The Critical Yeast

As I walked down the hall after my meeting, she came out of the room from a different meeting, and said to me: “I have just pulled the pin and tossed the grenade into the room. Now they will have to deal with the issue. It may take time, but they must come to a solution.”

I stopped, gathered myself together, and said to her. “Well, that’s a pretty violent metaphor. I don’t think I would use it given the current world we live in. Still, I know your goal was to solve an issue and to create clarity around a sensitive and complex problem. I just think one could approach it from a different angle.”

“Okay,” she said. “What metaphor would you have used? What way would you have approached this level of work?”

“I would have started by focusing on the critical yeast, a bread baking metaphor, more than change by grenade at the critical mass level,” I responded.

“Tell me more,” she replied.

My response was based on something I had read by John Paul Lederach in his book, The Moral Imagination: The Art And Soul Of Building Peace (Oxford University Press, 2005). As he explained, “The idea of critical mass floated over [from nuclear physics] into the social sciences given its natural applications to a wide variety of topics. People asked: How do social ideas make their way from inception to becoming widely accepted by society? The point at which enough people believe it and the social ethos changes is the point of a critical mass…. But in the process of applying the concept of critical mass, we actually may have missed the original key insight. Creating self-sustained processes of social change is not about numbers in a sequential formula. The critical mass in fact was asking what initial, even small things made exponentially greater things possible. In nuclear physics [where the concept of critical mass came from], the focus was on the quality of the catalyst, not the numbers that followed.” As he continued, “Focus on quantity distracted from focus on quality and on the space needed to generate and sustain change…. What’s missing is not critical mass. The missing ingredient is the critical yeast.”

As we stood in the hallway, I explained the difference between forcing a group to make a decision and the idea from bread baking of using critical yeast. As Lederach noted, “the principal of yeast is this: A few strategically connected people have greater potential for creating social growth of an idea or process than large number of people who think alike.”

Furthermore, Lederach’s work reminds me of something Jim Collins wrote in his book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap. . . and Others Don't (HarperBusiness, 2001). Collins talked about “First Who… Then What.” As he explained, “The good-to-great leaders began the transformation by first getting the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) and then figured out where to drive it…. The key point of this chapter is not just the idea of getting the right people on the team. The key point is that "who" questions come before "what" decisions - before vision, before strategy, before organization structure, before tactics.  First who, then what - as a rigorous discipline, consistently applied.” When we force a group to deal with an issue, we often do not have the right people involved and the environment for communications is not always safe.

As a long term bread baker, I know that yeast needs needs warmth, moisture, and a touch of honey or sugar to grow. With the right preparation, yeast will transform the flour and water into bread. Following the same principals with people, Lederach explains “Social change requires careful attention to the way people in their environment mix in relational spaces that provide a warm, initially somewhat separate, and therefore safe space to bring together what has not usually brought together with enough sweetness to make the space conducive for the growth of those merged.”

In bread baking, the yeast in combination with thorough mixing, which is called kneading, of the other ingredients such as flour gives the mixture the capacity to rise again and again. “Yeast is defined principally by this capacity to be resilient,” writes Lederach. 

Building on the bread making metaphor, Lederach notes, “The place where the critical mass and critical yeast meet in reference to social change is not in the number of people involved but rather in creating the quality of the platform that makes exponential growth strong and possible, and then finding ways to sustain that platform.”

As I walked her through this line of thinking and the difference between pulling the pin and adding the critical yeast, she nodded. “I don’t always measure well when I make bread. It still comes out OK in the end. At times, bread is more forgiving than people.”

I smiled and agreed. “It might be good to reconvene the group, and take the metaphorical grenade off the table. I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Then, after careful, safe, and thoughtful listening and sharing, you can discern who needs to be involved in solving the problem. People always notice the difference between working in safe spaces for growth vs confrontational spaces for immediate change.”

As we continued walking down the hallway together, I thought to myself, “I could use a really good slice of sourdough bread with some nice homemade maple apple pear butter on it.” On my way home, I picked up a fresh baked loaf, knowing I already had the maple apple pear butter in a jar in our pantry.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Seeking Great Love

As the global pandemic continues to rumble along, I believe we are getting lost in the darkness of the pandemic and the darkness of these challenging times. We’ve lost touch with the awe, the joy, and the light-ness of working and living. 

I am not advocating that we hide from the pandemic’s darkness or any of the other world’s problems like global climate change or the on-going war in Ukraine.  These problems are real, intense, and complex.

I just want to make sure we do not get lost in these problems. We need to learn new ways to deal with our grief, fatigue, and anxiety around them. We also need to reclaim our capacity to move forward with clarity, commitment and connections. And one of those key connections is to rediscover great love.

Rather than loose the cellular memory of great love, we need to rediscover and restore it to being a central part to our lives at work and at home. And the first step is to ask ourselves the following questions:

- What do I love about my life?

- What do I love about my work?

- What do I love about my home and family?

- And the most important question, who do I love?

As we reclaim these elements and these people, we create a foundation for better living and working. We also create a foundation for changing the world, one relationship at a time. As Willa Cather wrote, “Where there is great love, there are always miracles.” 

Now is the time for more miracles. Make today the start of a new beginning. Rediscover who you love and what you love. Then, commit to spending more time loving each and every day.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Letter To A Dissatisfied Leader

Introduction

It was a breakfast meeting before an in-depth training when she shared something very important with me.

