Push or Pause? Mastering Leadership’s Critical Balance

[00:00:00] Is this going to be a good decision right now? Do I need to constantly be pushing or is there a power in trusting in the process and letting this unfold? Hi and welcome back to Reflect Forward. I'm your host, Kerry Siggins, and I'm so glad you are here today. Today we are going to talk about the delicate dance between actively making things happen or a bias to action and the power of letting things unfold naturally.

[00:00:24] I am the kind of person who wants to make things happen, who does make things happen. I absolutely have a bias towards action and it has served me well. But it's hard and it comes with some downside, if I'm being honest. And I've been thinking a lot about this. I've gone through a lot of personal changes in my life and I'm really wanting to discern when is the time to push and when is the time to just let things flow?

[00:00:49] I don't always have to push, but I don't want the pendulum to swing too far the other way where I'm just like, oh, I'm just going to see what happens. There's a balance in there and that is the crucial leadership skill right here is discernment, knowing when to push and know when to pause. I'd like to start off by talking about a bias to action because that is something that we all talk about. All leaders want a bias towards action. We want to take action. We want to move forward. We want people who work for us to also take action.

[00:01:16] But there's some things that can happen. So I want to share some personal stories about how a bias towards action has helped me and how it has hindered me. So the first one was COVID. In COVID, there were so many unknowns. Leaders did not know what the next day was going to look like. We didn't know how long it was going to last. And we had to take decisive action to make sure that our companies were able to survive. I really leaned into my bias towards action and I think that it paid off.

[00:01:43] We made some very tough decisions, but we acted. We didn't just wait and see what happened. And it allowed us to come out of the pandemic in a stronger financial position than we went in, to be quite honest, which seems crazy. But we made some really, really tough decisions that set the company up for success. That is a positive outcome of bias towards action. Something's going on. It's a crisis. We need to figure it out. Let's take action and go. On the flip side, I have had a bias towards action where I've moved too fast.

[00:02:12] Recently, I pushed us to launch a product offering that wasn't ready. We wanted to do it as a pilot and see how the market tested it. But it was still too early, even for that pilot launch. And we wound up having to give customers credit for the pilot that they invested in. And that was a bias towards action of wanting to move, wanting to get it tested, wanting to see how the market reacted to it. But the product wasn't ready yet.

[00:02:40] So my bias towards action on that one, well, it wound up us having to have some tough conversations with customers and giving them credits. So that is when it can be a negative. A lot of leaders will say a biased action is the number one leadership trait that you can have. And while I think it's important, I do think it can get you in trouble. So let's talk about the pros and cons of a bias towards action because it is important. Leaders need to be decisive. They need to make decisions. And they also just need to be careful not to fall in the trap of making decisions too quickly.

[00:03:08] So the pros of having a bias towards action is that it accelerates things. It accelerates achievement. It accelerates innovation. It pushes the company forward. A bias towards action clearly communicates a leadership vision. We are going to achieve this in the next five years and here's how we're going to do it. We're going to take action decisively in these areas. We're going to push that forward. So it allows people to see that vision and then you're taking action towards that vision.

[00:03:35] And finally, a bias towards action enhances accountability and responsibility within teams. Because when your team understands that action is what they're going to be measured on and that you are going to hold them accountable for delivering on that, there is more of a chance that they're going to take responsibility for delivering that. That is what happened with this product launch that we had. It was very clear we were going to take action. I set forth, this is what I would like this to look like and the team delivered.

[00:04:01] And granted, it was a poor decision on my part, but the team delivered and there was accountability there and they felt responsibility for making it happen. So those are the pros of a bias to action. The cons of a bias to action are one, a risk of burnout. When people are constantly pushing, you can burn out. You can burn people out. I definitely have seen this. I have felt it myself.

[00:04:26] That's actually why I'm having this conversation with myself right now is because there's so much change that's going on. I don't want to burn out and I don't need to always be pushing. Sometimes I can let things flow. I don't want to increase my risk of burning out and I don't want to increase the risk of my team burning out. But if you constantly have that bias towards action, that can absolutely happen. You can also overlook critical inputs from your team, which can create blind spots.

