Why leaders sometimes need to leave the map behind
Is it ok for leaders to get lost?
This week, I was working with a CEO on the strategy to relaunch a division of her business.
She was thoughtful, capable, and well prepared. But about half an hour into the conversation it was clear she was uncomfortable – she’d realized that the strategy, while logical and sensible, was not going to stand out in the market.
The map she’d made wasn’t working
You could even say we were lost.
But lost in a productive, exploratory kind of way.
Over the next half hour, the tension slowly faded as we dug deeper into the strategy and found new promising strategic territories.
By the end of our coaching session, we had created a robust and differentiated strategy. We had mapped out a new and exciting territory. We had expanded the map.
It turns out getting lost wasn’t the problem. It was the turning point.
Getting deliberately, productively lost
Deep down, I suspect many leaders feel like they’re on the edge of the map right now.
Which gives you a couple of choices – retreat to the safety of familiar ideas and solutions. Or take a deep breath and head off into the unknown.
When you allow yourself to explore the unknown, and acknowledge uncertainty, something useful can happen.
You can distinguish between what you know and what you do not
You can separate the facts from the stories you’re telling yourself
You can explore possibilities instead of defending assumptions
You can consciously choose what to stop doing
What’s more, you can flip the feeling of being a little lost into an opportunity to learn, explore and test new ideas.
Where’s your opportunity to leave the map behind and get productively lost?