“I have no idea where we are going as a company. I know the specific number they want me to hit, but how to get there from where I am is a complete mystery. Furthermore, I have no idea why we are aiming for this number. It is all just a big puzzle and I can’t see the picture.”

I listened carefully as she continued to share. She was more than willing to do the work, but she was really dissatisfied as a manager. She wanted clarity and focus. Instead, she was feeling confused, burned out, and frustrated. She also had begun to wonder if it was time to find a new job. 

Explore Your Work Choices

Feeling confused and frustrated is never a good place to be if you are in a leadership or a management position. It is hard to lead others when you can only talk about what needs to be done, and not share why we need to do it.

I remember years ago a father sharing with me that his daughter, who was a first time manager, called him. She shared that she was feeling overwhelmed and confused by what was expected of her. His advice was simple and direct: “Ask more questions, work harder, and strive to make progress every day.” It was the classic parental speech about working harder each day.

About a month later, the daughter called her father back and explained that she was working 12+ hours, 6 days a week and still trying to make progress each day. She was also asking more questions in meetings. However, she did not understand the answers being given to her, or that her concerns were even being heard.

Her father then explained to her that in situations of this nature she needed to “work smarter and be more organized.” When she defined her priorities each day, she could rise to the challenges before her. She received these thoughtful insights and really focused on having each hour of her day better organized. She created a daily and weekly system to stay focused on making progress.

Two months later, she called her father back and said, “I have worked harder, asked more questions and sought to make progress each day. I also have worked smarter and defined my priorities on a daily and weekly basis. But it has not worked. Instead, I am more confused than ever by the mixed messages I am receiving to my questions and the subsequent lack of my ability to create clarity for my team. If working harder and working smarter does not work, what should I do next?”

There was a long pause before her father replied, “You need to work differently.”

“What does that mean?”, she asked.

“You need to work for a different company. If one works harder and smarter with little support or the ability to make progress or even to prioritize, then you are working in a dysfunctional leadership environment and you are working within poor strategic and operational systems.”

“Thanks,” she replied. “I was thinking the same thing. It is time for me to find a company and a work environment that values me as a leader, and appreciates the questions I am asking.”

Every day we have important choices to make. Sometimes, the right choice is  clear, but not easy. Still, continuing to work within a dysfunctional work environment is never a good choice, both personally or professionally.

The Role Of A Great Manager

Whether one is choosing a new job with a new company, or choosing a new job within the same company, it is critical to research who will be your direct supervisor or manager. 

As Marcus Buckingham in his book, The One Thing You Need to Know ... About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success (Free Press, 2005) wrote: “All great managers speed up the reaction between each employee’s talents and the company’s goals.” A great manager is “deeply preoccupied with the challenge of making you as successful as possible…. To do their job, they must start with your feelings. They must convince you that, in their eyes, your success is paramount.”

The difficulty from my vantage point is that very few people have ever worked for a great manager. Most of us have only experienced mediocrity and assumed it was normal. However, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman in their seminal book, First, Break All The Rules: What The World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently. (Simon & Schuster, 1999) explain that “Talented employees need great managers. How long he stays and how productive he is while he is there is determined by his relationship with his immediate supervisor.” Furthermore, they note that “one of the signs of a great manager is their ability to describe, in detail, the unique talents of each of his or her people - what drives each one, how each one thinks, how each builds relationships.” In short, Buckingham and Coffman recognize that a great manager needs a great manager in order to be a great manager.

With this in mind, people, who are dissatisfied with their current work situation, have important choices to make. As Rodd Wagner & James K. Harter wrote in their book, 12: The Elements of Great Managing (Gallup Press 2006) which is the sequel to First, Break All The Rules: “Before a person can deliver what he should as a manager, he must first receive what he needs as an employee.”

Wagner and Harter encourage us to imagine the following exercise: Picture yourself standing up in front of a hypothetical group of honor students and explain to them why they should join your company. What would you say? Then, respond to the following question from one of these honor students: “If I join your organization, can you assure me that I will have a really good manager?”

The big idea here is whether or not we can guarantee this most basic benefit to all new recruits, and all employees. As they explain, “The managers who are best at getting the most from people are those who give the most to them.”

Again, remember: A great manager needs a great manager in order to be a great manager. And this is what I always encourage dissatisfied leaders to look for if they are considering moving to a new company or moving to a new job within their current company.

Look At Your Whole Life

When I am asked the important question, “Should I apply for a new job?”, I always respond with a question, ““Once you have the new job, what will your whole life be like?”

First, I don’t instantly assume that switching jobs is the best choice. I have learned in life that while the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, one does not know if it is actually greener because it is a more healthier work environment or it is just greener because it is located over the septic tank. 

Therefore, when confronted with the question about switching jobs, I always suggest we examine the choice from a holistic perspective. For example, will this new job make you a better person, parent, sibling, partner, or friend with the people you love and cherish in your life? When we choose to look at our life holistically, we may come to an understanding that the challenges we are experiencing at work and the ones we are experiencing at home reflect a burned out and dissatisfied life, not just a bad job. If this is the case, then changing jobs is only part of the solution.

Second, having coached people for decades, I have witnessed that changing jobs did not always yield a less stressful life. At times, we forget the old adage that “wherever you go, there you are.” In simple terms, this means that if you don’t like your current circumstances, moving does not change everything. We all take our baggage with us. 

