Measure what matters
When everything’s shifting, measure what you can control
When we’re operating in an environment of change, it can be easy to fall into the mindset that it’s all out of our hands and being done to us. Which, if we’re honest, is partially true. Other people are making decisions that threaten to take the autonomy out of your hands, undermine or deprioritise the work you’ve put your blood, sweat and tears into and create real and unsettling uncertainty.
When we are in that mindset, it becomes really challenging to turn up as the best, most creative, most collaborative version of ourselves. Instead, we tend towards the more natural responses of defensiveness, blame, avoidance…and all the other stuff that has the future version of us looking back wondering who was that stranger and what were they doing pretending to be me?
As leaders, there’s an extra load, right? You’ve got to manage your own, very human responses to change, and then turn your attention to your team and do some more emotional heavy lifting.
If it’s helpful, here’s one experiment that is really standing out to me: Leaders who are focusing on what they can control seem to be creating a sense of stability in what can feel a very chaotic and unnerving environment.
I’m seeing those leaders encourage their people to find ways of taking ownership of what they can in change. It helps them claim some agency so it feels less like everything is being done to them, and more like they have choice over some key things within the changing environment.
Not easy, right? But I’m generally the buzzing mosquito in the room who says what if we just gave something a try. So here’s a something we’ve been having a go at in my Potent Leaders programme:
List all the things that remain constant and within our control. During times of change, a focus on personal wellbeing can be massively valuable when you are collating this list.
Pick one of those things you think we can shift the needle positively on.
Know where you’re at – ask the team to rate the current state (eg, on this gauge, red is “stuck"; dark green is “smashing it”).
Generate a conversation – use a question that goes something like, “if we were to shift the needle by one colour towards "smashing it" this week, what things would we do to make that happen?”
Ask each individual to come up with one thing they can do that will contribute to the team making progress forward.
Now, let them go for it. Keep checking in through casual conversation during the week – how are people going with trying this thing out?
At the end of the week, get back together for morning tea and ask everyone to share what they have been trying. Then redo the progress gauge. What’s shifted? What of that shift was the team’s doing? What do you now want to take forward to next week and beyond?
If you’re a leader in change, it’s definitely not easy. Finding ways to reclaim ownership of things that are meaningful to us re-engages the part of our being that helps us turn up as that better version of ourselves. By equipping your team to do it, the load becomes a little lighter for you, and we all start to find our opportunities for autonomy, certainty and ownership.
You're doing awesome.