Tuesday, May 02, 2017

Reflective Urgency

Sometimes you have to look reality in the eye and deny it..... Garrison Keilor



Reflective Urgency — the ability to bring conscious, rapid reflection to the
priorities of the moment and to align your best thinking with the swiftest course of action

A Classic Scenerio:
Sarah was a new manager struggling to adjust to the pressures of delivering on her work, while keeping the team accountable for theirs.
Trying to get it all done without any drop in performance, her urgency trap was a shift
to extreme command-and-control.
In her words, “Everything felt like an urgent crisis, so I acted like it was.”
This mindset triggered reactions that consumed her in delegated work while communicating harshly to her bottom-line in every email, one-on-one conversation, and team discussion.
The result was that her team felt micromanaged and less engaged in their contributions.
She failed to deepen relationships and establish trust within the team.

Diagnose your Urgency Trap:
You need to identify what’s limiting your quality thinking time — when you feel the pressure of too many demands.

Common Urgency Traps:
Ending one meeting prematurely, only to rush to the next one with more unfinished business;
Multitasking work that requires your complete presence and attention, which only diminishes accuracy and output quality;
Saying yes to projects that dilute your contribution and burn your energy, when a No is the wiser choice.
The pressure of impossible deadlines

Here is a Task for you:
"How much growth do you need to avoid becoming a marginal player in your industry as your market grows?"
"How do you optimize your acquisition spending for maximum value rather than minimum cost?”


If you’re too quick to react, you can end up with short-sighted decisions, neglecting underlying causes while creating collateral damage.
If you’re too slow to respond, you can potentially miss an opportunity while allowing the challenge to consume you.-----Jesse Sostrin, PwC’s Leadership Coaching Center of Excellence.

See You at the Top