Thus, a whole life evaluation should always be part of the process when seeking a new employment opportunity. As Stephen Covey wrote many years ago, “In the absence of ‘wake-up calls,’ many of us never really confront the critical issues of life.  Instead of looking for deep chronic causes, we look for quick fix Band-Aids and aspirin to treat the acute pain.  Fortified by temporary relief, we get busier and busier doing ‘good’ things and never even stop to ask ourselves if what we’re doing what really matters most.” When we choose to spend time thinking about our career and our whole life, we have the potential to create healthier new beginnings on many different levels.

Seek Out Perspective and Experience

When confronting major life decisions such as a job change, I always advise people to activate their entire support system. For when we take time to visit with a diversity of people, we can always gain new insights and perspectives from their experiences. The difficulty is that many people in these situations have not created a broad enough network of support.

Herminia Ibarra in her book, Act Like A Leader, Think Like A Leader (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015), says that people in leadership positions need three kinds of networks, namely operational, personal and strategic. As she writes, “The first helps you manage current internal responsibilities, the second boosts personal development, and the third focuses on new business directions and the stakeholders you must get on board to pursue these directions.” In particular, the strategic network “is made up of relationships that help you to envision the future, sell your ideas, and get the information and resources you need to exploit these ideas…. A good strategic network gives you connective advantage: the ability to marshal information, support, or other resources from one of your networks to obtain results in another.”

From my vantage point, each network has people in it that can look at the challenges before you and offer unique insights and perspectives. As  Dee Hock, Founder & CEO Emeritus, Visa International, pointed out, “Change is not about understanding new things or having new eyes; it’s about seeing old things with new eyes - from different perspectives.” And this is what a diversity of networks and people within them can share with you. They can assist you in seeing “old things with new eyes” but from different perspectives.

One big lesson I have learned from the people within my networks is a simple but powerful one: “Behind mountains are more mountains,” which is an old Haitian proverb. No new job is ever going to solve all your problems. It will be a new beginning and it will provide you with new opportunities. Yet, at the exact same time, it will come with new problems and new challenges. This is normal and should be expected.

The other big lesson I have learned from the people within my network is that we should always be expanding our networks. When we have a diverse collections of allies and confidants within our operational, personal and strategic networks, we create the capacity to better handle whatever happens in life’s journey. The key is to make these connections before you ever need to use them.

The Journey And The Destination

A long time ago, Socrates warned us: “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” I think for many people in leadership positions, being busy is equal to being successful. However, the common outcome of this way of living is to constantly feel dissatisfied, stressed, and overwhelmed. 

In the end, no one but you can determine if now is the right time to get a new job. No one but you knows the point at which your current work situation is no longer workable. No one but you knows whether the costs of your current job outweighs the benefits of the job.

But in the end, it is important to remember the wisdom that Stephen Covey wrote so many years ago: “Principled-centered living is not an end in itself.  It’s the means and the end. It’s the quality of our travel along life’s road. It’s the power of peace we experience each day as we accomplish what matters most.  In a principle-centered life, the journey and the destination are one.”

When we choose to live our life based on clarity of purpose and values, i.e. principle-centered living, we create a foundation for living well today and into the future. The key is to always be clear about our purpose in life and to live a purpose-filled life. And along the way to make a positive difference in the lives of all we meet. 

© Geery Howe 2022

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

The Default Choice

“The default behavior of most organizational leaders,” writes Tod Bolsinger, “is to solve problems for our organizations rather than change our organizations for meeting the needs of the world.” 

As we head into more strategic planning meetings related to 2023 - 2025, it is time to ask ourselves if we are solving the problems our customers and clients are having or just solving the organization’s problems. I believe we need to do both. 

Some days the organization can not adequately meet the changing needs of the customer due to problems within its systems or structures. Other days, the problem is that we do not have people with the right competencies to handle the changing needs of the customer. Still, we often solve the organization’s problems and then ask the customers to meet our needs rather than having the courage to realize that meeting the changing needs of the customer is primary. 

I remember a dinner meeting with Dave Merrill, former CEO of Region V Services in Lincoln, Nebraska. During our time together, he shared that “change is inevitable; what we are trying to do is create purposeful change.” And the purpose of the best organizations is to meet the needs of the world and to make that world a better place. The best leaders get this. They are constantly choosing to empower their people to be bold and nimble in their response to the changes that are taking place. 

This week, reflect on your default choices. Then, go out and make your organization a better place to work, plus make the world a better place to live and work. We need your best at this time of so many challenges.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Reclaiming Purpose

There were six of us sitting around the table for lunch that beautiful fall day, a combination of middle and upper levels of management. We were gathered to reflect on the success and failures of the organization’s strategy and strategic execution when she blurted out, “I just don’t have the time for strategy or strategic execution related stuff. I can’t even keep up with today’s To Do List, let alone start thinking about the future. Listen, I am swamped and sinking fast.” She paused for a moment to catch her breath, sighed, and continued, “So, where do I begin to change all of this?”

“The executive’s time tends to belong to everybody else”, notes Peter Drucker. It is normal and inevitable that everybody and anybody can move in on your time as an executive, and eventually everyone does. Furthermore, he continues, “Executives are forced to keeping “operating” unless they take positive action to change the reality in which they live.”

During chaotic times, we can let the flow of events determine the priorities we hold, or we can define what is important in spite of the chaos. After years of working with people and organizations through challenging times, I have learned that positive action begins with reflection and personal change. This process is a recommitment to authentic balance and focus.

