Race to Ideas

Just read an article from HBR on leading when not the boss. It reminded me of something I observe when speaking with people about situations: Most of us rush to ideas. We all want to make a contribution, an action that makes a difference in our local environment. We see things, hear things, and then we, more often than not, hurry to not only a conclusion but an action, or a suggested action. Notice what the author says:

"Effective leaders, by contrast, learn to think systematically--that is, they gather and lay out the necessary data, analyze the causes of the situation, and propose actions based on this analysis. In a group, leaders help keep participants focused by asking appropriate questions. Do we have the information we need to analyze this situation? Can we focus on figuring out the causes of the problem we're trying to solve?"

One of my improvement areas is finding ways to ask better questions. Honestly, I tend to direct much more than ask. This isn't always the best. In our race to ideas, our race to action to face a situation, sometimes the situation appears to offer little time and thus, viola, we race to an action solution.

So, I'll conclude with the question posed above: "Can we focus on figuring out the causes of the problem we're trying to solve?" Or, will we continue to blow through stop signs and drive dangerously, wondering why blue lights flash behind?

Until next time!