Clarity in Stillness
Passage 15 - Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu - Translated by Stephen Mitchell
There are different ways to lead others.
While one leadership style might lead by knowing what they want
and pushing an agenda, other leadership types lead after observing.
While a work environment benefits by its leaders having a sense of direction
and being goal oriented, it is also nurtured by its leaders listening
and observing before taking action.
A lot of times, dysfunctions and grievances within a workplace
get lost amidst the noise within business.
If you’re a business owner you might have found yourself taking rapid action
or giving excessive orders without pausing to listen.
Or maybe you have been working on solving a problem only to realize
you missed an important detail from the very beginning and need to start over.
If you want to work and stress less in your business or non-profit,
it requires accepting that strategizing before taking action
goes hand-in-hand with taking the action itself.
Strategizing allows us see the bigger picture and helps us complete more
in a single chunk of time because we are prioritizing method over momentum.
As we practice methodical leadership this makes us better leaders
because we are leading with more clarity and stillness.
This will increase productivity and help to trim lose ends we may otherwise find ourselves tripping over.
So, don’t be afraid to take a deep, slow breath (or maybe two or three)
and check in with yourself and the business.
If you feel like you have been frantically taking action,
pause and practice strategizing by doing these 3 things right now::
Visualize how things in your business are connected
Make a flowchart of operations, processes or teammates from first to last.
Note where you see any gaps of knowledge or balls being dropped
in between each teammate, process or operations
Ask yourself and your teammates what could be done differently
If the answer doesn’t come right away, just sit with this question
Make time to sit in front of the flow charts or maps for a couple minutes a day.
Don’t think of the “how”; focus only on the “what” can be different
Bring your findings to your team to hear how your findings do (or don’t) benefit them
Ask what they think about your findings
Allow your team to suggest improvements
Evaluate what is best as a team with a SWOT Analysis
Yes, strategy does take time, but stopping to think now can save you a lot of time (and struggle) down the road.
By Arabella Davis
What tools do you use to strategize?
Share them with us in the comments.
