Are You Playing Whac-a-Mole*?

Leadership Coaching Notes JUNE 2010

Are You Playing Whac-a-Mole*?

I’d bet that you can relate to Tony Hayward (BP CEO) or President Obama. Each is accountable for leading through ugly, unpopular, urgent, messes (the spill, US security, economic recovery, etc.) that can’t be resolved with a neat project plan, no matter how well thought out or executed.

In these situations, a choice that solves one issue creates Whac-a-Mole consequences. Unexpected setbacks pop up following each attempt to eliminate a prior one. (Oil dispersant anyone?)

Sound familiar? If you lead an organization, work with unpredictable clients, care for a relative with a terminal illness, or manage a team whose members face various personal crises, you know about complex, intertwined problems with no easy (sometimes no) answers.

What Helps?

Hold Key Tensions

To face these circumstances successfully leaders must simultaneously
use profoundly different and competing practices. They demand that
you:

• Inspire while facing predictable defeats; inspire while experiencing periodic dread, grief, guilt, anger and exhaustion
• Act courageously and humbly; act on your best choices before having certainty
• Expend yourself and care for yourself, serve an important cause while staying in shape to serve

Lead Through Messes

By definition, there are not recipes for resolving messes, but here are a few questions that might support you and your results. Please write to me with others you find helpful and I’ll share them.

How do I stay personally resilient and effective?

• What’s the highest and best use of my time and talents? When this is over, what do I most want to be able to say about myself? What are my intentions for handling this challenge? Process? Outcome? Impact?
• How can I ease distracting concerns? What can I take off my plate, delay or delegate so I focus on what is most important?    What draining and distracting internal stories, judgments, assumptions and predictions can I suspend to free up my energy, focus and ability to lead?
• What nourishing daily personal practices (body, mind and spirit) will I maintain, no matter what. How will I build my courage and endurance?
• Who has handled something similar? Who are experts and creative thinkers who will help?
• Who will provide honest, lifeline support that helps me stay clear, courageous and resourceful? Where can I let down, rest and receive when I am “leaving it all on the field?”
• How do I avoid making kneejerk reactions just to feel like I did “something?” How do I move past setbacks quickly?

How do I keep others at their best?

• What don’t we understand yet? How can I invite and help everyone use others’ good perspectives, ideas and suggestions?
• Who needs to know about this mess and what is at risk? How will I manage their expectations? What information do they need and when?
• What network of people and organizations should be linked to help? What do they need so they are equipped to contribute effectively?
• How do I connect with the reality of others’ confusion, pain, anger without losing my own clarity of purpose and resilience? How do I invest in building their courage and resilience?

How do I make progress on messes (since it is often hard to tell if what I plan to do or did was “progress?”

• What principles and decision criteria will guide everyone’s actions? How do I assure they know and use them?
•  What is the next most valuable thing to do given what we know so far? What resources, constraints, and risks matter most?
•  How can I facilitate the continuous flow of information and resources we need?

What’s Next?

In the era of mess management, best we learn to sustain ourselves and others well so we stay highly resourceful. Best we use powerful feedback systems to track a fast-changing reality. Best we learn to hold questions open even as we work to build a way forward. Best we value novelty and learn to love thinking creatively when history no longer provides the guidance we need to lead through unknown territory.

All the best to you on your journey and thanks for choosing to lead. Our messes need your leadership. If I can support your progress, please give a call. Email me at mkimbell@corporateadventure.com.

* Whac-a-Mole is a product of Bob’s Space Racers, Inc.

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All the best,

Meredith Kimbell
Executive Advisor,Strategy Consultant
Corporate Adventure

Leadership Coaching Notes uses real or composite client examples drawn from 25 years of coaching and consulting with leaders committed to solving their toughest personal, interpersonal and organizational issues.
Unless otherwise attributed, all material is copyrighted by Meredith Kimbell © 2011. All rights reserved. You may reprint any or all of this material if you include the following:
“Leadership Coaching Notes © 2011 Meredith Kimbell, Corporate Adventure, Reston, VA. Used with permission.”