It’s Taking Too Long. Do I Abandon or Stick with It? (#286)

The Confident Leader

BOOST YOUR LEADERSHIP IN UNCERTAIN TIMES

A CEO I coach leads a small business that’s quickly growing. He desperately needed a clear process to support the hyper-growth. 

His leaders wanted to implement the right software solution. But doing it the “right way” was taking forever. 

Could it be they chose the wrong solution?

“Success is the product of daily habits—not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.” — James Clear

This Week’s Edition

When progress is slower, messier, and more demanding than expected, a leader can waver in their commitment, having underestimated the discipline required to stay the course.

Clarify Your Thinking

Implementation felt slow. The CEO was frustrated, and the team could feel it. 

The day-to-day progress to install the right system was readily discernible, but the collective confidence in their strategic decision began to waver.

So, they pivoted to another solution. Then pivoted again two years later. Then pivoted again one year after that.

What they were experiencing was the normal, unglamorous reality of the building process and discipline.

What they needed was endurance.

What does it take in a leader to stay the course in the face of slow progress and an impatient team, demanding clients, or an unforgiving board?

Old Thinking

If this were working, we’d feel further along by now. Maybe we chose the wrong approach.

New Thinking

Progress feels slow because real systems take time. Accountability, not novelty, is what carries execution across the finish line.ecution.

Thoughts Lead to Actions

Often, leaders mistake patience for lack of progress. When they succumb to this misperception, they reach for the next shiny object.

The impact is predictable:

• Leaders lose confidence in the work.
• The team grows cynical about “the next system.”
• The business fails to achieve momentum.

When leaders abandon systems too early, they train their organization to distrust process altogether. The work never compounds because nothing is allowed to mature.

If you are in a similar situation, before changing direction again, pause and ask:

Am I stuck with a bad decision or am I simply uncomfortable in the middle of the process?

For leaders to train their confidence in their decisions like this, they can generate patience and true staying power by: 

1. Accountability

Enroll an accountability partner for the project. 

Arm them with the questions they should ask you when you get frustrated:

• What is your vision for the project?
• Why did you originally make this decision?
• What are recent wins?
• Has anything material changed since making this decision?
• Do you have any evidence that you made a wrong decision?
• What tweaks do you need to make, if any?
• How are you handling the current demands that the solution will eventually solve?
  

2. Community
Use the answers you gave your accountability partner to engage your team. Bring the progress to light so others can see it. Visibility reduces the temptation to quietly quit.

3. Tracking
Most leaders abandon good work because it feels like nothing is happening. 

Feelings are real, but they don’t always tell the truth. 

Track key indicators so you don’t trick yourself into believing motion equals progress or that progress isn’t happening at all.

According to Forbes, many execution failures occur not because strategies are flawed, but because leaders fail to sustain focus long enough for systems to take hold. Consistent accountability is what bridges that gap.

Execution requires more than a plan. It requires protection from your own impatience.

Boost Your Performance

In this week’s video, I walk through a real example of a leadership team that nearly abandoned a strong execution plan—right before it started working—and how accountability changed the outcome.

What’s Your Opinion?

How do you stay patient in the face of slow progress?
Share your thoughts with me at robin.pou@robinpou.com.

If you are going to be a leader, you might as well be a good one. Don’t let doubt count you out. Have a confident week!

Robin Pou, Chief Advisor and Strategist

We live to make bad leadership extinct so forward this newsletter to others who strive to be confident leaders. 

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What is “The Confident Leader”?

During the Covid-19 Pandemic, I began a video series called “Panic or Plan?” It was designed to equip leaders to navigate the doubt they experienced and to rise in the confidence they needed to lead during turbulent times. It took off. I then started this newsletter to equip leaders in the same fashion each week for the doubt that crashes across the bow of their leaderSHIP.