Strategy Secrets: From Reactive to Reflective
When was the last time you ate lunch away from your desk and took more than 15 minutes to do so?
If you're like most leaders I work with, it may be hard to recall when the last time was.
When I was a Department Head and working in an office, one of my team members used to stand in the hall and announce, "has anyone fed Veronica today?" We all got a good laugh out of it, but here's the truth.
Skipping lunch, eating at your desk, or eating on the go may not seem like that big of a deal, but these practices are often a symptom of a bigger issue that may be plaguing you, your team or your organization.
If your day is so full of meetings scheduled by other people and the disruption of day-to-day fires that need putting out that you're forgetting to take care of your nourishment needs, there's a very good chance you a struck in reactive mode - and that's a tough place to be.
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Many leaders I work with wish they had more time to spend thinking through their organization's larger strategic needs. They want to be more proactive and less reactive.
But in the quest to be more proactive, they miss an essential step - the need for reflection.
Reflection enables leaders and their organizations to ask essential questions about how things are going, whether the things that were important last quarter are still important now, and identify trends or issues that shouldn't go overlooked.
Reflection can take many shapes and forms - from facilitated conversations with your leadership team to personal habits.
Here are three suggestions to help you start cultivating a culture of reflection for yourself, your team, and your organization.
Reflection for Leaders
Block 15 minutes in your calendar at the end of each workday to answer these questions:
What felt like a win?
What felt hard or stressful?
What do I want to remember?
How did I feel?
Feel free to choose other questions that help you capture the days thoughts. The aim here is to get into a rhythm of capturing and collecting your thoughts from the day. Every month, spend one hour reviewing the past month's entries to look for trends, see what's been resolved, and see what's still true. Schedule this time in your calendar and STICK TO IT. These reflection moments will help you crystallize your perspective as a leader and keep you and your team focused on what matters most.
Reflection for Teams
Schedule time for your team to reflect together. This could be based around big milestones, during important project moments, or aligned to other natural rhythms. For a simple reflection meeting, have everyone consider:
What worked well?
What didn't work, was harder than it should have been, or was stressful?
What aren't we sure about whether it worked or didn't?
How did the team vibe feel?
From here, you can discuss what you want to keep for next time, one thing to improve for next time, and one thing the team wants to learn or have a better understanding of before next time. You can also set a goal for how you want to feel as a team during the next project and some actions you all can take to make that possible.
Reflection for Organizations
If you haven't already done a quarterly review of progress on your goals and financials, it's not too late to make that happen. But take note - reporting and reflection are not the same thing. Your quarterly organizational performance data is important, and those reports should be carefully reviewed by your leadership team. Reflection, though, requires a safe space for leaders to discuss:
How we're progressing on our goals.
Where we're falling behind and why we think that is.
Whether we need to adjust our expectations, investment, or approach.
Whether we need to negotiate about which priorities and projects take precedence so we can communicate that effectively to staff.
Reflection meetings can benefit from a facilitator who can help the leadership team have a productive discussion, respectfully challenge when needed, and align on any changes or next steps. This allows each leader to come to the table as a representative of their department and be on equal footing rather than having one or two leaders split between full-participant and facilitator roles.
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If you're looking ahead at your week and wondering how you're going to eat lunch - let alone make time to reflect and advance your critical priorities for the year - let's talk about how to incorporate a culture of reflection at your organization.