Positive but not Pollyanna

A growing edge for my personal and leadership journey has revolved around the benefits of building and maintaining a positive mindset. At various points in time, my leadership journey has benefited from any number of leadership assessments that have helped me identify opportunities for growth.  I have certainly been exposed to a variety of thought leaders - through books or personal connection - that have helped me explore concepts such as emotional intelligence, mindfulness, and resilience.  Perhaps ironically, as a coach/consultant/facilitator, the greatest insights on the power of a positive mindset is seeing how my leadership and organizational clients are challenged when they DON'T adopt a positive frame of reference but rather succumb to a host of "what if" scenarios that are decidedly negative in nature. 

May this be the year you learn to believe in yourself...May this be the year you do not give up on who you were meant to be.

Brianna Wiest

In recent weeks I have had more than a few opportunities to work with individual leaders and teams as they navigate a range of negative experiences.  Sometimes these experiences are real and tangible - legal action, less than ideal performance reviews, less than ideal organizational metrics, negative media coverage.  More often than not, however, there is a lot more that we imagine might be happening behind the scenes or could possibly happen in the near future.  We anticipate or borrow trouble or challenges that may not come. As a consequence, we can expend a lot of emotional, mental and physical energy on events that may never transpire.  Even if they do transpire, we many find that the consequences of these events taking place is not as dire as we expected.

As the title of the blog notes, I am not suggesting that there is not value in preparation and anticipation.  One certainly cannot lead self or others with wishful thinking, operating in blissful ignorance of potential issues that any competent leader would prepare for.  However, I would have you question what balance you are living into with your day-to-day life - personal and professional.  In the course of your day or week, do you note on balance that you are planning for and anticipating positive experiences or realities OR do you operate more in a space of tension, anxiety and even dread for what might come?  Too often I see too much of the latter reality and as a consequence we exhaust ourselves by constant vigilance.  This is not just a soft or touchy feely statement.  Being in a constant state of vigilance starts to manifest in real, tangible and negative ways for you as a leader and with your team - increased heart rate and blood pressure, fatigue and exhaustion, lowered mental and physical resilience, impaired memory and emotional regulation, and a range of behavioral changes (e.g., jumpy, overreactions).

While we can value and appreciate maintaining a state of readiness - and our professional lives seem to reward situational awareness and strategic readiness - it is clear to me that we need to reset our mental dials to achieve far better balance with what is positively working for us now and what we could reasonably expect or create for ourselves in the future.  Easier said than done?  Yes.  Sorry - no easy answer here! Most of us have spent years if not decades honing our survival instincts which mostly have to do with anticipating and responding to real or perceived threats.  It will take disciplined thought and disciplined practice to help you balance yourself going forward.  Here are some suggestions on furthering a positive mindset that will support your mental, emotional and physical wellbeing.

First, I would recommend starting your day with positive affirmations. This can take on a variety of forms but whatever your approach I personally would vouch for writing something for yourself on a daily basis.  For the past couple of years, I have been diligent in journalling, writing something.  Some days this exercise can be quite extensive while other days I find time pressures and other circumstances restrict my efforts.  Regardless, I can say that I have rarely missed a day for quite some time.  I work on the same key questions every day - What's ACTUALLY Happened (versus what I imagine has/will happen), How Am I Feeling (process what's going on for me, discover why, assess what it means to me), Identify What I NEED to do Today (helps me to feel in control of myself and right size what I can realistically get done), and, finally, What Am I Grateful For. 

This last question is quite important, and I always start the answer to this question with being grateful for me.  I have great skills, values, and qualities that have seen me through challenging times in the past, serve me well now and will be of service to me in the future.  This exercise will fortify you against the slings and arrows of others who, for a variety of reasons, may be looking to bring you down a notch or two.  While we have to be open to some learning from all these external forces we have to appreciate that very often the negatives being thrown our way reflect more on those doing the mudslinging than on us as human beings.  It's lonely at the top!  If you are a leader or a person of values, you can expect that as you seek to change things - organization, culture, systems - you are going to come up against resistance. That is part of good leadership, and it is part of life. 

Second, and related to the lonely at the top perspective on leadership, make sure you cultivate and remain in touch with a professional and personal network.  As I have often said, "our mind is a dangerous neighborhood to go into alone".  We can conjure up a lot of shadows, demons and challenges for ourselves that don't hold up well in the light of the day.  Use your network to right size reality.

