When things are messy, team members are overloaded, or projects are running behind, the problems to solve are obvious. The solutions tend to be giving detailed direction, proper prioritization, or grabbing the attention of stakeholders. But when things are running smoothly, like workloads are manageable, designs are top-tier quality, and employee surveys are positive, I start to look for danger.
Use comfort as a trigger
There’s always something lurking just around the corner, waiting to pounce and derail you. Earlier in my career, as soon as I would start to enjoy the moment of feeling “caught up” (but…do we ever really feel that way?) I’d find that’s when I would run face first into a major issue. I’ve had team members give notice unexpectedly. I’ve been approached by stakeholders who felt my team wasn’t performing as well as I thought they were. I’ve completely missed projects that needed my attention.
But the sharp pain from these moments has been a good teacher. Over the years I’ve learned that instead of relaxing in the relative calm, I shift my thinking to find problems before they surface. I assume I’m missing something, and seek to address it. This is what I’ve come to refer to as “healthy paranoia”, and when things get calm, I follow some key practices. I think these may help you too.
Revisit neglected areas
As leaders, we keep a mental stock of our teams, overall initiatives, and personal goals (and many, many more things). It’s impossible to keep everything front of mind, so we prioritize to the situation at hand. But just like items on a grocery shelf, that means some things move to the back and get a little dusty. Neglected areas tend to be where many problems grow. Moments of calm are good opportunities to revisit things you might not have reviewed in a while, like a deep check in with a team member or challenging a process that’s been in place for a while. I’ve used this time to uncover some real challenges and had some real “a ha” moments. This is a great time to take a fresh look at stale things.
Search for weak signals
It’s easy to assume that if things seem to be going well, everyone is happy. But in reality, team members may be working too many hours and putting themselves on the path to burnout. Or there may be friction between team members that’s easy to miss when everyone seems to be just busy enough. This is a time to really dig in with people and look for signals. Do team members use pointed words during a design critique or give overly harsh feedback? Has someone become quiet and you failed to notice earlier? Has someone stepped up during the heat of a project and you failed to praise? Conversely, did someone recede and you failed to give feedback? This is the time to really push for answers to these questions.
Challenge yourself
When you’re in a moment of calm, you should feel good! After all, it’s not a given that you ever get to this point. But it’s also very easy to get comfortable and assume you’re doing everything well. It’s really important to fight that urge and seek feedback for yourself. This is a great time to seek feedback from your peers, and deeper feedback from your team. I’ve run 360 reviews, run surveys with my team and asked probing questions of others. The results can be surprising, as you may expect that since things are going well that you get nothing but positive feedback, but it’s likely you’ll get at least one piece of feedback to build upon. This is really important to avoid personal blind spots and grow as a leader.
The next time you start to feel caught up, ask yourself, “where might there be danger?” Push yourself to get uncomfortable and seek out potential challenges. In my experience this leads to heading off the major issues early; you catch the team member’s concerns and they stay, the stakeholders are happy, and the projects stay on track.
And it all leads to another moment of calm.