The real energy crisis isn’t about electricity, gas, wind, or solar. It concerns the energy we are willing to invest in ourselves and one another, and our reserves seem to be depleting.
Society conditions us to move quickly (both physically and cognitively) and regularly rewards speed. It is assumed that the leader who can swiftly make decisions and compel their market to provide profits wins the game of business and leadership.
But is this true?
Sound decision-making is a necessary skill for successful leaders, no doubt. It is sometimes essential to make quick judgments in order to keep pace. Yes, judgment is necessary, despite what most spiritual and religious belief systems tell us (“Judge not lest ye be judged,” etc.). But I’ve noticed that many of us over-rely on judgement, and I think I know why.
Psychologist and philosopher Carl Jung said it best: “People judge because it’s easier.” What he meant, in my opinion, is that judging a person or situation gives us the opportunity to stop spending energy on it. Judgment cuts off curiosity, openness, and empathy. It creates an ending or exit, and gives us permission to stop engaging with whatever is in front of us. It doesn’t matter if we are judging the situation as good or bad, right or wrong, resourceful or harmful. Judgment stops the process of deliberation and is, therefore, “easier.” It takes a great deal more energy to stay in discernment and remain in the conversation than it does to make a call and move on. But what if we’re moving on too quickly?
This habit of quick judgment has another effect: it reinforces righteousness. When we are in positions of authority, we have two choices: to wield our power with humility, keeping in mind that might does not make right, or, on the other hand, to let it go to our heads. A culture of kneejerk judgments creates leaders with big egos. Because they don’t take time to consider alternate views, they gradually come to believe that their perspective is touched with genius. They become so caught up in the stream of decisions that they risk losing sight of the values and relationships which form the bedrock of their success. Over time, they come to see any time and energy spent listening, deliberating, and conversing with others as wasted. What’s the use of engaging when they “know” they’re right?
Highly effective leaders don’t rush to judgment. Instead, they adopt and cultivate the “both/and” mindset. They allocate time and energy with intention, making a point to slow down and listen to multiple viewpoints. They cultivate trusted relationships with their colleagues. They resist the temptation to use that time-honored silver bullet reasoning, “because I said so.” As a result of these habits, highly effective leaders know how to manage polarities, dilemmas, and paradoxes efficiently, but without shutting the process down too quickly.
I’m quite an indecisive person. What I have recently realized about myself is that when I am decisive, I am usually doing one or more of the following:
- I’m conserving energy by rushing to judgment, so I no longer have to consider the options.
- I’m reinforcing my righteousness.
- I’m avoiding one or more of the other choices.
- On rare occasions, I can see that my choice: a) is what I truly want or need; b) will do the least amount of harm/most amount of good; and c) creates the best outcome for all.
In other words, I judge too much. But I’m learning to investigate the reasons I do so, and to pause, breathe, and ask myself earnestly whether I believe I’m making the right decision. In the words of my colleague Ralph, sometimes we have to slow down to go faster.
Deciding to write about this was difficult for me. I hope it has piqued your curiosity, and that you neither agree or disagree with what I have written here too quickly. Stay in the game. Keep spending your energy on deep thought, reflection, and discernment instead of conserving it by judging. I guarantee the energy you invest will lead to big returns!
Want a thought partner? Hire a coach. I believe in my team so much that I’d ask you to consider Emergent first when considering hiring a coach for your leadership development! Send me an email at [email protected] for more information.
Comments (1)
Very well put Bill.
I have managed several maintenance departments in my career and have found many “preventive maintenance” task to be no more than a knee jerk reaction that was implemented just to say something was done following a failure. It is the easy answer to just replace something more frequently rather that dive into the true root cause. I also believe there are many folks who are much more comfortable with the bravado of the firefighting mode, quick reaction to a situation and move on to the next fire. Sometimes it seems like we have lost patience and our world recognizes quick reaction to be better than a long term deep dive resolution. It is as if we are expected to know the solution for a problem before it occurs so we can implement the solution quickly. If that were the case then we should implement the solution before the problem occurs and prevent it in the first place. Nobody has all the answers all the time, solving problems is how we learn, it is how we get better at what we do and how we grow as leaders.