Being a leader requires thinking BIG. But in these challenging times, it might be time to start thinking small. Watch Bobbie LaPorte’s August 6 “Calling the Game” video to learn how small wins can help fuel bigger, more transformative changes.
Execute Big-Bet Strategies Through Intentional, Incremental Decisions
If you are like most of my clients, being a leader in such challenging times can often feel overwhelming, just too much, sometimes bringing you to a halt, questioning what you are doing and why.
And this is not how we want to operate.
As high-achievement-oriented leaders, we want to take significant actions. This could be launching a breakthrough strategy, transforming how our team works, or creating a more collaborative and generative culture. But these “big bets,” together with day-to-day decision-making and execution, can create paralysis or at least make us question where to focus next.
And when we are uncertain what to do, how to get unstuck and move forward, our brains resist, and our tendency is to go to our default autopilot mode – to responses that feel familiar, easy, and reasonable. This may provide some short-term “relief” and a feeling of accomplishment (like, “Well, at least I did something”).
But we are fooling ourselves if we believe that we are really making progress. We are just treading water, if not regressing, out of fear of making decisions.
In my experience, there is no “magic” answer to this dilemma facing most leaders, but I do believe there is one thing you can do to keep moving forward in a meaningful way: intentionally make small, informed decisions…creating what we call “small wins.”
As Charles Duhigg discusses in his book The Power of Habit, “Small wins are exactly what they sound like, and are part of how keystone habits create widespread changes. A huge body of research has shown that small wins have enormous power, an influence disproportionate to the accomplishments of the victories themselves. “Small wins are a steady application of a small advantage,” one Cornell professor wrote in 1984. “Once a small win has been accomplished, forces are set in motion that favor another small win.” Small wins fuel transformative changes by leveraging tiny advantages into patterns that convince people that bigger achievements are within reach.” (Weick, 1984; Duhigg, 2012)
Small wins help build cultures where change becomes contagious. And that’s how you create those transformative, Big Bet moves.
You may not see major change or success overnight, but focusing on small moves and creating small wins can create momentum and forward progress to keep you and your team on track.
References:
Duhigg, C. (2012). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Random House.
Weick, K. E. (1984). Small Wins: Redefining the Scale of Social Problems. American Psychologist, 39(1), 40-49.