Now, we have all heard about the importance of priorities. As many authors have written, set clear priorities first and then schedule your work and life activities around them. Yet, currently, I find executives living an overcrowded life. So many people are moving in on their time, and as a result executives keep adapting and adjusting their calendars to meet these needs. Managing diverse expectations of others, executives also keep reshuffling their priorities.

Then one day, things just break down; a meltdown occurs. At this point, some people pull themselves together, and go back to operating at full capacity. Others see their melt down as a wake up call. They pull themselves together and find their way back to their true self. They realize how much they have been compensating and adapting. They realize how much they have lost to gain so little. This wake up call also is accompanied by grief. 

The challenge for many of us is to let go of old dysfunctional ways of doing things. Letting go is part of the process to reclaiming balance, clear focus and sound goals. In an overcrowded life, we have adapted to so much that we have often lost a sense of what we really wanted in the first place, a sense of purpose and direction in our life. 

The first step to claiming purpose is to redefine the concept of availability. During chaos, everyone and everything is needing our attention and our time. It can be more than overwhelming. While on one level we need to be present with many different people and their different challenges, we, as leaders, need to realize just because they came to us does not mean we need to do something or to assume the responsibility for their problems. Being available as a leader does not mean “I will solve your problem for you.”  Instead, we have to help people utilize the different leadership strategies to get through the trough of chaos. We can offer advice and counsel as needed, but we must not get caught in the trap of carrying their load.

Second, we need to redefine stress management. When overwhelmed with so much to do, many executives find stress management activities as just one more thing on the list. The benefit is lost in the time pressure. From my observations the pressure to perform 24/7 at work is literally exhausting us. Joe Robinson in the March 2007 issue of Fast Company magazine wrote that more and more people are suffering from what he coined an “obsessive-complusive productivity” disorder. It is the “I should be doing something all the time” tape that runs in our heads, and it is the “work guilt” we feel when we are not working. 

Driven by the belief that our identity as a person is driven and dependent on our productivity, many executives are approaching stress management activities as just a coping skill. The benefits are limited by the time pressure and the obsessive compulsive perception that I must rush back to work in order to be “productive.” While an activity such as exercise may help decrease some of the stress related to work, it also is stressful to just keep up with the expectations to exercise.

Third, we need to practice renewal along with stress management activities. By focusing on restoring balance in our life, we access a whole different level of perspective and energy. 

For me, renewal became important quite a number of years ago. I was driving home from a meeting in Decorah, Iowa when I found a spot on my face, directly over the gum line that hurt very badly. The following morning,  I went to our local dentist and had some x-rays taken. Once they were developed, a black spot on the x-ray was discovered. I was sent immediately to an endodontist for an emergency root canal. After more x-rays, the endodontist commented  that “this should not be there... I don’t think it is cancer but you need to see an oral surgeon as soon as possible.” Being it was a Friday and the local oral surgeons were moving their office, I had to wait an entire weekend deeply afraid because my brother-in-law had died from holes in his bone, a form of cancer called multiple myeloma. It was a personal trough of chaos.

Finally once the weekend of fear had passed, my wife and I went to see the oral surgeon. After more x-rays, he told us there is a short list of good things and long list of not so good things.  “I want to know what is going on in there”, he commented and I agreed. So “let’s do something now”, he replied and I went directly into surgery. Later, after a silver dollar sized cyst was removed from above my teeth and palette in my mouth, I paused to catch my breath and figure out what were the lessons learned.

I remember that afternoon lying in bed at home with an ice pack on my face, recovering and thinking how fragile our lives are at any given day of the week. I also remembered how scared I was as I left my wife in the exam room and walked into surgery. Shaking like a leaf in a stiff breeze, I remembered the nurse who was assisting in the surgery covering me up with an extra blanket and leaning into me as we began. She was my pillar of strength and support as I went through the experience.

Two years latter on Memorial Day weekend, I had to go through the same experience one more time. Having discovered swelling in the same place, I returned for surgery. While it was successful, I was again shaken by the experience. But I also kept learning.  

When this second episode happened, our oldest son was studying at a university in Mexico and living with a host family, all part of his International Studies major at college. He shared the following with us: “After school one day, my [Mexican host] grandmother and mom were sitting at the kitchen table making food or talking, I don’t remember, but when I walked in, they asked me how school was, as they always do. I told them about [my father’s upcoming] operation and that I was a little worried and missed my family but life would go on. I couldn’t change any thing from here, so there was little point in worrying. They made a few remarks about how they were sorry, and that I should tell my parents that they were thinking about them when I got a chance. Anyway Tuesday and Wednesday slipped by unnoticed, but Thursday morning (the morning of [Dad’s] operation) when I walked down stairs at seven thirty there was nobody there. This was pretty unusual, since normally my [Mexican host] grandmother and mom are up at six making cakes (my mom makes cakes for a living). I looked around for a little while, and then put the kettle on to make coffee. As I was about half way done with a bowl of cereal, the two of them walked in the front door and sat down…  Kind of surprised, I asked them where they were coming from. The answer was clear and made in a way that made my question sound stupid. My grandmother looked me in the eye and said, “We were praying for your father of course.”  A few moments passed in silence, as I had no way to respond appropriately. My [Mexican host] grandmother fell two years ago and broke her hip, now she has a fake hip and femur. She has not even seen the second floor of her house in the last two years. On Thursday morning, she left the house at about four in the morning and walked for an hour and a half to pray for my father.”

When I read this entry, tears rolled down my face. The unconditional kindness of strangers is an amazing gift. It is deeply healing and rekindles a sense of hope and perspective. 