Reminding ourselves to not be delusional about "facts" is fine.  Appreciating that we have something to learn is also advisable. Again, I'm not talking about wearing rose-colored glasses and thinking that we are infallible or omnipotent.  Evaluate what is happening and is being said but don't give someone or something more power over you than they deserve. 

Third be conscious of how you are showing up for others whether that be the family you are a part of, the friends you associate with or the team you lead.  Your presence and actions have impact.  Your response to a situation is a big part of how that situation will evolve and resolve. Step positively into challenges, remind yourself that you have overcome challenges in the past, pay attention to what is happening for you and to you, and how aligned are your feelings and actions with your core values and beliefs.  One of the biggest challenges in navigating real or perceived adversity is letting someone else knock you off your centre.  This is why it is so critical to start each day with positive affirmations, reminding ourselves about who we are and what our positive vision for the future is.  

Don't expect that others will change because of you intentionally and mindfully taking on a more positive mindset.  In fact, you many find the behaviors of others ramping up in the short-term as they realize they are having less impact on you! Recognize this for what it is.  Stay committed to your path.  Don't spend too much time and energy swatting away the mosquitoes that will want to distract you from the power of yourself and your vision.  

Create and keep a powerful vision for yourself.  As a leader, do the same for your team.  Draw energy and excitement from the good things happening for you now.  Draw energy and excitement from the realization that there is so much more to be realized and experienced.

Leadership - and personal growth - is about self-discipline. Start changing your mindset.  Start recognizing and building on the positive.  It's all about leadership!

______________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
Executive Coach/Consultant
BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions
780-918-0009

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.

• • 
    

Inspiring Yourself to Being Better

I had originally started with a working title of "Inspiring Yourself to Greatness!" for this blog and then as I continued to ponder my subject matter, I shifted to being better. Why the change? Lived experience without a doubt.  There is a paradox inherent in becoming better or the pursuit of greatness. At least that is how I see it. One the one hand, I can say with conviction that I have always been highly goal-oriented.  No doubt that comes from how I was raised and the expectations for achievement from my parents: finish high school, go to university, start a good career, raise a family, and so on. However, I can also say that those goals and expectations were also a significant source of frustration, anxiety, and stress! Over time life has a way of teaching us that some of the goals and expectations set for us were actually never meant for us nor were they going to give us a happy life.

In the past several years, I have really dug into this paradox of goals and expectations. On the one hand I am still a firm believer that one should set some goals and expectations for oneself. Even set some personal Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs). These "dreams" can be a great source of inspiration and motivation. On the other hand, I have also learned that life rarely proceeds in any kind of linear or predictable fashion - either for good or bad. Our recent pandemic experience is but one big example of that.  As a direct result of the pandemic, I would say that my work has irrevocably taken a shift from being predominantly in-person engagements to being at least 50/50 in-person to virtual work. Just prior to the seismic shift wrought by the pandemic, my goals and expectations were ones of continued growth or certainly stabilizing at the significant level of work I had created since 2012. COVID upended those expectations and called on me to pivot. What I can say, however, looking back, is that being open to change, opportunity, and new realities has led me to the creation of a series of leadership development modules that I had always thought about but never created.  In addition, the forced change has opened up a plethora of new international work that I would never have imagined back in 2019.  

Given that soliloquy, what do I suggest to be the takeaways within the context of the blog title - how do we inspire ourselves to be better (if not great)? A few thoughts spring to mind.

First, I advise you to really dig into what you want out of your personal and professional lives. REALLY DIG IN! For most of us, a lot of what we are pursuing is done unconsciously. We have built up a series of goals and expectations over time because that seems like something we are supposed to be doing. Society and social media don't help us in this regard and it takes a great deal of courage and intentionality to walk to the pace of a different drummer. 

As I say this, I truly hope that your starting point in this self-reflection is your personal life. I am a strong believer that the work we're doing must serve our personal goals, not the other way around. It seems self-evident perhaps, but all too often we lose ourselves in the demands of work and sacrifice the things and experiences that will really fulfill us. As I have engaged with my friends, family, and trusted colleagues over the past few years in particular, this attentiveness to who we really are and what we are really meant to be/achieve has never been more important. I can look back on the past 40 years of my life and understand that some of the things I was doing didn't really bring me happiness and, in too many instances, kept me trapped in jobs, careers, and relationships that actually did me harm. 

