A Big Question

During the last four months, I have had to ask a fair number of people a very big question: “Is this still the right job for you?”

Nine times out of ten, this stops the conversation. There is a long pause and then people reply, “Now that is a big question. And a good one. I haven’t thought about it from that angle. I really need to reflect on this. Thanks for making me think about it from that perspective.”

Now, some people respond quickly with “Definitely yes. I like this job. It is challenging in a good way.” Others pause and say, “No, I have outgrown this job. It is time for me to move on.”

I don’t ask this big question often, but at times it is the one we should ask ourselves to make sure we are moving in the right direction with our life, not just our jobs. 

For I have learned in my personal journey and as an executive coach that when we try to live a meaningful life within a meaningless job is not a recipe for success or a pathway to healthy living. Instead, it is a pathway to compromise, where potentially we end up not being true to our own values and to who we strive to be in the world. 

Therefore, at least once a year, it is time to pause and ask ourselves a very big question: “Is this still the right job for me?” If so, proceed accordingly. If not, begin the process of moving to a new path with better outcomes. The choice is ours to make and now is the time to think deeply about it. 

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

Family and Thanksgiving

As Thanksgiving approaches this week, I am reminded of a quote by Tate Hallway: “Families - can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em.” For many people, the gathering of family around a holiday meal can be challenging. For some, it triggers trauma and grief. For others, it is a source of gratitude and blessing. 

For me, the key word in the quote is “family.” Over many years, I have learned that we are all part of two families. First, there is the family we are born into. Second, there is the family that we create and gather around us along the way. Each impacts us and each have the potential to influence us.

My hope this week is that you can gather with the people who you call “family,” the people who you “can’t live without ‘em,” and that you celebrate the true meaning of Thanksgiving. I hope that on that day you can give thanks for all the love, support, joy, and blessings in your life. 

Life can be challenging. It also can be precious, if not miraculous. My hope for each of you this week is that you have the opportunity to be with the precious and the miraculous people in your life. 

From my family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

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

Preparing for 2024

When I sit back and look at the big picture, and when I notice not just what people are doing, but also how they are preparing for 2024, one thing stands out from all the rest. It is not their plans or their objectives. It is not their excellent strategies, though these do help. Instead it is something quite simple that often gets overlooked in the rush to complete the fourth quarter of the calendar.

From where I sit, the companies who enter 2024 with healthy teams will survive 2024. They also will be well positioned for the second half of this decade. Those, who have dysfunctional teams or troubled teams, will struggle mightily. They may survive but, as my late dad would say, this will only happen “by the skin of their teeth.” 

For me right now, the secret sauce, or the key factor, which ever metaphor you like, is the creation and maintenance of healthy teams at all levels of the organization. The challenge is that this observation is very old school. Given my age, I am a touch old school. But from the conversations and visits I have had with a wide diversity of executives during the last six months, it is very clear to me that healthy teams will make a big difference in 2024. 

Recently, I was visiting about this with a very experienced executive and he said to me that many teams are suffering from “ABT.” 

I paused and thought to myself, “Huh. I have no idea what that is.” 

So I asked him, “What is ABT?”

He smiled and said, “ABT stands for Ain’t Been Taught. Too many teams and team leaders have not been taught how to be a part of a team and how to be a real team leader. It’s our job to teach them early and often. It’s our job to eliminate ABT.”

I smiled and agreed. 

So, between now and the end of the calendar year, that is my challenge to you. Eliminate ABT and create healthy teams so you will not just survive 2024, but come out well prepared for the second half of this decade. 

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

The Edge of Chaos

“Chaos should be regarded as extremely good news,” write Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation master. When I first read this sentence, I had to stop reading. I reread it multiple times before I could begin to grasp the power and depth of this one short sentence. 

When I coach leaders in person or over the phone, I often remind them about The Law of Chaos: “The world does not change through balance, order and security, only through chaos.” This always stops the conversation for a moment. People have to really think about what I just shared with them. This is because most people in leadership and management positions are somewhat afraid of change, particularly any level of change that creates chaos. 

However, after many decades of working with these same leaders and managers, I have learned two things. First, it is not change that makes them uncomfortable. It is their fear of the messy unknown that comes with it. Second, it is their fear of losing control that makes them regard change as dangerous. As Richard Pascale, Mark Millemann and Linda Gioja in their book, Surfing The Edge of Chaos: The Laws of Nature and the New Laws of Business (Three Rivers Press, 2000), wrote “humans tend to regard chaotic that which they can not control.”

During times of market instability, and where leaders have limited visibility of the future, for me to tell an executive that chaos is “extremely good news,” they must think I have gone a touch crazy in my old age. Yet, what they fail to recognize is that an organization must move toward "the edge of chaos" and then stays there during times of limited visibility. They also need to remember The Law of Chaos. In order to go from one level of performance to a new, better and different level of performance, there is going to be a change in balance, order, or security. One can not maintain status quo and achieve a greater performance level. 

Still, the word “chaos” is not a widely used word in the world of leadership and organizational change. No leader this fall is going to stand up at an all employee town hall and tell them, “I have good news for all of you gathered here today. 2024 is going to be filled with lots of chaos. Congratulations! May you each be successful.”

I think we struggle with the word chaos because we do not understand the word chaos. The dictionary defines it as “complete disorder and confusion,” “a state of utter confusion or disorder,” and “behavior so unpredictable as to appear random.” And from this perspective, I would struggle with the word too. I don’t think a single person wakes up on a Monday morning and hopes that when they get to work everything and everyone will be in complete disorder, unpredictability, and utter confusion. 

And yet, the best and most courageous leaders know two things. First, we are moving to the edge of chaos, not into full chaos. Second, we are going to go through a normal period of organizational change called The Trough of Chaos where some people, not all people, will have to modify how they work, which can trigger issues related to control, order, and predictability. 

The key to unlocking the whole change and edge of chaos thing is focus on the definition of chaos. The word is defined as complete disorder and utter confusion. If, however, all involved understand the difference between what is not changing and what is changing, i.e. there is a plan, and if all involved understand what is normal human behaviors and leadership choices at the edge of chaos, i.e. we have clarity about the plan and what we will encounter as we execute it, then the edge of chaos can be challenging and tolerated. It could even be framed as “extremely good news.”

For what I have learned as an executive coach is that people and organizations can transform the edge of chaos into a challenge when they have clarity about the plan and their role in it, i.e. a strategic perspective, the support of a team, and a safety zone for strategic dialogue which includes the sharing of facts and feelings. 

Right now, when we think about 2024, we know it has the potential to be a challenging year on so many different levels. We also know there is the potential for a fair bit of chaos. And yet, we as leaders can make choices now to help all involved understand that we are prepared and working hard to go to “the edge of chaos.” And that we will stay dedicated and clear about our mission, vision, and core values in the midst of it. This way we will individually and collectively move through those challenging periods and come out on the other side of 2024 grounded and prepared for the second half of this decade. 

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