[00:04:52] In my example of pushing for a product that wasn't ready, I know that my team did not necessarily agree with that idea. In fact, there was some talk about it. But because we were so invested in trying to, or I should say I was so invested in trying to get this product out and prove that we could make it work, I overlooked those critical inputs. We did not make the right decision and there was a blind spot there.

[00:05:16] And because we were moving quickly, it probably didn't feel safe for the team to speak up and say, I don't think that we should do this. And when they did, the answer was, well, we're moving forward because we need to prove this out into the marketplace. I know that the people who were saying, hmm, I don't think this is quite ready, they didn't feel good about the decision. And so this was a really good lesson learned. The second con of a bias to action is that it can overlook critical inputs from a team and that can create blind spots.

[00:05:42] When you're moving really quickly, teams might not feel like they have the opportunity to give input. And you might not slow down enough to ask them for input to say, is this a good idea? And that might create a blind spot for you. And that leads to the third con, which is what happened in my case of launching a product too early, is that I ignored signals indicating that the decision was premature and that a change in our strategy was necessary. You can do that too.

[00:06:09] If you're moving so fast and you ignore those signals that say, hey, hey, hey, this decision might not be a good one. It might be premature or you might need to change direction. You miss that signal and that can lead to frustration, mistakes, burnout. So those are the cons of bias to action. That's why this is such an important conversation. It's so important to be able to discern when you should push and when you should pause.

[00:06:34] And I like this statistic from Harvard Business Review because I think that it shows this dichotomy that's there. 60% of executives consider decisiveness and action orientation among the top three leadership traits. However, excessive decisiveness without reflection can lead to poor long-term outcomes. That's why this balance really matters. You need to be able to take action. You need to be decisive. Have that action orientation.

[00:06:59] But if it is excessive, if you are always leaning into bias towards action without pausing, you can make poor decisions. And that reduces your credibility over time. So now let's jump into the power of letting things flow. This is where I am, especially in my personal life. Like letting things flow. How do I let things flow more often rather than trying to always orchestrate an outcome?

[00:07:25] And life is so much better when you just, I don't know, surrender and not get so attached to trying to achieve something. And that's why I wanted to share this because it's an interesting journey when you are such a high achiever and you're constantly trying to strive and achieve and do more. To just say, I don't have to actually do more. I'm just going to see what happens. And it's interesting when that translates into the business. And I've learned the power of letting things flow with assimilating people into our culture. So at Stone Age, we have the Own It Mindset.

[00:07:53] We have a very unique culture when I feedback where vulnerability and transparency and teamwork and collaboration, messy collaboration is really required. And not everybody is used to that. Not everybody is used to coming in and getting feedback from their peers and from their manager. Nor do they come from an environment where it's expected that they give it.

[00:08:14] Or where we really lean into connecting with each other and transparency and accountability and owning it and responsibility for understanding. All these things that make our culture really unique. And we have to teach people how to think and act like an owner and how to assimilate into our culture. And if we are always saying this person needs to be exhibiting the owner mindset within the first 30 days that they're here, it can be really tough because sometimes people need time to assimilate.

[00:08:44] They need time to get their bearings in the culture, learn it, and then start to self-reflect and say, Hmm, okay, here's where I need to change. And I've seen this happen over and over again. And I've definitely leaned into, oh, this person isn't going to work too quickly because we haven't given them enough time to assimilate because of that bias to action. And I've learned as I've matured as a leader, and especially as I understand more and more how unique our culture is, you have to let it flow. You have to give people time to assimilate.

[00:09:14] You can't just always have a bias towards action. Sometimes you have to let people figure it out. And when they do, it is magic. And that has been such a great leadership lesson for me. Now, again, there's the cons of that. Like you could let it flow too long and let a person stay who shouldn't because you're just letting it flow and seeing what happens. At some point, there has to be an action that's taken.

[00:09:36] But if you act too quickly, you could potentially lose some really amazing people in your culture and in your company because you don't give them the time to assimilate. So I hope that example resonates with you, but sometimes you just need to let it work itself out. So that leads me into the pros and cons of letting things flow. Letting things flow allows space for creativity, innovation, and unexpected opportunities.