The first step, then, in being or becoming better is to get really clear on where you want to go.  

Second, expectations are important. Even more important, however, is the quality and specificity of those expectations. One of the most powerful tactics that I have employed with myself and for my clients is to drive specificity, detail, targets, and timelines in respect of this future state of affairs. In addition, I have tried to establish a multi-year perspective on where I would like to be and an annual set of goals that are even more specific and detailed. This visioning exercise and template is updated at least annually and is assessed for progress on at least a monthly basis. I use the same tool with some of my clients. Without exception, they have all indicated that this has been one of the most powerful tools in our work together. The key here is that none of us lack for dreams and expectations. What we too often lack is a level of detail that helps to hold us accountable to a specific set of actions and milestones. 

Third is that dreams, visions, and accountability are all for nought if we are not prepared to take substantive preparation and action towards those stated goals. Again, it is absolutely not enough to declare a positive personal, leadership, or organizational vision for the future without being prepared to put in the preparation, work, and effort required to succeed. So, within the context any challenge - personal or business - the benchmarks of achievement should be set and then used to drive your actions. As an aside, I also get a lot of value in comparing notes with others. What have they done? How have they achieved? What choices have they made? Why? Each of us must seek often some means to challenge our own limiting beliefs and assumptions about what is possible. Learn from others. Be inspired by others. 

Fourth, appreciate that the best laid plans never proceed as developed. So aside from all of the preparation and effort that must go into any endeavour, we must develop the mental fortitude and strength of commitment to our targeted goals. We also have to be prepared to be flexible. This is where the nature of our goals - or vision - becomes critical. 

If I define success by having a bigger house or a "more important" job by a certain date, I might find myself extraordinarily frustrated and demoralized if I am not on target 100% of the time. If, however, I define my life through more immutable goals (e.g., happy with life, in supportive relationships, living into new experiences), I might find that my goals/destination remain a beacon of hope rather than a demoralizing, never-to-be achieved endpoint. 

Accountability to self and to others comes from an ability to respond to anticipated and unanticipated adversity, to continue along a path that allows us to succeed rather than give up at the first sign of difficulty. 

This is not simply a "rose-coloured glasses" mentality at work. It's not blind optimism. However, it is surely beyond a woe is me/victim mentality as well; I recognize there are some events that can be so dramatic as to be beyond our control in pursuit of our goals (e.g., COVID). This is where power, strength, and detail of goals, expectations, and visions becomes critically important. If the vision is powerful enough, I am convinced we will find a way forward, even if that means changing tactics and timing to get there. We remain committed to success despite setbacks.

Finally, there are definitely going to be times when our commitment and effort fall short, where we don't follow through with our stated strategies or tactics. As I have often said, this becomes the time to use our plan as a tool to re-evaluate, not punish. In my estimation, the former approach leads to an opportunity to reset and recommit (e.g., change strategy, change timing, change tactics) to a preferred set of goals. The latter approach of chastisement too often leads to despair, victimization, and demotivation.

And remember that every year, the vision can get updated, new goals set, and new improvement targets set.  After last week's experience, after last month's experience, after last year's experience...I have learned and know myself better, have cemented what is important to me, and given me the vision and courage to discard what no longer serves me. The power of vision, expectations, goals, committed preparation, and constant evaluation lead to greater levels of possibility. 

What can you say about your expectations and commitment? What is possible for you? As Henry Ford is purported to have said, whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you are right. 

On that note, I've recently updated my personal plan to support a whole new level of personal growth, development, and happiness that will see my professional and business development serve my personal vision. 

It's all about leadership and in this case, it's leadership for and about yourself. The pot of gold awaits those prepared to truly set the goals, make the effort, and recommit through challenges.

______________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
Executive Coach/Consultant
BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions
780-918-0009

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.

Recovering from Toxicity and Trauma

A heavy title for this leadership blog! However, as with a variety of topics that I tackle, this comes from a convergence of experiences and events in the past few weeks: a coffee conversation with a fellow coach navigating historical impacts of trauma, an engagement with an organizational client who feels like they are under constant attack, and questions from a former colleague about how to navigate narcissistic leaders and staff. This also came at a time when I received a book recommendation from a client and remarked on LinkedIn how sad it was that we actually needed a resource like this to navigate our careers (and likely also our personal lives).

