True North - A way to find clarity and connection
I must confess that I have been struggling a bit over the last month – I felt fed up, stuck, a bit lost. I wasn’t sure whether it was something internal going on in my head or external with everything going on in the world. Was I in control or at the whim of our strange and uncertain world? Maybe a mixture of both!
The uncertainty, confusions and concerns of the last 6 months are, I think, taking a toll. What will happen next? What can we do or not do? Who is in control? What the best advice to listen to? Where is guidance coming from? Where am I going and who am I in all of this? They are big questions, and much is out of my control. And of course, the weather doesn’t help – a very British thing to say I know, but it getting darker in the mornings and evenings which makes it less comfortable going out for walks and feels like yet another impact on my freedom and choice. Something else that is controlling me rather than the other way round.
I’ve been trying to get my head around all of the influences, to understand them. How they feel has been weighing very heavily on me and I knew I needed to make some changes to something – but what?
My natural way of working is to explore - I’m always on the lookout for ideas, concepts, models that help explain what is happening – so my desire to explore, to keep learning is really helpful to me at times like this. As is my tenacity (or some refer to it as my stubbornness!) – I don’t give up. I keep exploring until I find something that helps me to understand or helps me to unpick what’s going on for me. And as is often the way in this world, as I explore for myself I invariably find things that help others to unpick what I know that they are struggling or grappling with.
And in my exploration, I came across this idea in a podcast that I was listening to. I have become a bit of a convert to podcasts and enjoy a morning walk with a friendly voice to listen to! I have been exploring the work of Patrick Lencioni for most of this year – he writes about teams and their function and their dysfunction. He discusses 5 specific things that are absent in dysfunctional teams or present and actively worked on in functional teams. The fifth item is the one where I had a breakthrough moment – “attention to results”. He is referring here to the team results; are we aiming for the same thing? Of course, deeply connected to the question of ‘are we aiming for the same thing?’ is clarity of description and articulation of where the team is going, what the team results are a measure of. And it is team results rather than individual or personal results that so significant – to help focus the conversations.
Being honest - I’d been quite dismissive of the “results” concept – assuming that ‘it was obvious’ and I knew what it meant and I hadn’t really explored much more. In this particular podcast Patrick talks about the importance of the results being the team’s results and that we all need to know where we are heading – what’s the “True North” that is guiding what we are delivering and can we all articulate it? Can we connect what we are doing each day and week, our own results, to this True North? This might be a temporary target to get us through this period of flux or it might be a bigger, longer term thing.
I realised that I had lost sight of my own True North, clarity of my own direction. It had got buried in the questions, the stuff, the new rules, the fears and the challenges. And therefore, my results weren’t focused! So simple when I realised it…
Just like the magnetic north – my own true north is always there – just been forgotten or obscured by other features or clouds. I needed to make time to reconnect to my True North and decide if it was a big, long term direction or a temporary thing that would help to navigate through the current situation.
The idea has blossomed - getting back in touch with my True North – recognising the direction I am headed; and therefore the results that are important in my team.
Those of you that know me – will understand when I say I needed a “drawing”. There’s nothing quite like some coloured pens and a blank sheet to turn thoughts into clarity and action! Maybe it can be reframed as my personal map to help me understand, unpick and move forward. Once I have the “map” it’s so much easier to take some tangible actions.
The great news is not only do I have a map for myself now – which has been massively helpful, but also a process that might be helpful for others to unpick and take their own actions.
The important thing is that something inside me changed as I explored these ideas. Now I feel energised, in control of what I’m doing next. Full of choice. I’m no longer struggling - I’m connected!
If you’re interested in the process get in touch or add your comments below and if there’s enough people who respond I’ll create a video to coach you through it!