Thinking versus Action

Thinking should precede all executive actions. Swinging into action without thought is like crossing a busy street without looking both ways.

Successful outcomes require, at least, a few minutes of thinking and getting to clarity before pouncing. It is not about analysis leading to paralysis. It is about confirming understanding.

Each member of an executive team must understand what the others are thinking about and how they think. Communicating is then more comfortable and productive. It doesn’t mean they should think alike, or even agree. Keeping others in your thinking loop makes collaborating and working together more effective, fun, and with less contention.

Executive teams should have a weekly scheduled process of connecting to share and update one another. Even a half-hour or so of sharing your thinking, not your doing, each week is extremely helpful.

We observe executive leaders rushing into action too soon. Mistakes get made. Rushing to busyness is easy for leaders as action creates instant gratification. Busyness is the drug of choice. Pausing to think, before acting, creates frustration, so thinking, too often, gets avoided.

Thinking and getting to clarity requires asking questions, exploring alternatives, and considering potential outcomes in various courses of action. It does not have to take a lot of time, but it does take discipline and commitment to engage in thinking a bit more often.

Leadership is about thinking and engaging with issues at a conceptual level. A big picture perspective creates a complete understanding of how all parts of an issue connect, interact, and impact one another. Clarity about concepts leads to developing sound principles. Sound and shared principles establish meaningful guidance for everyone throughout an organization.

The Connect and Align tool at Zynity guides executive leadership teams to share the significant issues/questions/concerns about which each leader is thinking. The sharing creates discipline in which each one gets to clarity and a deeper understanding of their teammates. The clarity and understanding transform how the executive team collaborates, works, and thinks together.

Thinking, discipline, and clarity are qualities of elite teams. They conceptualize, seek understanding, clarify principles, and then act within their system. They also continue refining their system based on new understanding and experiences.