When Leaders Are Too Close to the Problem

There are times when leadership isn't about finding another answer, it’s about creating enough space to see the question differently. How often have you found yourself running out of time to make a decision, feeling like sand is slipping through your fingers? When you're responsible for people, performance, quality, risk and the decisions that keep an organisation moving, it's easy to become absorbed in the immediate.

There is always something that needs fixing.

·         Another conversation to have

·         Another decision to make

·         Another problem waiting for your attention

When you're close to something for long enough, it can become surprisingly difficult to see it clearly, it becomes too familiar.

·         You know the organisation

·         You know the people

·         You know the history

·         You know what's already been tried

That familiarity can sometimes make it harder to ask the questions that really matter and what has become comfortable can become a hindrance.

Some of the questions that need to be asked are, well uncomfortable.

·         What are we not seeing?

·         What assumptions are we making?

·         What has become normal that perhaps shouldn't be?

·         What might change if we stopped trying to solve the immediate problem and looked at what sits underneath it?

This is something I've seen repeatedly throughout my career.

Good leaders can become so focused on keeping things moving that they don't always have the opportunity to step back and think about how they are leading, what their organisation is experiencing, and whether the way they are approaching a challenge is actually helping.

Sometimes, the most valuable contribution an external perspective can make isn't to provide another solution, it's to ask a question you haven't considered. To challenge an assumption, notice a pattern, or simply to give you the space to think without having to be the person who already has the answer.

That is one of the ideas at the heart of Wildlight.

I believe better conversations create better cultures — and some of the most important conversations begin with the one we have with ourselves. Before we can change what is happening around us, we sometimes need to be willing to pause and look honestly at what is happening within our own thinking.

Not because we're doing something wrong., but because there is always the possibility that we could see something differently.