Have you ever been stuck on some workplace problem or situation with no solution or options in sight? Leaders are expected to come up with brilliant ideas to keep their organizations moving but what often happens is that they lack self-awareness and unilaterally devise what they think is a wonderful strategy only to find that their employees hate, don’t understand, or aren’t on board with it. Everyone stays stuck rather than moving forward.
So how can you create a strategy that people genuinely like and support? Many leaders who lack self-awareness get stuck worrying about minute details and possible repercussions instead of focusing on the bigger picture. Every time you’re stuck is a great opportunity to tap into the amazing brainpower of your team. That’s right, why not consider working with your employees to collaboratively create a vision for getting unstuck? It’s invigorating to have a greater number of people at the table working collaboratively to develop new ideas. It also will help take some of the pressure off you.
The next time you’re feeling stuck, start shifting your thinking toward self-awareness and how things might look if you were moving in a different direction. Ask yourself and your team these key questions to get the process started:
- What is keeping us stuck?
- What is the first area we need to look at that is keeping us stuck?
- What is the most innovative and different way we can deal with the issue at hand?
- How does our new approach differ from our old approach?
- How will we know if the new approach works?
The answers to these questions will help you and your team begin the process of seeing things in a different light. Then you can jointly create a plan to move forward. Sometimes all it takes to move in a more positive direction is being open to working collaboratively with your employees and asking for their amazing ideas.
What will you do to develop self-awareness and get unstuck?
Cheers,
Guy