Now, I have taught, studied, and written extensively about stress management for many years. I know how to do it with the best of them, but what I realized that spring afternoon was that I needed to manage my stress less and begin to learn how to rejuvenate and renew myself. 

Experiences of a personal trough of chaos beg the question: “If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?” Honestly, most of us would say lots and nothing. Norm Brodsky in an article called "Street Smart" from the August '03 issue of Inc. magazine wrote: “Listen..... let's forget about business. Business is just a means to an end. The question is, what's the end? Where do you want to be in five years from a family standpoint? What do you want to earn? How much time do you want to take off?” 

The real question for me now is “How do I want to live from this day forward?” Having lived through this personal trough of chaos twice, I now clarify my priorities, not on a moment to moment basis, but from a larger more holistic perspective, grounded in a clear sense of purpose and direction.

Where do I begin each day?  The same place you begin. First, show kindness and compassion to all. Second, live fully into each and every moment as if this were your last day. Third, reclaim purpose in my life. Personal health, clarity, and purpose are profound gifts. They make a tremendous difference when working through the trough of chaos.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Stop Beating On The Wall

“Don’t spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door.” - Coco Chanel.

We have all been there, beating on the walls that prevent personal, professional or organizational change. We pound and pound, thinking they will transform into doors and clear passage. 

Martha Beck in her book, The Way of Integrity: Finding The Path To Your True Self (The Open Field/A Penguin Life Book, 2021) reminds us, “If whatever you’re doing isn’t working, don’t do it harder.” And even with this knowledge, we often choose to try harder.

I believe we understand her point on one level. But, there are moments in life when awareness of an idea does not always translate into a change in behavior. We default to wall beating, hoping that just this one time it will transform itself into a great new beginning, and a door.

Greg McKeown in his book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (Crown Business, 2014) offers us a different pathway. As he writes, “... only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.” He encourages us to do less in order that we can do better, rather than to do more. As he notes, “Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done.”

Running into walls is a normal life experience. How we choose to deal with them is our choice. Moving forward, I seek to beat on them less and to focus more on the people, experiences, and priorities that make my life more meaningful.

Choose wisely this week. Stop beating on the wall.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Understanding The Trough Of Chaos

For many leaders, the hardest part in the journey of organizational change is the Trough of Chaos. Given it is a difficult, uncomfortable, and deeply challenging time period, many organizations and people get stuck within its complexity.  Still, once they understand that there are four stages that people go through within the Trough of Chaos Stage, they often gain perspective and hope to keep moving forward.

The first stage in the Trough of Chaos is called “The Preservation Stage”. At this point in the journey, most employees are simply unaware of the larger change process that is underway within the organization because they are doing their job on a daily basis. What little, if any, information that does cascade down from senior management about strategic change is often ignored as unimportant or not realistic. For the most part, employees are focused on preserving a past definition of success as well as preserving a pattern of work which is comfortable and efficient. Unaware and, in reality, unknowing, they just keep on keeping on in product and service delivery.

However, when senior management does finally explain to everyone what is going to change at the strategic and operational levels, it is common for employees during this stage of the journey to feel like they have been completely blind sided by the information and overwhelmed. With a lack of orientation that connects to the strategic nexus, no clear executable priorities, and no structure to what happens next, employees act like deer in the headlights, shocked, sacred, and desperately trying to return to their old and balanced way of work and life. Nevertheless, with constant communication, training, and periods for strategic dialogue, they come to realize that strategic change is not going to go away, and thus they move in to stage two in the Trough of Chaos.

The second stage is called “The Loss Stage.” At this point in the journey, employees are grieving the loss of the familiar in systems, structure, and culture.  It is normal for them to want to try to preserve familiar ways of doing things based on an older description of success, because the old way had meaning, purpose, and gave employees’ a sense of identity.  

As their normal routines become obsolete due to strategic and subsequent operational changes, employees also become more and more resistant to change and may become dissatisfied with the new product and service delivery methods. Furthermore, it is common for employees to Tarzan swing from “there is no way this is going to work” to “OK, are we done yet?” With a focus on doing it the “right” or “proper” way in order to not get blamed for mistakes, employees are deeply frustrated and struggling.

This stage ends as employees come to understand what will and what will not change. As they become familiar with the new patterns of work, they also regain some confidence and clarity about their new roles. Gradually, there is a degree of acceptance, understanding, and a renewed sense of purpose and meaning.

The combination of these factors propels employees into the third stage of the Trough of Chaos called “The Discovery Stage”. As individuals and teams begin to work together in new ways, there is great deal of energy, focus, and intensity in the work place. People come together and collaborate on projects about new and better ways to do product and customer service delivery. Creative problem solving surfaces and positive momentum starts to take place.

The challenge of this stage is that people often start heading out in all sorts of new directions and some people even want to change more things.  Without clear goals and priorities, or a better utilization of the strategic nexus, this time can often result in creative and overwhelming chaos. People often burnout as they try to do too much too fast. Brainstorming can be infectious, but not realistic.

This stage ends as more and more people come to understand how the organization’s new strategy connects to the organization’s vision, mission and core values. And as more and more people have the “Aha Moment” when they see the whole, the context for strategic change and how the new strategy helps the organization move through that context, and the parts, i.e. the interrelationship between the vision, mission and core values and the redesign of people’s roles, systems, structure and culture, then a new depth of commitment is born.  People not only want to move forward but also take a greater degree of responsibility for collective success.