At the core of all of these conversations was a recognition that manipulation, toxic behavior, and narcissism exist in significant degree in too many workplaces, and in too many aspects of our lives in general. The result is trauma, stress, chronic health issues, diminished mental and emotional health, and physical disability.  Further dissecting this notion of trauma, at its core, these realities can either present as a sudden loss in our lives (e.g., termination from a job/dramatic change in career, death of a loved one) or they can come from a slow, inexorable loss of self in an unfulfilling set of circumstances (e.g., inability to get promoted, to have our skills and talents fully utilized, to grow, surviving a toxic relationship). Ultimately, in its worst form, we not only lose hope for the future we intuitively know we deserve, but we also lose hope and joy in our present reality as well. This is where depression, anxiety, and despair take hold.

For one of my clients, they wondered when the attacks, manipulation, and innuendo would stop. Unfortunately, I had to say that they likely never would. This is based on my own experience of the past 40 years and learning from the experiences of others. More often than not, these attacks are not about you or your organization anyway. Rather, they reflect a deficiency or a gap in self-esteem or an insecurity that can only be dealt with by diminishing the efforts of another or the standing of your organization. In fact, as I write that out, it certainly reminds me about a lot of our politicians these days! 

So, what is the response to dealing with this reality? Keep reminding yourself about who and your organization really are. Own your values, your skills, and your achievements. Also, understand that while these negative and toxic voices may seem big to us in the moment, the reality is that they are not likely getting a whole lot of traction and airplay outside of your own head.  

Discussing these types of scenarios with other colleagues and connections, I also suggest that one of the keys to surviving and moving forward is ensuring that you maintain your professional and social connections. Toxic work environments and a narcissistic personality can cause you to self-isolate, raise your self-doubt, and ensure that you try to manage your challenges on your own, so keep in touch with people in your life. We all need a support network that can help to us process and right size what we think we are dealing with. This is where you can get help sorting out fact from fiction, reinforce your own worth, and develop reasonable tactics to maintain your strength - even if it means that you might make your own choice to move to something better and that recognizes your value.

One final tip that keeps coming back to me from all of these discussions is the great benefit from documentation, documentation, documentation. Now some of this can be something as simple as keeping your own journal in an attempt to get your thoughts out of your head and onto paper. That simple act can help you better process what is happening for you and also help you appreciate what is really happening and what is being imagined. Then, there is the deeper and more ominous need for documentation that gives you the ability to defend yourself in front of your superiors, your peers, and even in a court of law as necessary. Not something that most of us relish or expect to have to do, but at times, it can make a huge difference for your career and for your mental health.

A greater life is pressing to be born.

Michael Murphy

As I have written before, there is a certain paradox or irony arising from a traumatic event.  Namely, that it can shake you out of an unconscious state of being that we may not have realized that we are in and it can lead us to an ongoing process of healing. I can definitely relate to this with a past history of personal loss and a radical change in career path. While I definitely would not want to repeat those traumatic events, they did take me to new heights of achievement and enjoyment. Every once in a while, it is these types of events that get us back on the road to self-discovery, exploration, and demonstrate how much more of life there is to experience, live, and exalt in.  

If you are going through your own challenges right now, I hope you can take some solace from my lived experience. You have a greater life pressing to be born, whether that be in your career or in your personal life. Does that realization automatically or easily lead to nirvana? No. The healing path meanders and shows us options, opportunities, and even distractions. But trust me, the journey is worth it. There is better on the other side that is worthy of who you were meant to be. Pay attention, be mindful, keeping doing your deep inner work.  

This is a journey of leadership. Self-leadership. Leadership by way of example for others. Wake from your unconscious state and own your possibilities. 

_______________________________________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions 

www.breakpoint.solutions 

780-918-0009

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.

Plant Seeds - Even in Tough Times

I come from a semi-rural background. What I mean by that is while I didn't live or grow up on a farm, I had strong ties to and history with farming through both sets of grandparents. I spent many summer days and nights on these small family farms that went back to the very origins of my family in Canada. Some of the memories from that time remain vividly etched in my mind and none more so than those related to spring seeding and the fall harvest.

Without a doubt, these two times of the year were times of extraordinary effort and anxiety. In the spring, the work commenced as soon as field conditions permitted and there was always an eye towards weather forecasts and the sky. There were prayers that machinery would hold out against unexpected and unwanted repair. So too with harvest. Go hard and make hay while the sun - or moon - shines.

