When change, decisions and stakeholder engagement feels like you’re wading through sludge, it might be time to slow down to speed things up.
There are a lot of people experiencing this at the moment. It’s the end of the year, people are tired, there’s been a lot of change throughout the year and frankly they’ve had enough.
It makes sense.
But it doesn’t mean you should stop or give up. You might just need to slow down so they can catch up with you.
Let me explain.
As many of you know, I have horses and have been riding my whole life. Something I’ve learned through natural horsemanship practice is that if you march into the paddock, shove a halter on a horse and then drag them out, you’re in for a rough ride.
But if you walk in, have a little chat, offer a bit of food, place the halter over their head and then stand beside them as they start walking, you’re in harmony and the energy is calmer, more collaborative and way more rewarding.
Horsemanship is about building a respectful partnership with a very large and strong animal that could kill you. So it pays to work with them.
Now think about this approach from the perspective of the stakeholders, teams and peers you need to bring with you. If your SOP is forcing change and dragging them with you, they’re going to resist.
This can slow your growth for years.
Slowing down and communicating better will speed things up more than you can imagine.
If you’d like help bringing your stakeholders with you and getting some results before Christmas, just shoot me an email.
There’s nothing like a little peace of mind before going away.
Nina
PS. I had grand plans for a couple of little videos demonstrating this approach, but every time I went near the horse paddock on the weekend they were waiting for me at the gate…