The fourth and final stage within the Trough of Chaos is called “The Commitment Stage”. It is clear from the work done in the previous stage that employees are now beginning to get settled into a new pattern of work and are focused on specific short and long term goals. Not only are they showing responsibility and seeing change as a positive event with possibilities, they have regained a clear vision of where the organization is going and why this direction is important.  Because they are now able to once again control things that are important to them, they are more willing to be accountable and approach solving problems in a collaborative and healthy manner.

We also note in this stage that as their commitment and productivity grows, so does their competency and willingness to manage and lead projects and teams. People not only want to get things done, but they also want their team to function better and better. This combination of a commitment to decisions, goals and objectives along with the rise of accountability for carrying through on these plans builds discipline and persistence, two keys to sustainable action.

When we recognize the role and the importance of a strategic nexus during organizational change, we create a foundation for success. When we understand the stages and complexity of a sigmoid curve, and the eighteen month journey of change, we build a framework for maintaining perspective. Finally, when we realize that the Trough of Chaos is a normal part of this journey, we regain hope, courage, and confidence that we can turn a vision into reality.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

Letter To A Burned Out Leader

Introduction

It happened. You did your best. And now you are feeling burned out by circumstances outside your control or influence. The outcome is that you have nothing left in the tank. You have come to the place where you are overwhelmed and feeling empty. In short, life has become nothing more than a meaningless process of getting stuff done at work, and then spending more time numbing yourself at home from the uncertainty and the struggle of it all.

 

Peter Drucker in an article called “What is Our Business?” from the June 2001 issue of Executive Excellence magazine shared two important insights about being a leader. First, “The executive’s time tends to belong to everybody else.” And everybody and anybody can move in on your time and eventually does. Dealing with interruptions is normal and very difficult. It often is part of why leaders burn out. Second, “Executives are forced to keeping “operating” unless they take positive action to change the reality in which they live.” This is hard to do. Often, the flow of events around us can determine the priorities before us.

From my experience, we end up burning out because we are suffering from the convergence of task fatigue where there are more things to get done than hours in the day, decision fatigue where everyone one is wanting us to make a decision and we are dealing with tons of ambiguity and incomplete information, confidentiality fatigue where we carry the burden of knowing too much that we can not share, compassion fatigue where there are too many things and too many people to care for, and finally change fatigue where everything is supposed to be innovative, agile and resilient and nothing seems to work according to the plan. 

The outcome of all of this fatigue is exhaustion and burnout. It just keeps coming and we are completely stressed out. As Brene’ Brown wrote in her book, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience (Random House, 2021): “We feel stressed when we evaluate environmental demands as beyond our ability to cope successfully. This includes elements of unpredictability, uncontrollability, and feeling overloaded.”

I have been there personally and professionally. I have also taught people about how to deal with this, and I have coached people on how to move through this. In the beginning, we must recognize that there are no quick fixes when we are experiencing this level of burnout and exhaustion. There are, however, pathways to recovery and restoration. What follows are six key insights to finding a new way of working and living. They can be a catalysts for productive and sustainable change, and a road map to getting from where you are to where you want to be.

Manage Your Energy, Not Just Your Time

Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz in their book, The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal (Simon & Schuster, 2003) wrote: “… managing energy, not time, is the fundamental currency of high performance. Performance is grounded in the skillful management of energy.”  When I read this for the first time, it blew me away. I had spent hours on time management stuff and could not get it all to work. The usual outcome for me was that I felt defeated by too much to do and not enough time. However, with Loehr and Schwartz’s writing, it all fell into place.

First, I realized that I needed time to work which required great focus and energy. But I also needed to give myself permission to rest and recover from the focused work I was doing. 

Second, as Loehr and Schwartz pointed out, “full engagement requires drawing on four separate but related sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.” I tended to only draw on one of the four and thus I needed to learn how to utilize the other three sources. This did not happen over night and was definitely a learning process. But with time, commitment, and discipline, I did get better at using all four sources.

Finally, Loehr and Schwartz note that “positive energy rituals - highly specific routines for managing energy - are the key to full engagement and sustained high performance.” I did not have any “energy rituals” at the time I read their work. Now, decades later, I realize I have figured them out and utilize them on a regular basis. They help me stay grounded and centered in the midst of my challenging and complex work.

Expand Your Network of Support

Being burned out is never easy or fun. A matter of fact, it just sucks. But over time, I come to agree with William H. McRaven in his book, Sea Stories: My Life In Special Operations (Grand Central Publishing, 2020), who wrote about the life and work of Navy Seals. From a Navy Seals’ perspective, “… the only easy day was yesterday.” When all our yesterdays don’t feel easy, there is something all of us need to watch out for, namely the “two empty bucket syndrome.”

Many people come home from work, and expect their wife, husband, life partner, or friend to ease their pain and listen to their challenges as they unload about their day. The difficulty in this situation is that the other person may also have had a horrible day and they expect the person coming home to listen to them. As a result, both people are feeling empty and expecting the other to fill them. At moments like this, we realize that two empty buckets can not fill each other up. I routinely see this happening in the world of leadership, and all it ever does is lead to further burnout.

When I first started teaching stress management to people in highly stressful situations, I would remind workshop participants that they needed three people outside their family which they could call upon seven days a week for support and perspective. The reason I want this group of people to be non-family members is that these individuals can offer support and perspective that is not part of one’s daily living. 

Now, I encourage people, who are burning out or who have burned out, to expand their network of support to include a diverse group of allies and and confidants. Allies stand with us as we move through our pain. Confidants can listen and share without trying to fix us, our workplace, or our families. Sometimes, these are the same people and other times they are not.

