How to Hold Body When Di Plan Scatter

Around di third bad news wey land, you go feel am. Di money no enter. Di person wey una wan hire no gree come. Di strategy wey you sell give everybody, di one wey carry your name, dey quietly scatter for your hand. And di room go just still for one kind way, because everybody dey wait to see your face.

Dat small pause na di whole work, right dia.

Wetin you do for di next few minutes no go fix di plan. Di plan don already spoil. But e go decide whether di people wey dey around you go spend di next week dey panic or dey work. To hold body na di one thing wey you fit still give when di strategy no fit survive, and na im come be di thing wey matter pass.

Dis one no be to pretend say everything dey alright. To dey form calm wey no dey real dey show like coldness, and people go smell am. Na to talk true say ground don shake, and to show, for how you carry am, say even as ground dey shake, person fit survive am.

Why di plan no ever be di real point

See one thing wey experience dey teach but planning culture dey hide: di plan na always bet, no be promise.

We dey build plan because e dey help us arrange and move. Dat one good and e worth to do. Di wahala go start when we begin believe say di plan na sure prophecy of wetin go happen instead of just our best guess for now about wetin fit happen. Di business writer Michael Mankins talk dis one plain for Harvard Business Review. Leaders dey always chase better prediction, dem believe say if dem fit just predict di future well well, dem go fit plan dia way go safety. E argue say dat chase na di wrong one. For world wey truly no sure, di advantage no dey go di person wey predict pass. E dey go di person wey adapt fastest.

Dat new way to see am go comot real weight from your shoulder. If di work na to predict di future, den plan wey scatter go mean say you fail your work. But dat one no be di work at all. Things change. Di bet no pay. Di real work, di one wey you fit still do well, na wetin you do next.

So di question for di quiet room no be "how I take get dis one wrong." Time go dey for dat one later, and na useful question. Di question for now small pass and e kind pass. As we dey where we dey now, wetin be di smartest next move?

Take your own body back first

You no fit lead anybody go anywhere while your own body dey for alarm.

When plan scatter, your body many times go take am like say na danger. Heart go dey beat fast, breath go dey shallow, thinking go narrow reach like tunnel. For dat state your judgment truly go worse, no be because you weak but because di part of brain wey dey think well go quiet when di alarm part loud. To try make sharp strategic decision for dat moment na like say you wan read for inside darkness.

Di fastest way pass na through di body, no be di mind.

• Take one slow breath before you talk anything. Make di breath wey you comout longer pass di one wey you take in. One real breath go buy you small seconds and e go tell your own body say di emergency, even though e real, no be life or death matter.
• Put your two feet flat for ground and feel dem dia. E sound like say e too simple. E dey work because e pull your attention comot from di story wey dey spin for your head enter di real room, where things, true true, still dey stand.
• Talk one honest sentence give yourself. Something wey true and plain: "Dis thing bad but I fit handle di next one hour." No be lie say everything dey fine. Na reminder say di time wey you need to survive short.

None of dis one dey fix di situation. E dey bring your sense back online so you fit fix am. Na dat one be di whole goal. You no dey aim to dey too calm. You dey aim to dey clear enough to think.

Talk di truth, den point go somewhere

When you turn back face di room, two things suppose happen for order, and di order matter.

First, call wetin dey real. People fit know when something no dey right, and if you cover am dem go stop to trust how you dey read everything else. "Di money no come. Dat one change our timeline and I no go pretend say e no change am." If you talk am calm, dat sentence dey do plenty. E dey tell people say you see wetin dem see, and na dat one be di foundation wey dey make dem fit follow you.

Den, and na only den, point go di next concrete thing. No be di whole new plan. You never get am, and to just invent one for spot so you go look like say you dey control na how leaders dey make di second mistake worse pass di first. Point go di next small thing wey person fit do. "See wetin we dey do today. I want make di three of us map wetin we still get before end of day. Tomorrow we go decide where e go go."

One next step, even di small one, na wetin dey turn a room wey freeze into one wey dey move. People no need make you get all di answers for di worst moment. Dem need to believe say road dey and say you go waka am with dem.

Watch di temperature as you dey do am. Anxiety dey catch person, and e dey spread faster pass calm. If you waka enter dey carry panic, you go hand am give everybody, and e go multiply as e dey go round di table. If you waka enter steady, you go give people something to borrow until dem find dia own footing again. You dey set di emotional weather for di group whether you mean am or not. E beta make you set am on purpose.

Make e safe make person fit talk wetin actually spoil

One longer game dey here too, and e dey start di moment wey things go wrong.