I find some parallels in the kind of work I do now and, indeed, the kind of work that any of us do. I suspect that at the start of any venture or the start of each business or calendar year, we begin with a sense of anxiety and guarded optimism. Whatever transpired from last year's "crops" provides no guarantee of what the next effort will bring or require. Perhaps last year's events have set a stronger or weaker foundation to start from. I believe the farming experience and metaphor of planting seeds and harvesting crops suggests some powerful lessons for how to approach other endeavours.

Planting our proverbial seeds does, just like farming, take preparation and thought. If we are to have a chance at a successful year, we must properly prepare the ground, utilize the best tools possible, stay focused, and plant the right seeds, in the right place, at the right time.  In the case of my own coaching and consulting practice, this has meant networking with purpose, being active in certain activities, partnering with others who can complement and supplement my skills, and investing in my own skills and abilities on an ongoing basis.

A commitment to developing one's own business, like farming, also takes the right mix of optimism and realism. The stats on startups and new businesses typically tell a rather grim story with a far greater chance of failure than success in the first year or two. I tend to think of the reasons for such failures falling into two broad categories: 1. lack of (significant preparation), and 2. over-optimistic projections of how successful one can expect to be in the short-term. Successful farmers similarly leave nothing to chance.  They put in the extra planning, equipment maintenance, and time to compensate for unanticipated and undesirable events. No one controls the weather - or the economy. I suspect, however, that just like farmers lamenting or worrying about the weather, all of us have an anxiety about business - and life - factors that are well beyond our control to influence. We can't control the weather, but we can be ready with the umbrella or rubber boots.

Successful business people, like good farmers, are also prepared to learn from the past, and from others, to reap a better harvest. This requires some rigour in understanding what did or did not work in the past and why. Failure to truly learn from past successes and failures causes us to attribute one to our skill and the other to the foibles of the gods.  In either case, successful strategies or solutions have not been discerned to inform the next effort. In respect of learning from others, I can't even begin to identify all the leaders, coaches and consultants who have informed my journey over the past 40 years. Their experiences - good and bad - have helped me develop new skills, approaches, and models along the way. Just like farming, however, there has to be a sense of adapting, not blindly adopting, tools and techniques that suit your particular field of work.

I also believe there is further advantage and opportunity to be gained by failing well. That's right, failing well. Now I'll admit that this may not seem to draw quite as strong a parallel to farming as other lessons noted above. But I believe it goes back to being prepared to learn lessons. I have personally had success in trying to reengage with prospective clients when a proposal I have submitted for consideration has been rejected. I believe the nature of my response to rejection has been a key to my recovery and subsequent success. A sincere and genuine interest in trying to discover how I could have presented or engaged differently on an RFP response has directly related to multiple different opportunities. How you fail, and how you respond to failure, is just as important as how you succeed.

One final note and look back to farming as a benchmark for business success. I believe all who have grown up in rural communities would attest to an underlying spirit of support and cooperation. If somebody needed help, it was often available to them, especially in times of distress. For those of us with roots in rural and farming communities, I'm sure we have more than one story of community collaboration. It's a bit of that spirit that I hope I bring into my coaching and consulting practice and what I value in some of my most trusted associates: offer help, guidance, time, and tools when asked, without expectation of return. A spirit of pay-it-forward that plants seeds for future collaboration, support, and engagement.

So, plant seeds. Prepare well. Look for opportunities and connections. Look for synergies and like-minded "farmers" to work with. Listen, learn, adapt, and apply. Offer help and support. Fail well.

Reap the harvest.

Do it again.

_________________________________________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions 

www.breakpoint.solutions 

780-918-0009

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.

If It's Heavy, Let it Go

It seems to me that life - professional and personal - places a lot of emphasis on determination, grit, and perseverance as markers of or necessary prerequisites to success. Certainly, I would have to say that this is not just something I have learned in my professional career. There has been a significant infusion of this perspective through how I was raised by my family and educated in/through the school system: 'If you are challenged, step up to the challenge'; 'If you are frustrated, dig into the task at hand'; 'No pain, no gain.' 

No doubt there is value in creating and sticking to a plan of action otherwise we might find ourselves flitting from one admirable, but difficult, cause to another at the first sign of resistance. However, going from that extreme to the polar opposite on a continuum, which could mean stubbornly adhering to a course of action, doggedly holding to a perspective, or perhaps even failing to truly evaluate or challenge closely held values can - in my experience - lead to significant damage to oneself, a team, or an organization.