In combination with an expanded network of support, I encourage people, who are burning out or who have burned out, to engage in routine exercise and health activities. For some, this looks like working out and breaking a sweat at the gym. Others garden. And some just take the dog for a walk. Whatever your choice, the goal is to work out the emptiness through exercise.

Finally, I recommend that people interrupt the two empty bucket syndrome by setting up regular, systematic connections. Years ago, this were called “date nights.” Each person in the relationship would choose an activity such as a dinner, movie, dance, or event, and the other would go along for the fun. The responsibility for organizing the event would rotate back and forth. For example, I know one couple who scheduled regular nights with their friends. They saw it as a community and network building opportunity. They called these “fajitas and margaritas dinners” and they rotated between all the different couples and houses.

From my observations, those leaders, who can handle a lot stress and avoid the two empty bucket syndrome, feel connected to those who they work with plus friends and families. These same individuals, who can handle a lot of stress, anxiety, and uncertainty, feel and believe that they belong to something important that is larger them themselves. Finally, in spite of these working conditions, they can still bring their authentic and imperfect selves to work and life. They do so, because they have people in their life who make it a safe and trustworthy place. 

The two empty bucket syndrome is real and painful, but with an expanded network of allies and confidants, we are able to move forward with grace and gratitude. It all comes down to a matter of maintaining perspective and support.

Think More About Your Career and Your Life Choices

It started during a lunch meeting when she shared with me that she was starting to burn out from the endless stream of operational details. She felt overwhelmed by the constant problems and finally encountered complete decision fatigue. The result was they she dreaded going to work on Monday mornings and routinely felt anxious, worried, and frustrated.

“If this is what leadership is all about,” she stated, “then I want nothing to do with it. Being a leader sucks.”

She then paused and looked out the window. After a moment or two, she turned and asked me an important question, “Should I apply for a new job?”

As an executive coach, I am asked this question on a regular basis. When one is experiencing burnout or dissatisfaction in a current job, a new job seems to be the best solution. And some times, it is the right choice. 

But I don’t instantly assume that switching jobs is the best choice. I have learned in life that while the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, one does not know if it is actually greener because it is a more healthy work environment or it is just greener because it is located over the septic tank. Therefore, when confronted with this question, I always start the discussion from a different place.

On this day, I paused for a moment and then said, “Will this make you a better mother, daughter, sister, or wife?”

She looked out the window of the restaurant one more time, and was silent for a bit.

I continued, “Once you have the “new” job, what will your whole life be like?”

From my experience, burned out leaders only look at their life through the job window. They do not look at their whole life, i.e. work, home, family and relationships. Sometimes a burned out leader isn’t just experiencing burnout at work. Sometimes, they are experiencing a burned out life. 

Having coached people for decades, I have witnessed that changing jobs did not always yield a less stressful life. At times, we forget the old adage that “wherever you go, there you are.” In simple terms, this means that if you don’t like your current circumstances, moving does not change everything. We all take our baggage with us.

“Indeed, the great paradox of change,” writes Jim Collins, “is that the organizations [and people] that best adapt to a changing world first and foremost know what should not change; they have a fixed anchor of guiding principles around which they can more easily change everything else.” By asking the question about whether or not one will become a better person as a result of a job change, I am asking the person to discover or rediscover the guiding principles of their life. With inner clarity of purpose, we can make career and life choices based on clarity rather than reactivity. 

And from this foundation, we can ask ourselves if we are coping with burnout, trying to prevent more burnout, or seeking to recover from burnout. Prevention requires awareness that burnout could be happening. Coping implies that the state of burnout has arrived or is imminent. Therefore, we deploy coping mechanisms, e.g. constructive strategies to reduce stress. But recovery and restoration is a different process. 

After many hours of reflection, I think the restoration pathway has many stages to it. I also recognize that each of us as people and as leaders start in different places along the path and move through the different stages of restoration at various speeds.  

While I wish I could clearly map out the whole restoration process, I do know a couple of things about restoration from my own personal experiences, from being an executive coach, and from visiting with people who are helping others along this path.

First, stoping to reflect is a critical stage. We need to pause and take stock. We need to step back and look at the whole of our life, at work and at home. We need to discern if we are living to our fullest potential and in a healthy manner.

Second, this act of reflection often results in a stage of remembrance and mourning. We have to grieve what we have lost and experience the normal but, at times, uncomfortable stages of grief that come with acknowledging these losses.

Third, we need to begin the process of learning and understanding new ways to work and live. This special time may include partnering with friends, coaches, and mentors who can offer perspective, insights, and support.

Finally, we need to give ourselves some grace along the way. We also must give ourselves permission to keep experimenting on how to live and work in a new and healthy manner. 

The restoration and recovery pathway is not linear. Instead it is a dynamic and iterative process where several of the steps can happen simultaneously and continuously. Still, I think it is critical that we prepare ourselves for this work and then commit to doing it.

As Confucius wrote so long ago, “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” Now is the time to think more about our career and life choices. We always have the potential to create healthier new beginnings as we move forward. 

Reclaim What Matters Most

When I teach the From Vision to Action Leadership Training, I routinely ask participants the following question: “What do you do that matters the most?” I have come to the conclusion that we really don’t think about this question too often. I also believe that most answers are just knee jerk reactions rather than thoughtful responses. I think this happens because we have been scripted to meet unrealistic expectations. Sometimes, the answer to this question is created by us, and other days it is set set by others. 