[00:09:59] If you are constantly trying to move things forward and you don't give people time to think, time to create, then you could be missing out on really innovative ideas, whether that's in your product or services or in your processes. And those opportunities can pass you by. So the pause, there's power in that pause. There's power in just saying, no, we're not going to take action on this. Let's just see what happens.

[00:10:25] What kind of ideas come up as we're in the discomfort of this situation, letting it flow a little bit? You might be surprised what will come from it when you don't take action. The second pro of letting things flow is that it reduces stress. When there's a constant pressure to act, it can make people, like we said, burn out. And that can cause poor decision making. It can cause people to want to leave. So you have to balance that.

[00:10:54] On the counter side, if you're not taking action, some people might be frustrated because they think, hey, we need to be doing something here. But sometimes it's fine to say, you know, we don't need to make a decision with this right now. We don't need to stress about this right now. This is not going to matter in a month. So let's not take action and let's just let it play out. And that can reduce stress if people feel like I don't have to feel the pressure to make a decision or make something happen. I can just let this flow a little bit and potentially we'll have better insight in a month or so and be able to make a better decision.

[00:11:22] And then third, the pro of letting things flow is that it encourages empowerment and autonomy among team members. As a leader, when you are trying to push, push, push, people might just go along with you because you're pushing. Like my example of putting out a product too soon before it was ready. My team didn't feel like they had a choice. They knew that I wanted to get it to market and see what happened. And so they executed and they delivered. But it didn't necessarily empower them.

[00:11:51] And it didn't necessarily make them feel like they had autonomy. So that's why this was such a good lesson to me. Hey, you know, when people are speaking up and saying, maybe this isn't a good idea. You should listen. You should pause and let things flow because we all want our teams to feel empowered. And they do feel empowered when they have autonomy to create, to innovate, to pause a little bit or to not feel pressure to make a decision quickly that they don't agree with. Or to make a decision quickly that might be a poor decision because something just isn't ready.

[00:12:19] So now let's jump into the cons of letting things flow. So the first one is risk of inertia or missing critical opportunities. So if you're just like, I'm just going to let it flow. All of a sudden, you could just get into the flow and then you could not make a decision. And then you could miss an opportunity if you would have taken action. The second con of letting things flow is that it can be perceived as a lack of direction or leadership. Sometimes people want answers. And if you say, hey, we're just going to let it play out a little bit.

[00:12:45] That could feel like this person isn't decisive and not making a decision. And that could frustrate some people. And then finally, it can frustrate people who want to act quickly. For those people who, like me, have a bias towards action and then they hear, we're just going to let this play out. That can be really frustrating. It doesn't mean that you should act just because people are going to feel frustrated if you don't. But I think it's important to be aware that some people want to move quickly. They want to make decisions.

[00:13:15] And letting things flow can be very uncomfortable for them. So hopefully that gives you kind of a framework around the pros and the cons of bias towards action and letting things flow. And as we jump into discernment, right, finding the balance, I wanted to share the story of Steve Jobs because he famously exemplified full traits. He was initially known for his intense drive. He wanted to get things done.

[00:13:38] And as he matured as a leader and as he realized that there needed to be time for the creative process, he later spoke about the importance of patience and trusting the process. And he said, you can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backwards. And I think that so beautifully sums up this idea that you have to pause and learn. Pause and say, is this going to be a good decision right now? Do I need to be pushing?

[00:14:06] Or is there a power in trusting in the process and letting this unfold? Is patience what's needed here? And that's how you can connect to those dots going forward by learning from the positive things that came from bias to action and the negative things that came from it. And the same with letting things flow, with taking that pause. You've got to be able to look at that and say what is needed in this situation. So what's really key in all of this is discernment. It's about knowing when to push or when to pause.

[00:14:35] So how do you do that? You start by asking yourself some questions. First, ask yourself, does this situation need immediate intervention or is patient more likely to reveal a better path? If it's a crisis, it probably needs immediate intervention. If it's not, maybe a little bit of patience might allow things to unfold or allow you to get a little bit more information before you make that call and potentially make the wrong call. Number two, you can ask yourself, am I pushing myself out of habit or fear of losing control?

[00:15:05] This is a great question. This is a question I've been asking myself so much lately. Why do I want to drive forward so much? Is it because it's just this habitual thing that I've spent the last 20 years of my life doing? Is it because I feel like I need to control the outcome and so I need to drive towards that outcome?