In a past blog, I noted some insights gained from undertaking a Core Strengths(c) assessment which highlighted some of my very laudable strengths: supportive, loyal, and persevering. In essence, when I succeed, I use these strengths to the benefit of myself and those I work, live, or otherwise engage with. Unfortunately, when I start to face challenges or resistance, I historically have doubled down on these very same strengths which then turns these positive attributes into a series of self-defeating and destructive tendencies: self-sacrificing, gullible, and stubborn.  

There has been some extraordinarily hard learning in my career and personal endeavours that have shown me how my best strengths can also be my Achilles heel. What have I tried to take away from those experiences that might be beneficial to your current or future challenges?  

First, I would say that you need to intentionally and purposefully create space for yourself to listen to and feel what is happening for/to you in your current circumstances. In my own "hitting the brick wall" moments, it was clear that I had failed to appreciate all of the warning signs that had been there for some time, at the very outset of the initiative, and I tried to persevere through for many months if not years. What might have helped in critically evaluating whether extra effort was warranted versus a rethink of my commitment would have been dedicated/scheduled time to pause, a commitment to engage in a mindful evaluation of the cost/benefit of the engagement, and then developing the next purposeful steps in my work.

Second, the above notion only achieves its full potential if we are strongly connected to - and fully appreciate - what our core values are, where our strengths lie, and who our allies/detractors might be in a particular set of circumstances. If you have not developed or articulated your core foundational elements (both personally and professionally), you won't have a strong enough base to critically evaluate the alignment or misalignment of your actions. Through my coaching and consulting practice I often see individuals and organizations grapple with this when they are forced to transition through, and into, a new reality; e.g., forced job/career change, seemingly dramatic changes in environmental variables, need to terminate a CEO or other senior executive, etc. It is often through these involuntary changes in reality that individuals and organizations start to question everything they've been doing to this point in time and find their core values and assumptions challenged.  

Third, at a personal level, it helps to have some outside eyes and perspectives to support your assessment (and even development) of reality, core beliefs, values, and strategies. What makes this exercise or network most valuable is how trust-based the relationship is. Do your allies (family, friends, mentors, colleagues, coaches) sincerely have your best interests at heart? Do you trust their perspectives? What is the history of you being able to rely on these outside perspectives to tell you the hard truths? No doubt, getting pushed to see things as they are versus how you would like or hope them to can be a hard pill to swallow. Perhaps in the moment of being challenged you have a gut level - and decidedly negative - reaction to having your perspective or even core beliefs shattered. But it is the mirror or new lens from others that is critical to your success - and happiness - that also likely reinforces what you already know but haven't wanted to face.

Paying attention to our anxiety, fears, and gut isn't easy. Lord knows that I have "stuck to it" in a few too many things, where if I had paid attention to the red flags of my commitment, I wouldn't have done as much damage to myself as was the ultimate result. Hope can be one of the challenges to seeing things as they are. Pride plays a factor too if we have to admit to ourselves and others that we have made a mistake in our choices.  

I would just ask you to pay attention to what is giving you energy and whether something or someone is taking more energy than you are receiving back. As the saying goes, "Don't keep throwing good money after bad". Take your lumps, cut your losses. Grit and determination aren't always the right course of action. And despite all, you will take some lessons from an effort cut short. Above all, if something feels heavy, perhaps that's a sign to just put that burden down. Leadership is often about hard choices, shifting direction, and reinvesting your valuable time and energy elsewhere.  

_________________________________________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions 

www.breakpoint.solutions 

780-918-0009

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.

Keys to Success in Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is an exercise that is often alternatively loathed and lauded. For some, the whole experience conjures up dread from challenging efforts of the past. For others it feels like an academic and draining process, requiring lots of effort, producing a glossy publication that no one ever refers to again. Others go through the process believing the outcome of such work is leading to a ball and chain that forever ties them to tactics and objectives that will be outdated in a matter of months, but yet must be doggedly adhered to and pursued regardless of relevance.

Strategic planning doesn't have to be this way. I do believe in the power of strategic planning and of strategic thinking and that some core principles can unleash the power of long-term planning for organizations, individuals, and teams. Yes, I believe we can apply strategic planning to our individual lives as well! 

