Professional Pivot: How to Succeed When Things Don’t Go as Planned (#150)
The Confident Leader
BOOST YOUR LEADERSHIP IN UNCERTAIN TIMES
A few years ago I was preparing to chaperone my son’s eighth grade Washington D.C. trip. A good friend, who had been on the trip the year before, offered some sage advice that proved useful especially when things began to go awry.
““Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
— Mike Tyson (American boxing champion)
This Week’s Edition
Change is constant. As leaders, how can you approach the unexpected to stay in the game and find solutions.
Clarify Your Thinking
My friend shared his advice, “with forty eighth graders, it is highly possible that things may not go as planned. Your best bet is to ‘trust and adjust.’ Trust that it’ll work out and adjust the plan.”
I couldn’t have predicted how much I would rely on his words of wisdom:
- One of my kids got horribly sick. I had to move the others from the room overnight to manage his illness.
- I got flagged by the secret service at the White House, and my group had to proceed without me.
- Once in, I lost my son somewhere on the tour. I failed to get the the father/son White House picture I had dreamed of capturing.
The list of mishaps were too many to count. We had to adjust our plan, but more importantly, I had to adjust my thinking. I had visions of an idyllic trip with my son, but it what unfolded was quite different from my romanticized expectations.
Successful leaders have expectations. They make a plan and consider every possible scenario. Even still, they find themselves surprised by the unexpected. How they respond determines how well they rebound.
Old Thinking: I don’t have time for this. Who’s to blame for our current state of affairs? I should have just done it myself from the beginning to avoid this situation.
New Thinking: Bummer… this is not great. I didn’t expect this. Let’s adjust… what can we do? What are our options? Let’s get a new plan.
Thoughts Lead to Actions
For leaders (like all mere mortals), unexpected things happens… no matter how much they plan. So, what’s a leader to do? Blame? Complain? Defend?
Alternatively, focus on developing three key emotional intelligence skills.
- Reality Testing –Are you able to see see things as they really are (vs. the way you want them to appear)? Maintain objectivity?
- Flexibility – Are you able to adapt your emotions, thoughts and behaviors in response to unexpected change? Just roll with it?
- Problem Solving – Are you able to find solutions when emotions are involved? Hang in there to find a solution?
Daily, leaders share with me the unexpected circumstances that occur. Some are so unbelievable, you couldn’t make them up. Apparently, this is the new new normal.
The emotionally intelligent leader will be the least likely to get derailed. Consider these three steps to equip yourself to lead in turbulent times:
Step 1: Take an emotional intelligence assessment
Step 2: Identify your skill level on Reality Testing, Flexibility and Problem Solving.
Step 3: Create strategies to develop greater skill in these three areas
On that DC trip, numerous unexpected things happened. Any one of them could have derailed us chaperones. Instead, we recount (with great laughter) those insurmountable obstacles as triumphant stories of survival and victory. Trust and adjust!
Boost Your Performance
No one is immune to things going sideways, no matter how much you plan and think through every possible outcome. Watch this week’s video to hear about our team’s curve ball(s) this week while on the road and how we used “trust and adjust” to prevail.
What’s Your Opinion?
Where in your leadership life do you need to trust and adjust? Share it 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.
