I had dinner with a colleague recently who is heading up a new growth vector for his firm. The topic turned to one of those you don’t read about often: what happens if it goes sideways?
I reminded him that everyone who has led one of these efforts experiences three phases of a journey. First there is the honeymoon, where things go well, and you are able to feel like you’ve got it in hand. Second, there is the “zone of confusion,” when issues have come up with your project, sometimes several at a time, and at a pace that makes you feel out of control – creating real doubt as to the outcome. Third there is resolution and one of two paths: you either move forward on the original path with a more refined approach or you regather and choose a new way forward.
What many leaders miss, is the fact that even when the path you choose ends up being closed, it is actually a win and a piece of valuable intellectual property.
Let’s zero in on step two, as nearly everyone who led a significant growth effort inside a business or who was starting from scratch, has had that moment. A promising initiative goes south, and as much as you’ve promised yourself that you were not going to put all your eggs in one basket, you have a sinking feeling that you have, and the world will just not be the same.
The key here is getting control of your own emotions and leading the team forward. The competency we are talking about here is resilience, defined by Webster’s as:
: able to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens
: able to return to an original shape after being pulled, stretched, pressed, bent, etc.
How you respond after entering this “zone of confusion” is what sets you you up for success – or sends you along a long cycle of retreat. So, how do you successfully meet a challenge when it looks like your initiative has lost its pulse?
- Make sure you deal with your own issues first. Take a deep breath and get perspective and an objective mindset. One of my clients, a former navy seal, always says that no one is going to shoot at us today, so let’s get to work.
- Decide just how much runway you have. If you’ve built your initiative well at the outset, you have your go/no go benchmarks already in hand. This will allow you to set a working boundary of time, resources and talent available to resolve the issue.
- Make sure you don’t hide from providing the leadership your team needs. These moments are the best training labs ever, and your natural instincts are going to be to step back and isolate – don’t do it. This is the time to lead from the front.
- Teach people how to get to work and solve the problem. None of us is as smart as all of us. Unpack everything you know and get a fact base. Then apply some solid problem solving tools (start here and here).
- Model how to make quick, decisive actions. In large organizations that value long cycle planning and being correct, it’s easy for doubt and cynicism to set in quickly. It’s your job to keep the dialogue framed objectively on outcomes and results and be the one to make sure that the group makes decisions and moves forward.
- Don’t quit unless you have conclusively found that your benchmarks cannot be met, and only then after all the possible learning has been abstracted and documented. I see leaders tempted to opt out of the new project way too soon, before robust problem solving has had a good chance to be applied.
These zone of confusion issues will push your team to the edge of their comfort zones, and force paradigms to shift. So what are the meta themes and takeaways? How do you build this muscle?
First, expect the “zone of confusion,” and see it as a gift to develop intellectual property – not a fatal flaw. Then:
- Practice and reflect. Keep a list of those times you have grabbed victory from the jaws of defeat. Use them to shore up your emotions and those of your team members. If you are stuck in a groove that’s not yielding results, pivot and try a new path.
- Reconnect with the Big Why. Knowing the big why places things back in perspective. Every project that is worth it’s salt has a deeper why – it’s your job to get in touch with it.
- Keep relational bank accounts high. Good leaders know that things are never as good as they seem. Nor are they certainly as bad as they seem. Make sure you keep both your vertical and horizontal relationships in good shape for when things are not going well. This includes keeping your outside of work personal relationships in good shape, so that when things are not going well professionally, those closest to you can step in and remind you that you are not the project.
Resilience is one of 12 key areas we work on in my executive coaching program. If you’d like to talk further about investing in strengthening this valuable skill, please send me a note, or call me direct at 847-651-1014.
Related posts you can benefit from…
