Leading in the In-Between... Hold on to Your Expectations Loosely
Most of the leaders I know have good “long distance radar" that enables them to see things coming and position themselves for future challenges and opportunities before they arrive. Curiously though, this radar is common to both the most successful and least successful leaders I know. It's not their ability to predict the future that differentiates one from the other; it's how tightly they hold on to their predictions as they advance.
The most successful leaders I know hold on to their predictions loosely and maintain a fragile confidence that what they believe will happen will actually occur. This doesn’t mean that they are ambivalent or confused. In fact, they trust their foresight enough to make immediate actions and decisions based on it. (This is why they often seem to be already poised for new challenges and opportunities when they arise.) But these leaders are also vigilant for things to change as the future they anticipated approaches. They know that life is a fluid proposition and that their best guesses of where it's headed are subject to the next action or inaction. So, they keep their radar running even as they are putting their plans in motion. They acknowledge and embrace ambiguity by simultaneously stepping toward the future they expect, and watching for it to change as they move ahead.
The less successful leaders I know have the same ability to anticipate the future, but they put too much confidence in their predictions and inadvertently limit their opportunities. They ignore the ambiguity of the In-Between and lock themselves into an artificially static picture of the future that may or may not bear out. This kind of confidence makes them feel more in control, but limits their strategic opportunities instead of broadening them. For example, if you anticipate how someone might respond to a proposal before you make it, your foresight will enable you to design your pitch more strategically and effectively. But if you let your mental posture slip from appreciating the likelihood of a particular response to anticipating it as a “given,” you are no longer considering possibilities; you’re making assumptions and acting on assumptions can get you and your team in trouble. This approach is like using your radar to anticipate what is likely to happen, but then switching it off and charging confidently but blindly down the path. It's a misplaced certainty that leads you to one of two disappointing conclusions: you miss what you most hope for, or you get what you least desire.
In some cases, you miss what you most hope for because you are holding on to your expectations too tightly and don’t notice when new factors or forces alter the future you envisioned. Quietly, the equation you aimed to solve changes and leaves your calculations misplaced. If this happens, your team will complete their preparations and positioning just as you planned, only to find that the opportunity they anticipated never materialized, or already passed them by.
In other cases, you get what you least desire because a leader’s personal perspective on the future has a way of turning possibilities into reality for better or for worse. If you don’t embrace the ambiguity of the In-Between, it’s easy to cross the line between positioning for possible future events and actually causing them. It’s wise to gear up for the difficulties or problems you see on the horizon, but it is also important to remember that the problems you’ve anticipated haven’t actually occurred yet. Acting too assertively to position yourself for the bad things you anticipate often raises the load and anxiety of your team unnecessarily, or worse, creates a self-fulfilling prophesy that enacts the very future you hoped to avoid. This creates a vicious cycle in which you and your team keep experiencing the future you dread most because you are actually manufacturing it yourselves!
Protect your team from both these disappointments, by embracing the ambiguity that comes with being In-Between and resisting a rush to certainty too soon. Keep your eye on the future so you’ll have a picture of what’s possible, but keep your predictions from becoming too firm too fast. Hold on loosely to your expectations and remind yourself that your picture of the future is possible, maybe even probable, but not certain. You’ll be able to refine that picture and your preparations more effectively if you stay open to alternatives as you advance.
For more, check out Dr. J’s book Fired Up: Kindling and Keeping the Spark in Creative Teams