December 1, 2003 Taking Time to Reflect

One of the things we know about effective leaders is that they take time to reflect-on experiences they have had and the things going on around them at the moment. They try to make sense of what happens, not just be aware of it. Leaders ultimately take action, but there is an enormous difference between thoughtful action and thoughtless reaction.

Taking time to think and reflect sounds so obvious, yet the amount of time and energy devoted to these activities is often surprisingly low. Many companies and people within them, pride themselves on having "a bias for action." When people are making decisions and taking action, they look busy. They appear to be contributing in a very direct, visible way. But what about the person sitting silently, looking out the window while deep in thought about some very important matters. What is the general perception of this individual? Is she lazy? Is he clueless? Have you ever thought to yourself how you wish you had the time just to check out for awhile? But of course you can't, because everything would fall apart, wouldn't it?

In all areas of life, there are tough decisions that need to be made. Fortunately, in organizations there are often others responsible for making them. Those others might be senior managers, or even just an immediate supervisor. But sometimes, the tough decision falls right in your own lap, both in your organizational life as well as out. And by definition, a tough decision is not an easy one to make. Usually it requires much more than a quick analysis and a knee-jerk reaction.

Over the years we have found that most people strongly agree that it is prudent for individuals or teams to take time to thoughtfully reflect upon the implications of various options when dealing with difficult, complicated issues. Yet, when we dig a little deeper, we find that many describe thoughtful reflection as being the same as analyzing facts. What do you think about that?

Do you believe there is a difference between analyzing the facts and reflecting upon their implications, or are they virtually the same? Are your actions based solely on the output of a spreadsheet, or do you take some time to examine and get diverse opinions about the meaning of the output.

Several years ago authors Hamel and Prahalad commented in their book Competing For the Future , how some executives might be able to talk for hours about internal cost allocations across divisions, but they were unable to keep up a conversation for five minutes about new technologies in which their competitors might be investing. They were referring to the lack of time or effort spent in thinking strategically about the future. Note the word thinking strategically. You might be able to analyze past performance and even current facts, but it is hard to analyze the future. Figuring out what to do in the future requires a deep level of thinking, reflecting, and pondering on top of some solid analysis.

Organizations that believe analysis is enough to produce action may find themselves dealing more with issues that are easier to analyze (cost allocation) than those that require a different level of thinking (competitor or customer behaviors). Great opportunities will certainly be missed if this is the case.

As another year comes to a close and you are about to start over once again, we invite you to take some time during the month to reflect on your experiences during the past year. Go deeper than a surface level analysis and try to find real meaning and important lessons that you want to take forward.

Enjoy this time focusing on yourself and best wishes for the coming New Year.

Questions for Reflection:

• What have you accomplished?
• What are you most proud of?
• What have you learned?
• What talents or experiences have you added to your arsenal for success?
• What mistakes did you make that you want to avoid?
• What must you change about yourself and your relationship with others to be the leader you want to be?