"The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast, and you miss all you are traveling for." ~Louis L'Amour
Leaders
have a lot on their plate – and a lot on their minds. They have
responsibilities galore and likely a full inbox. They are expected to be
on point, on-the-ball, and on top of everything. Many wear busy as a
badge of honor. Despite all this, and perhaps even because of it, smart
leaders practice mindful pausing throughout the day.
The most effective
and confident leaders know that even when it seems they shouldn’t (or
don’t think they have time), they need to take a deep breath...
And mindfully pause.
Six Reasons Leaders Need to Mindfully Pause
Here
are six reasons why mindfully pausing is so important – even if it is
counter-intuitive to the pressures and demands of the job.
1. Pause to gain perspective. When
we are in the middle of the fray, we can’t look up and out to see a
bigger picture. But when we stop and pause, we can (literally and
metaphorically) lift our eyes to see a different and bigger picture. And
a pause might look like asking others for their perspectives too –
which is often a very good use of everyone’s time.
2. Pause to refresh. For many years, Coca-Cola used the tagline that it was the pause that refreshes. Maybe you need a soda or water. Maybe you need a five-minute walk. Maybe you need to sleep on a decision or next step. Pauses often help us refresh our minds and reset our attitudes – and both can be valuable to us, and to our teams too.
3. Pause to reflect. The best leaders are learners. If you want to be a more effective learner, one of the best things you can do is reflect on what you have already done. Asking learning questions like “what happened?”, “what worked?”, “what didn’t?”, and “what will I do next time (or next)?” will build your knowledge and skills. But none of that happens until you pause long enough to ask yourself those (and other powerful) reflective questions.
4. Pause to think. Our brains don’t multitask. If we are answering questions and making decisions in real time, we are reacting to the stimulus around us. And reacting isn’t thinking. The biggest reason we need to pause to think is to help us make better decisions.
5. Pause to ignite employee ownership. The powerful ask more, tell less tool is predicated on leaders staying curious a little, rushing to advise a little more slowly. It requires leaders to pause and let silence do the heavy lifting after they ask an empowering question designed to facilitate employee buy-in.
Click here to read a related post: Leaders Who Ask More Leverage the Power of the Brain to Ignite Employee Ownership ( 5 min read)
6. Pause to overcome habits. As leaders, we are asked to make decisions and take actions all day long. And the largest percentage of those things we do on autopilot. We react based on our natural inclinations and learned responses - by habit. Habit is incredibly helpful to us. If we treated everything as new, we would be immobilized and accomplish little.
But if we never consider any options beyond our norm, how can we expect to improve? How can we expect to adjust to changing situations? To be an effective leader in a changing and uncertain world we must be willing to flex. And until we pause long enough to consider something other than our habit, we won’t flex, we will simply repeat.
Most would agree that these outcomes are important. Most leaders would say they could use more perspective, a reset or refresh, new ideas and more. And most of those same leaders say they don’t have time.
A
pause could mean 3 or 30 minutes. It could mean overnight or next week.
A pause is a mental deep breath – which doesn’t have to run counter to
your need to move projects and plans forward and solve problems and
choose between options.
The power of the a mindful pause helps you do all those things more effectively.
Now
that you have seen the six reasons to understand the power of the
pause, I hope that you will be more willing to consider it as one of
your leadership power tools.
I urge you to practice mindful pausing today. It will change your life.
Click on the following links to read two related posts:
Stop Rushing All the Time (1-2 min read)
Why It’s Vital for Leaders to Cultivate Mindful Moments During the Day (3 min)
To your greater success and well-being,
Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT
Take the Next Step...
Interested
in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability,
culture, and employee engagement ? We begin with a collaborative
discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To
request an interview with Peter Mclees or a SMART Development consultant please
contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com or Mobile:323-854-1713
Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, energy storage and facilities management, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.
