In her November 8 “Your Best Next Move” video, Bobbie LaPorte shares a real-life story from her upcoming book, “When the Curveballs Keep Coming: A Leadership Playbook for an Uncertain World.” One of her clients, a newly promoted Vice President, had to make tough decisions about business strategy and really wasn’t sure how to proceed in what was for him uncharted territory. His first instinct was to do what had worked in the past. But in today’s uncertain world, leaders need to take a new approach to making decisions—and that starts by not being afraid to ask for help.
Transcript of Your Next Best Move: How to Make Decisions in Uncharted Territory
Hi everyone, Bobbie LaPorte here again with my weekly tip for your Best Next Move – where I help you have more agency in your work, acknowledge your capacity to act, and see what you can do right now.
This week I wanted to share a scenario that comes from my new book “When the Curveballs Keep Coming: A Leadership Playbook for an Uncertain World” because I believe it represents a challenge that many of you are facing in a changing and uncertain world.
A new, young VP I was coaching was faced with making some tough decisions about his department’s strategy. Given all the uncertainty in the business environment that was before him, clearly, this was uncharted territory for him.
Have you ever faced the same challenge – when you need to plan in an environment you have never experienced before and don’t know where to begin?
One option he considered was to use the same process he had in the past; at least he had experience with that, which was more reassuring than starting from a blank slate. After all, he thought: ” I have just gone through a process of proving myself to be promoted. My past experience has value, people have confidence in me.”
And as a new VP, he felt real fear about admitting he wasn’t sure how to proceed; that might open him up to potential criticism from his team, his manager, and his peers.
He went back and forth on how he should proceed – but in the end, he decided to ask his team for input, even though he realized that they were also searching for the same certainty, likely relying on what they had known worked in the past.
And that opened up a conversation when he admitted he didn’t have the answers in this environment – that no one does – and that he needed them to work together and create a new approach.
He knew his team well; while they were young in their careers, they were smart and resourceful. That gave him the confidence they would figure it out together, instead of relying solely on what had worked in the past.
And they did.
But if you look closer at his successful outcome, there are two other elements at play here:
- He practiced two of the new requirements of strategic leadership: being vulnerable to ask for help; and getting results through others.
- He knew the strengths and skills of his team well; he was not afraid to ask them to extend themselves to try something new…one of the key elements of leveraging your team’s strengths.
In this environment of continuing change and uncertainty, every day presents some new challenge that you’ve likely never seen before. For most of us, the natural path is to default to what we have done in the past, what is known and reasonable.
But in many cases, the solutions we are seeking don’t exist as we know them – or at least we may not recognize them as familiar and useful as we did in the past.
So, here’s my tip to make decisions in uncharted territory
When you are faced with a new challenge and you don’t know where to begin: don’t be afraid to admit you are unsure, that you need help. None of us have all the ready answers to deal with the new curveballs we are experiencing every day. And don’t hesitate to start with your team, as my client did.
Part of your job as a leader is to introduce things that others might not feel they could do. We need the skills and talents of everyone to handle the challenges we see every day.
As always, I want 2021 to be a year of momentum for you, one of possibility thinking that takes advantage of the agency we sometimes forget we have.
That’s my tip for this week. I’ll see you next week. Take care of yourselves.