Today’s Tuesday Reading is from Peggy Huston, Leadership Coach at MOR Associates. Peggy may be reached at [email protected] or via LinkedIn.
I like to think about many things and want to be challenged to think in ways I had not considered before. Wandering into unknown territory of thought feels like an adventure for me. It’s exciting because I know I will learn something new, if not many new things, including about myself. On the other hand, I question if my time thinking is adding value. Wouldn’t I be adding more value if I was just doing it? On my leadership journey, I learned that identifying and accomplishing strategic goals requires thinking and applying.
Earlier in my career, I led a program office and had the opportunity to hire someone in a project manager position who had written books on project management and had considerable knowledge on the subject. I did not take long to realize that while the new hire had spent much time thinking about concepts and tools to manage projects, they needed to gain experience applying them. They struggled when bumping up against cultural aspects of the organization and resistance to change. What I thought would be a relatively easy transition for the new hire was a steep learning curve for their first year.
Developing a balance of thinking and applying is also needed at an organizational level. I worked in higher education for 20 years. A characteristic of the culture where I worked was to talk about ideas and analyze them from every angle, often with no time limit. At the same time, decisions to implement new technology were usually made within departments across the campus with little to no thought about how the result contributed to institutional goals or impacted other areas of the organization. A strategic approach that balanced setting a specific amount of time to think through ideas and then executing those ideas that represented the greatest value for the whole organization enabled the institution to move beyond the arrested development of its organizational operations.
Three needs come to mind to balance time to think and time to apply effectively:
First, I need to know where I’m going. I need to get or create a future vision if there is not one. As Yogi Berra stated, “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” An aspirational vision of the future helps me determine where to invest my time.
Second, I need a decision or prioritization process. Again, whether I am thinking about my development or the development of an organization, I can’t do everything at once. I need to be thoughtful about my choices.
Third, I need time to think – to evaluate information, assess the probability of an idea’s success, reflect on progress, and determine if I’m heading in the right direction. Thinking requires time. Requirements of my time need to be on my calendar.
Effective leadership requires a mindset that values both thinking and applying. We have the opportunity to learn when we take the time to evaluate a concept or idea thoroughly. We can deepen our learning when we apply what we are thinking. The key to striking a balance between these is to act strategically and focus our time and efforts in service of our goals.
What most gets in the way of balancing thinking and applying for you?
Last week, we asked which dimension of leading resonates most with you:
- 26% said choice
- 23% said impact
- 21% said movement
- 30% said all three in combination
As with most frameworks, choosing only one dimension is often insufficient, with all dimensions working more effectively in tandem. So too, as we consider these dimensions of leading. Leading starts with choice, continues with movement to enact that choice, and generates impact from that choice and movement.