When we are burned out as leaders, we often discover that we have tried to be all things to all people. This never works. Instead, we need to be clear about what it is that only we can do. We need to find, and hold on to what adds meaning to our life. So, the question, “What do I do that really matters the most?”, needs to also include thinking about the following new question, “What makes my life meaningful?”. It is the combination of the two that will generate perspective. 

“Don’t lose yourself in your role,” write Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Glasgow, and Marty Linsky in their article called “Leadership in a (Permanent) Crisis”, Harvard Business Review, July-August 2009. As they explain, “Defining life through a single endeavor, no matter how important your work is to you and to others, makes you vulnerable when the environment shifts. It also denies you other opportunities for fulfillment.”

When I think about the question, “What makes my life meaningful?”, I think about cooking for my family, and then spending time with them over a good meal. I also think about making the world a more beautiful place through planting flowers and caring for them around our home, reading a good book and learning from it, and finally visiting with close friends. All of these things bring me joy, new insights, and meaning to my life journey.

As Ryan Holiday wrote in his book, Stillness Is The Key (Portfolio/Penguin, 2019), we “attend to our business because we need to matter, and we don’t always realize we already do.” Reclaim what matters most in your life and you will find pathways through the burnout you are experiencing.

Rediscover Your Thinking Space

“I’ve mastered the art of making myself unavailable when necessary,” John Maxwell in his book, How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life (Center Street, 2009), “and going off to my ‘thinking place’ so that I can work without interruptions.” I am in agreement with John Maxwell about the importance of being unavailable at times and having a “thinking place.”

I believe there are three myths that cause leaders to burn out. The first myth is that the leader’s job is to come up with all of the answers. The second  myth is that it is the leader’s job to fix everything. And the final myth is that it is the leader’s job to get everything done before we give ourselves permission to rest. These self-imposed expectations are not realistic and are detrimental over time. They prevent us from thinking about what is happening all around us and within us. Instead, they push us into a pattern of always reacting to work and life’s challenges.

One of the many important steps to recovering from burnout is to rediscover our thinking space, i.e. a time and space for reflection where we can concentrate deeply and gain insights and perspective about what is happening. Cal Newport in his book,  Deep Work: Rules For Focused Success In A Distracted World (Grand Central Publishing, 2016), notes that within this thinking place there is the opportunity to do “deep work.” Here, one can engage in “professional [and personal] activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.”

As I often remind clients, the harder and the faster you work, the more you need to slow down and reflect. This thinking time is mission critical to move forward in the challenging, dynamic and wildly unpredictable world we find ourselves at this time period.

The first step in rediscovering your thinking space is to schedule a time and to choose a place where you will not be interrupted. Next, once there, reduce or eliminate distractions. This means no social media and no texting. Third, define the problem or situation you want to think about. Fourth, schedule more time than you think you need, because one idea or solution may lead to another idea or solution. The goal here is to capture all of your thinking, not just the first idea that pops into your head. Finally, write down a summary of your thoughts for further exploration. 

As Brene’ Brown wrote in her book, Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution  (Spiegel & Grau, 2015): “We can’t be brave in the big world without at least one small safe space to work through our fears and falls.” Rediscovering your thinking space is one small, but important step in the journey to being a leader who has recovered from burnout.

Respect The Recovery Process

When we are burned out as leaders, recovery is a journey more than a destination. Our challenge is to respect the process of recovery. And this begins when we are accept that burnout happened. 

We do this in an active manner rather than with a passive shrug of the shoulder and a hint of denial or unimportance. Instead, as Brene Brown writes, we “embrace the suck.” We acknowledge the pain of burnout and the impact of burnout on our life and the lives of those around us. We may not understand how it all took place, but we know that it has, and that we need to move forward in a thoughtful manner.

We begin by finding safe, thinking places to process what happened. And we do this work with safe people. As Ron Heifetz, Alexander Glasgow, and Marty Linsky wrote in the aforementioned article, we need to “find sanctuaries where you can reflect on events and regain perspective.”

In these quiet, thinking spaces, we sit in silence, reflect, share, and slowly regain perspective. We take our foot off the accelerator and give ourselves permission to rest and recover. We unplug and slowly unwind the tension that we are carrying. We also do this with our allies and confidants.

I remember a Fall Executive Roundtable many years ago when Christina Smith, CEO of Community Support Advocates, shared that “our sacrifices must reflect our priorities.” When we fully embrace the recovery process and define our priorities, we must have the courage to begin something that we do not know how it will end. As Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: “Faith is taking the first steps even when you don’t see the full staircase.”

Most people think this level of courage is about dreaming big new ideas. But from experience, the real challenge is to start the journey without fully knowing what will happen during the journey. Furthermore, to have the courage to not fully know the outcome or the destination.

As some of us have learned, the only way to recovery is through recovery. Along the way, there will be questions and there will be grief. It will not be linear. It will be messy. And this is all normal.

Finally, when we respect the recovery process, we have the opportunity to be humble and recognize that we stand on the shoulders of others, namely mothers, fathers, teachers and mentors. All of these people loved us and encouraged us in spite of their challenges and in spite of our own challenges. As Linda Hogan, Native American Chickasaw, pointed out: “You are the result of the love of thousands.”

For when we have courage and are humble, we will recover. We will open doors to new ways of living, working, and leading. And the results will be transformative for us and many other people.

© Geery Howe 2022

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257