Go Slow, so you can Go Fast
“We’re stuck!” is what the CEO said within minutes of our first meeting.
“Rob, we’re putting in a lot of effort but nothing seems to be working,” she continued.
Sound familiar?
Whether relating to an individual, team or whole business it is all too easy to get stuck. To find yourself burning lots of energy which leads only to frustration and not results.
When faced with this we have a simple solution – Go slow so you can Go fast!
What does this mean in practice?
1 – Recognise that something is not working. If you feel like you’re putting a lot of effort in, but things aren’t shifting then acknowledge the frustration and recognise that doing more of the same is not going to help. As Einstein says, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
With the CEO mentioned above, it was only after the fifth month of things going backwards did they stop and recognise that something wasn’t working.
‘I should have spotted this sooner,’ they said to me, ‘but I just got caught hoping that our effort would pay off. I need to make sure I know how to recognise sooner when things are slipping in the future,’
2 – Pause and take stock. Once you recognise that something isn’t working, slow down and take a pause. Stop applying wasted effort and consider what your ultimate outcome is in the situation – i.e. what you are you really seeking to achieve and by when? – and what is the gap between where you are today and that outcome. From this you can get a clear view on what you really need to achieve to get to where you want to.
Another leader I was working with knew that things weren’t working for them, but they feared that pausing would cause things to become worse whilst they were trying to figure out what to do next. Sitting in a room for just half a day we not only paused, but we also took stock and reset exactly what they wanted and needed to achieve.
3 – Reset the plan. With a clear understanding of the outcome and gap you can now reset your plan. This starts with considering all the options you have beyond what you’ve already tried. When we get creative about our options, we can then get more intentional about the action we take.
‘We need to go slow, to go fast,’ I said to the CEO and their Executive team. ‘Now we’re clear on what we need to achieve let’s reset the plan.’
Through this simple action we created a whole new strategy for the business to follow which we then used to engage every colleague and direct all their energy into turning around performance.
In conclusion
Whilst simple in practice, without slowing yourself down in that moment of stuck frustration, it is difficult to gain the headspace needed to reset your plan so you can go faster in the long run.
Whether relating to yourself, your team or your organisation, if you’re feeling stuck and like the effort isn’t paying off, or worse, like the effort is causing you to still go backwards, it’s time to ‘Go Slow, so you can Go Fast’.
Support
If a conversation with Rob would help you to become ‘unstuck’ email him at rob@tplwordpresshost-wwwwogs665.live-website.com
Here’s a quick video to explain the 3 steps