FORGETTING WHY WE'RE HERE SYNDROME
I spent years developing products that go into high-performance computing servers. I led global teams that built some of the most powerful computer systems in the world. Literally, they are on competing lists called the Top 100 Supercomputers. It’s pretty awesome!
While leading these teams, I would consistently run into what I like to think of as forgetting why we’re here syndrome. This weirdly consistent tendency that happened as we would all start drifting off into outer space and not remain focused on why we were there.
Most of the time this drift came organically in a meeting or conversation. Someone would make a statement or pose a question that was related to the topic at hand, then we would go down that path, then another statement or question was asked with good intentions, and the stacking continued, and sometimes we would lose focus and get off track. Ever been there?
Sometimes this gets cut off really quickly by the leader of the meeting or someone else in the meeting, but often it goes unnoticed, because it feels like we are solving something related to the objectives. We all continue to dig and dig and dig. But where are we digging?
INTERRUPTIONS CAN BE USEFUL
Here is what I started to implement in my meetings that I would like to offer to folks…
Interruptions.
Yup! Interruptions… deliberate interruptions.
And here is how I would interrupt… I would either wait for a natural pause or sometimes if those don’t exist, to interject the conversation… I would reflect back what I heard from our meeting conversations, then ask, “How does all of this relate to the desired outcome of this meeting?”
LET THE SILENCE SPEAK
The next part is key. Stay quiet. Don’t speak. Let the silence speak.
Let someone else answer the question. It is great to have people think for themselves and create clarity out of the situation.
Once people realize they are either on or off track, they will either keep going or self-correct. Especially in group or team meetings. The collective will gather around getting everyone centered again.
It takes courage and it is completely within reach of your abilities!
How about you? How have you seen interruptions get the team back on track and centered around the purpose of what you all are trying to accomplish? Share so that we can all learn and grow together.
You are a Force of Awesome!
Let’s go!
I am an executive/leadership coach working with high-achieving business owners, leaders, and their teams that are working on getting to their next level of performance. You might sense that what got you here might not get you to the next achievement. Want to connect? Contact me here.
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