When plan fail, di most dangerous instinct for team na to just quiet. People go hide wetin dem see dey come, dem go soften wetin dem dey see now, and dem go protect demself instead of di work. You no fit fix wetin nobody go talk out loud. Di one thing wey useful pass wey leader fit do under pressure na to make e truly safe make person fit bring bad news.

Di Harvard researcher Amy Edmondson dey call dis one psychological safety, di shared feeling say you fit take small social risk, admit mistake, or raise problem without dem to punish you for am. Na through her own failure she take find di idea. She bin expect say beta hospital teams go make fewer mistakes, but her data show di opposite. Di beta teams report more. Di reason come be say good teams no dey make more mistakes. Dem just dey ready to talk about dem. Dat readiness, e come turn out, na wetin dey make team catch problem early and learn fast, wey na exactly di muscle wey you need when plan scatter.

You dey build dat safety for how you react when person hand you something hard.

• When person bring problem give you, thank dem before you do anything else. Even when di problem big. Especially dat time. Di instinct to punish di messenger na di same instinct wey go blind you next time.
• Take your own part out loud. "I push dis timeline too hard and na my fault." Leader wey fit talk dat one dey teach di whole team say to admit mistake na something person fit survive. Dat one example dey do more for honesty pass any policy.
• Take di wreck as information, no be just damage. Plan wey fail dey tell you something true about reality wey your plan no put for mind. Di teams wey dey recover well na di ones wey dey curious about dat signal instead of to rush bury am.

Na dis be di difference between setback wey quietly dey poison trust and di one wey, surprisingly, come make di team stronger. Same event. Completely different aftermath, e depend on whether people feel safe enough to talk true about am.

Di debrief, when everything don calm down

For up dia I talk say time go dey to ask how you take get dis one wrong, just no be for di quiet room. Dis na dat time. Few days after, once di immediate scatter don cool down, di plan wey fail get one more thing to give you, and most teams dey throway am.

Most groups dey skip di honest look back. E dey uncomfortable, everybody don tire for di matter, and new fire dey to fight. So di lesson wey di failure bin wan teach go unlearned, and di same kind mistake go show up six months later dey wear different cloth. Di debrief na how you take stop to pay twice for di same loss.

Di trick na to run am without di blame wey dey make people defensive and quiet. Few ways to keep am useful:

• Separate di decision from di outcome. Choice fit make sense based on wetin you know for dat time and still turn out bad, because di world no sure. Ask first whether di decision correct based on di information wey dey, den separately ask which information you for like get. Dat one dey keep people from punishing good judgment just because luck waka di other way.
• Look for di signal wey you ignore. Almost every plan wey fail bin dey send warning before. Somebody get bad feeling. One number look off. Find di moment wey you for know earlier, and di lesson many times no be about to sabi pass but about to listen earlier.
• Write down one thing wey you go do differently, and stop dia. Debrief wey produce list of twenty fixes dey produce zero. One concrete change wey you go actually make worth more pass perfect autopsy wey nobody go act on.

If you do am dis way, di conversation go stop to be about who to blame and go become about wetin di team now know wey dem no know before. Na dat one be di quiet payoff wey dey hide inside plan wey scatter. You no go get di plan back. You go get small wisdom, together, for one way wey plan wey just succeed no for ever make you.

When to hold body hard to find

Some of dis one you fit practice, and e go dey easier. Some weeks e no go easy, and dat one worth to talk plain.

If plan wey scatter dey land on top everything else, if you dey lie down for bed no fit sleep dey run di same thought, dey snap at people wey you care about, dey fear di morning, dat one no be leadership problem wey you go just force pass. Na sign say you dey carry more pass wetin steadiness exercises fit hold. Real pressure, if e last long enough, dey wear your sleep, your body, and your mind, and to push harder no be di fix.

Talk to person. Padi wey you trust wey go tell you di truth. Doctor, if your sleep or your body don start to fall. Therapist, wey fit help you carry di weight and think clearer pass how you fit do am alone. To reach for dat kind support no be crack for your leadership. Di leaders wey dey last for decades almost never be di ones wey run hottest and tough everything solo. Na di ones wey sabi when to get help, and dem get am, so dem fit continue show up steady for di people wey dey count on dem.

Di plan go scatter again one day. Dem dey scatter. Wetin you dey really build, for di moment e scatter, no be better prediction. Na di kind presence wey people fit stand near when ground dey shake. Dat one worth more pass any plan, and unlike di plan, na your own to keep.

Sources

• Harvard Business Review, In Uncertain Times, the Best Strategy Is Adaptability (Michael Mankins)
• Amy C. Edmondson, The Intelligent Failure That Led to the Discovery of Psychological Safety (Behavioral Scientist)
• HelpGuide.org, Dealing with Uncertainty