When a leader determines a course of action is no longer working leadership begins in earnest. What is the next step? Is it to continue, assuming the lack of effectiveness is temporary, a storm to be weathered? Or is it to shift gears and move in another direction? Leadership is taking action in such moments, knowing that certainty won’t come until farther down the road. To carry our analogy if we down shift and we are at the base of a hill, we have chosen well. We will have more power to ascend the challenge. On the other hand, if we shift into a higher gear at the base of the hill, we’ll run out of steam before reaching the top.
For those of you who aren’t acquainted with standard transmissions, and the impact of shifting to a lower or higher gear, the point is sometimes when we face a challenge we need to dig in and put more energy to overcome it. At other times we need to change direction and move away as fast as we can. The higher gear gives us speed, while the lower gear gives us power. When facing such moments, leaders tend to shift gears based on their “guts” or their experiences, or their knowledge, and each must be consulted at such moments. My natural tendency is not to seek the advice of others, because I am a natural leader. I have been a leader since childhood. The truth, though, is even if I’m not going to follow the advice of others in my organization, I am better equipped to determine whether to move away or to dig in when I have consulted those around me.
John Maxwell has often reminded us the old saying, “It’s lonely at the top,” was never spoken of a true leader. He points out we must make decisions at times from the isolation of our position as leaders, but most often if we are at the “top” it is because we have ascended the hill or mountain with a team. Isolated leadership is becoming more and more a relic, like cars with standard transmissions. Even so, as leaders we must still make hard calls at times, which no one else can make. That’s part of the definition of leadership.
So, what hills are you facing right now? What systems are accomplishing results you don’t want? What people are no longer adding value to your organization’s effectiveness? Where are you in a rut in your leadership that is impacting your bottom line personally or corporately? These are difficult questions to ask, and yet if we don’t ask them we won’t know when we need to shift gears. We won’t know when it’s time to dig in or turn in the opposite direction and step on the gas. As I remind us often, Socrates was on target when he said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” The unexamined life also leads to ruts, to loss of momentum, to ineffectiveness, because no method endures forever.
The rapidly of change in every area of our culture makes it more essential than ever to be examining both our personal and corporate actions, habits, systems and processes, and to take appropriate action when we start to lose momentum. Knowing which action to take will always be a bit of art as well as a science, and gathering input from those around us who have proven themselves trustable and astute will benefit us greatly. But at the end of the day each leader must still determine when it’s time to shift gears and move in another direction. The good news/bad news of that is once we’ve done so it won’t be long until we must do it again. After all, as the conditions of the “road” change, we must “shift” again.
Here’s to leading better by determining whether to shift and in which direction–today!