[00:15:26] Is it because I feel pressure that if I don't do X, Y, Z, people aren't going to see me as a great leader or a great business builder or a great CEO? Ask yourself those questions and be really honest. What is motivating you to want to take that bias? It's really important to ask yourself these questions so that you understand if it's your ego or your habits or your patterns that are causing you to make this decision rather than making a sound decision.

[00:15:54] Because sometimes pausing is what's required, but our egos just won't let us. And finally, number three, ask yourself, what signals am I receiving from my team and the environment about the appropriate pace? You're receiving signals all the time. People are trying to tell you whether they're telling you verbally or not. Look at what your team is telling you. Look at their body language. Ask questions. If there's resistance, dig. Be curious. If there is a reason to pause, pause. If there is a reason to push, then you need to push.

[00:16:23] But before you do it, you should pay attention to those signals. That will help you discern what is the right pace to take here. So I'm doing this right now with the tariff situation. And I'm not the only one. There are so many unknowns that it's really difficult to make a decision of this is what we need to do. So let's just pause. We're going to be really smart about how we're running the company and managing our expenses.

[00:16:46] And we're just going to wait and see how all of this rolls out so that we don't make a decision prematurely and then have something change with the tariffs. And we're just going to deal with each issue as it arises as a case-by-case situation until we understand the full scope of what's happening with the tariffs. This is a much harder way to approach it. My natural instinct was we need to be ready to go. We need to be able to respond immediately to price increases and be communicating exactly how this is going to work to our customers.

[00:17:16] But as I thought about it, I was like, well, what am I going to say? And what are we going to actually do? Maybe there's just power in pausing and letting it see how it plays out. So we did that for a few weeks and we sent out a communication to our customers just saying basically the same thing. We're just waiting to see how this is all going to play out. We will let you know as soon as we know. And we have a strategy around this. But we just have to be patient as we see how things unfold. So that's an example of the power of letting it flow.

[00:17:43] We will have to take action at some point, but we don't need to take it prematurely. We can see what this impact is going to be and we can make a better decision by just letting it flow for a little bit. So hopefully that helped you have some context around this idea of bias towards action and letting it flow, when to push and when to pause. Because discernment is the key. And you can't have that discernment if you don't practice self-inquiry, if you don't get curious with your team,

[00:18:12] if you don't dig into what's really the best decision here. And often we leaders who have a strong bias towards action can make premature decisions and act too quickly. But you have to be careful to not let the pendulum slide too far the other way and let things flow for too long and miss those opportunities. Don't fix an issue or don't address something in the marketplace because you're letting it play out for too long.

[00:18:40] So to summarize all of that, effective leaders master the dance between doing and allowing. And that is key. So the takeaways from today's podcast. Number one, recognize your default tendencies and their strengths and weaknesses. Do you have that bias towards action or do you let things flow? When is it a good thing? When is it a bad thing? When it leads to a positive outcome and when it leads to a negative outcome. Number two, use reflective questions to determine the best approach in any given situation.

[00:19:09] Ask yourself those questions. What is needed right now? Should I push? Should I pause? What is my team trying to tell me? Would we benefit from a little bit more information? Or would we benefit from acting right now? Ask yourself those questions. And finally, number three, cultivate patience and trust. Patience and trust is such an essential skill and it is so underrated. Sometimes you just need to be patient. You need to be cool, calm and collected and say, I'm going to let things flow.

[00:19:37] And sometimes you have to take action and that's what's needed. And having that discernment is really the most powerful thing. So I encourage you today to reflect on your leadership style. Notice when you're inclined to act and notice when you should pause and then practice that discernment intentionally. With that, I'm going to leave you for your day. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you think that someone could benefit from this podcast episode, please feel free to share it with them. And of course, if you like this podcast, subscribe to it on YouTube

[00:20:07] or your favorite podcast platform. Rate it. Write a review. Send me a comment. I really appreciate it. And if you like this type of content, please be sure to check out my book, The Ownership Mindset. You can find it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or at your local bookstore just to have them order it. You can do a deeper dive on this exploration of personal development and how to be this kind of leader. All right. We will leave you for your day. I hope you have a fantastic one and we'll see you next week.