First, I believe we have to change the notion that a strategic plan is a static document. A strategic plan should provide long-term direction recognizing that NONE OF US has a crystal ball that will unfailingly predict the future for any time period whatsoever. However, we can and should be diligent in assessing our own organizations and the environments they work in.  If done well - and with courage and objectivity - we can learn much from what has worked in the past, what some of the larger trends in our working environments have been, what some of the possibilities for change in the future will be, and how we can or should try to respond to those realities. Therefore, for a strategic plan to maintain its relevance over a three-year, five-year, or even longer timeframe, consider where you want the organization to be - more or less - at the end of that frame of reference, recognizing that the exact version of reality at the end of that journey will not perfectly match with what you hope for today.

This first point directly relates to being very clear about how the strategic plan/priorities align with the organization's mission, vision, and values (MVV).  There is often just as much controversy and eye-rolling when it comes to MVV as there is with strategic planning. I have had some senior leaders express disdain for the utility of a well-crafted MVV and as many front line leaders and staff express cynicism that these foundational components are anything but fluff, bearing no reality to what actually happens in the real world. However, when these have been developed with all seriousness and good intent, they can be powerful anchors for developing strategic priorities and holding leaders and staff to account for the work that is to be done.  The mission, vision, and values can - and should - be guideposts for what the organization commits to doing and how it will deliver on the work ahead.   

Just as important to the utility of a strategic plan as the MVV, is an objective and courageous assessment of the organization itself and the environment it is - and will be - operating in.  This is often what I call the Interrogating Reality phase of strategic planning. All too often the excitement of strategic planning is focused on all the things individual leaders want to have the organization do.  There is either no work done on assessing current and future state, OR there is superficial work done here for the sake of completeness (a check box approach), OR there is an assumption that all stakeholders are operating from the same understanding of where the organization is at. But if the planning process fails to vigorously evaluate, debate and agree on reality, all of the options of "things to do" will either result in unchallenged directions/decisions (e.g., loudest voice wins), or in a series of unconstructive arguments about which particular direction/initiative is the correct one to choose. Failing to understand the foundations upon which an organization's plan is built simply means a weak/weaker plan and one that there is less ability to properly execute later.  

Pay now (in time, energy, and effort) or pay later. The consequences of paying later are far greater than making the investment up front. 

One of the next challenges in creating and executing on a strategic plan is balancing broad, directional initiatives with a level of specificity that helps all stakeholders understand what the strategic plan commits the organization to do and how each individual's work aligns with the overall plan. As noted this can be a challenging balancing act. The reality is the need for a long-term vision comes up against the inherent inability for anyone to predict a future with 100% accuracy.  The cure for this challenge is best illustrated through the use of a metaphor. Think of a your work towards achieving long-term vision as a river flowing towards an ocean. Just as no river flows in a straight line, instead meandering over an ever-changing landscape, so too will your tactics and timing have to be altered while you inevitably move towards an aspirational goal. Specificity comes, and is required, to ensure the organization is taking deliberate steps towards its desired goals and, just as importantly, gives the organization the ability to say no to undertaking initiatives/steps that will not be helpful to getting to the agreed upon destination.

Specificity is also required to support assigning accountability for results. If done appropriately, being specific supports assignment of ownership and responsibility for actions and results to everyone in the organization, from the C-Suite right through to front-line personnel. Moreover, by confirming and agreeing on actions, results, and milestones expected, we can further understand relationships between various initiatives and the work of individual personnel. Digging into this work clarifies who is accountable, who has supportive roles in delivery, who might need to be consulted in the work ahead, and who might simply need to be informed of the work to be done. All of this needs to be formalized in respect of individual performance goals, and monitoring and reporting requirements.  

At the end of the day, a well formulated and well understood strategic plan can provide strong guidance to the whole organization, support effective communication and partnership to external stakeholders, frame performance expectations for all individuals, allow for appropriate monitoring and redirection as required, and allow an organization to say NO to options that don't serve the journey to the desired destination/ocean. 

A strategic planning exercise need not be approached with dread or apathy. Done well, it can ensure inspiration and aspiration and support alignment and direction setting rather than being seen as a burden or nightmare to navigate. The promise inherent in a strategic plan, however, is only realized through deliberate thought and energetic leadership from the outset and through to execution. At the end of the day, like everything else that supports success, it's all about leadership.

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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions 

www.breakpoint.solutions 

780-918-0009

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.