AssumpXploration

Being stuck is a common experience. We get stuck as individuals, and we get stuck as organizations.

Getting unstuck is tricky business because it requires...

• Careful examination of how we got stuck in the first place (aka Reflection)
• Honest assessment of any assumptions that might have landed us in stuckedness
• Willingness to clarify direction and next steps out of stuckedness
• Forecasting opportunities and challenges to those next steps

Who has time for all that!?! 

Many choose the perceived less painful path of simply remaining stuck. Others, however, choose the journey toward improvement and betterness.

Key to this process is the part about honestly assessing assumptions. Carefully exploring what assumptions got us in this mess -- or are keeping us in this state of stuckedness -- are critical in finding our way out of it. 

Assumpxploration is key to getting unstuck.

BetterBitter

Some folks I know work intentionally, daily, relentlessly to get BETTER. Almost everyone I know that fits that description does so through a disciplined, continual LEARNING journey. They seem dedicated to making themselves better, in the interest of making our world better.

I know a few folks who seem equally dedicated to being BITTER. You likely know them, too, so I won't go into details of what that looks/feels/sounds like. 

I've noticed that BETTER attracts BETTER. Likewise, BITTER seems to attract BITTER.

Today, I think I'll choose BETTER. (Come on in, the water's fine.........BETTER, actually.)

ProgressionAilments

Most organizations exist to accomplish something important. Most people who work in organizations want their organization to succeed (even if it's for purely selfish purposes).

Two debilitating ailments commonly compromise organizational progress: Complacency and Inertia.

Complacency is the product of being satisfied with the current state. Organizations that fall "ill" in this regard lose (or never had) a focus on continuous improvement. We -- the leaders -- can do something about that.

Inertia frequently results when fear of change sets in. When doing nothing seems safer than doing something, we move into an organizational death spiral. We -- the leaders -- can do something about that.

While there are a lot of moving parts to the something(s) that we -- the leaders -- can do, the first and foremost is to communicate with absolute clarity the noble and worthy outcomes we seek as a team. 

FIX(h)ATED

The wisest leaders I know resist the temptation to "fix" other folks. They understand each of us has predispositions and natural skills, the domains in which we work most comfortably.

Those wise leaders seek and find ways to put us in roles that are a good match for our "talents," and they work just as mightily to NOT give us responsibilities for which we are destined to fail due to that misalignment.

Our individual success, 

     the success of our organization, and thus, 

          the success of the leadership 

is optimized by effective skills-matching in that regard.

Those wise leaders also expect -- demand -- that each of us continually learn, improve, grow, get better. Complacency is not a skill, but rather, it's a condition wise leaders do not abide (for all the right reasons).

Obitu-Leader

Volumes have been written about what does and doesn't make a good leader. To be sure, there are many moving parts to being an effective leader. And, constantly changing contexts do nothing but make the challenges more ominous.

Nothing inhibits our ability to lead effectively more than when we begin to let "getting stuff done" become more important than learning. 

When we stop growing -- stop LEARNING -- we have begun writing our own leadership obituaries.

Yeppers; it's a choice we make. Daily.