Occasionally, in spite of our best efforts, we can find ourselves off track as a leader, as a team or as an organization. When this happens,we may resist admitting it to ourselves and others. We may feel that we are so far down the road that we can’t turn around or turn back, that we must continue along the same path. It may be that we simply do not want to admit our mistake, but more likely, it has to do with weighing the business implications of a reset and doing the cost/benefit analysis. We also may not know exactly how to turn it around.
Leaders can feel off track as it relates to a vision, a strategy, a business offering, or to our relationships with certain team members, clients or with key stakeholders. It usually revolves around something fundamental to our day to day work in leadership and we feel uneasy about the course we are on.
Regardless of the situation, it is powerful to realize it is never too late to reset – to reset your vision, your objectives, your team’s focus, to start anew. Recognizing the need for a reset is the first step.
Some ideas to help you:
- Schedule some thinking time to review your situation; jot down any ideas that come to you.
- Make a list of the risks for making a change and for not making a change. Getting this on paper will help you move forward.
- Reach out to a mentor/coach to discuss it.
- Ask a few of your top team members for their insight. Do they agree with your unease? How do they see the situation?
- Prepare to release the past, the ‘story in your head’ about the situation, any blame you are assigning or holding onto. You have to let it go to move past it.
- Assess what you can control, what parts you own and realize how much power you have to alter your course.
- When you are ready, work alone or with your team, depending on the situation, to craft a new way forward. The energy will start to shift.
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Agility is one of the most important leadership competencies in today’s business world,due partially to the extraordinary pace of change, thus making it necessary for leaders to be able to adjust, modify and change on the fly. Those who recognize when they need to reset and do so quickly, will find that flexing this leadership muscle, resetting their objectives or their approach, will make them better and more capable leaders.
Reach out to me if you would like some help to reset. It’s never too late and learning how to do this more frequently will help deepen your leadership practice.
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LEAD WELL!
