry that I’d forget everything I was planning to say and stumble over my words or panic if I didn’t know how to answer a question. Then, I found myself in a new role that required a fair amount of presenting at meetings of varying sizes and audiences. It was an expectation of my job, so there was no way around it. I had to step into the discomfort and just keep practicing. I tried different techniques to improve, and it got a little easier over time.
That’s not to say I stopped getting nervous. That’s certainly not true. Instead, I started to gain more confidence because I could see that I was improving over time. I’m realizing confidence isn’t necessarily a prerequisite for leadership or success, but in my experience, it has grown as a byproduct of action. The more I engaged, the more I built my capacity and expertise. The more I embraced the discomfort, the more I learned and expanded what I’m capable of doing.
I may have had to do this out of necessity for my job, but how can I use this experience to grow in other ways? As I think about meaningful goals, where do I want to push myself, and how can I get there? I want to challenge myself (and you) to keep stepping into that discomfort – especially when we’re not forced to. What feels intimidating, unfamiliar, or just plain scary? And how can we lean into those moments instead of shying away from them?
I’m looking forward to the growth that stepping into discomfort provides.
Which best describes your relationship with discomfort?
Last week, we asked which best describes your approach to delegation:
- 40% said I consistently personalize
- 36% said I sometimes personalize
- 11% said I don’t have anyone I can delegate to
- 8% said I take a more one-size-fits-all approach
- 5% said I’m too busy to delegate
For most of us, when we delegate, we personalize to the individual, enabling impact and growth across individuals. A suggestion for the roughly one in nine of us who feel we don’t have anyone to delegate to: rather than delegation, consider how to divide responsibilities between everyone working on a given effort. Might there be ways to divide tasks that more fully enable team members to leverage their strengths and continue to learn and grow in beneficial ways?