How Do I Determine the Right Pace to Fulfill Our Strategic Goals? | Coaching Real Leaders

29:35Yeah. And in the order of priorities, right? I'm assuming you have priorities. In the order of Where do these conversations or this gaining alignment with the collaborators doing the strategy work, where is it from a priority standpoint? point? It's a really high priority for me because what we are trying to do is create a campus-wide culture, meaning that students don't necessarily have to come to a member of our team to gain the preparation and the readiness that they need to launch, but it's just infused. It's everywhere. And so in looking at trying to create this campus-wide culture, which is just so hard to get your hands around.

30:24Like it's hard to know when is enough. Like is it if every department, every academic department has this as a part of their major declaration process? Is that too late? And so does it therefore need to be during a first or second your experience that every student has. Okay. So I can't tell you that because I'm not in the institution, right? And nobody else is going to be able to tell you that because you're leading this. And that's part of leadership, right? Part of leading it is being able to put a stake in the ground to say, this is how we're defining success. And this is the evidence we would be looking for that would help indicate that we've achieved the culture that we want to achieve.

31:17But it starts with, well, what is that culture? And then what evidence, what would we need to see to believe that this culture is now in place? And I'm saying you need to put a stake in the ground as the leader, but because it's an institutional, organizational-wide culture that you're trying to implement, you can't come up with what that looks like in isolation, which is where the process of getting alignment and getting folks to provide input and weigh in on what they think the culture should be on what they would see as evidence as to what they define as success is going to be important for you.

31:57Yes. So I'm hearing a couple of things, right? One is, this is one of your high priorities in terms of defining the culture and then defining the plan that's going to get you there and aligning with the collaborators that are going to get you there. And the other thing I'm hearing is, but it's unclear what we're aiming for. So I think you need to start with getting clarity on what you're aiming for. There's no way you can answer how much time should I be spending in my calendar if there's not some clarity around what the destination is, right? If we go back to this airplane, you've decided you're not staying in a holding pattern.

32:38You're going to move towards a destination. Well, you've got to figure out like, well, what's the destination that I'm going to? And then you need to check how much gas do I have? Do we have enough? You know, are they able to let us land there? And so that's the equivalent, right? You have to sort of articulate a destination. And then you need to go check with the collaborators and say, is this doable? Are you aligned with this? Does this fit with your vision? So there's a strategic level muscle that needs to start from an umbrella standpoint to kind of see the whole process and own it and drive it before you can get down to the nitty gritty of how are we timing this thing?

33:23Right? Right. Right. Okay. And then in terms of your question of, well, then how do I spend my time? Look, I think if you truly feel like this is one of your priorities, one of your top two or top three priorities, then I think you need to use a bit of a different approach than what you have used. The approach you told me you've been using is you look at your calendar and you look at where can you squeeze in this strategic planning and these strategic conversations. I think if the strategic planning and the strategic conversations are your priority it should be the reverse that should be in your calendar and then you're looking to squeeze in the other stuff yes so if you did that what what would that look like how much space would you be giving it and what would it look like in your calendar I think I would have something that's helping move toward this priority four out of five days of the week.

34:21You've got your answer. Yeah. And what makes you land on that four to five days a week? Just because I think the recognition that it's going to take, this will not be achieved without investing significant time. And it is going to take multiple conversations and those take time. And it probably won't take a single conversation with any one person. It might take multiple conversations because something that you said about, I've got to paint the picture of where we're going and what I'm hoping to achieve. But then there's just got to be a lot of listening and a lot of hearing from others where what are the challenges that they're trying to solve for?

35:12What are their pain points? and then what are ways that this strategic vision and direction could actually help address some of the things that they are concerned about and that they're trying to do but that's just going to be a lot of listening and it can't be me going in and just talking it's got to be having some conversation points some prompts and some questions that guide the conversation so that I'm hearing information that people need to share with me, but that's just going to take time. And so I think that's the answer is to block this time to try to be available, to try to initiate these conversations just so that I can hear what others are thinking and hoping and see how we could then get in alignment to still achieve this strategic goal.

36:11Yeah. And I think using this word initiate is important, right? It's not just making yourself available. It's initiating it. It's driving it. It's matching up your schedule and your time to your priorities. And only you can decide what those priorities are, particularly because you're kind of in a state right now of not getting direction. Nobody's telling you what your priorities should be. Nobody's telling you where to spend your time. It's kind of like, you know, ironically, it's kind of like the students you deal with when they get to college. Nobody's telling them anymore. Right? So think about it that way.

36:58Okay. It's freshman year. Right. And so if you think about it from that standpoint, like literally, all jokes aside, like it's freshman year, what advice would you give the freshman in this sense of ambiguity that can also be a sense of freedom? Right. And what can you apply to yourself? Yeah, I think the question that you asked much earlier in the conversation just made me realize I teach people how to do this every day. And yet. And yet. And yet. Right? If we would only listen to our inner teacher. Right. And yet. It's a challenge that I've been struggling with. You know. But I asked you at some point, like, what's the struggle?

37:50Okay. Okay. And so now sort of looking back on the conversation we had, what would you define the struggle as being? I think there are two struggles. I think one is I have had this strategic vision for many years and yet we are in this waiting period. And so I think part of the struggle is press forward or wait, you know, and both choices are possible. So I think that's one struggle. I think the second struggle is just time is finite. And unfortunately, I wish it weren't so, but it is. And so there just are a lot of demands on my time. And some of them are things I have to say yes to. And then others are things that I choose to say yes to because they are things that also matter to me, even though they're maybe not my top strategic priorities.

38:51And so I think the struggle has been how to figure out how to fit it all in in any given week because it all seems important. Because it all seems important. Ugh. Right? I mean, these are choices. And choices are trade-offs. Right. Right. Because this, you know, how can I fit it all in when I don't have all the time in the world? You don't. As you said, time is finite. It's bounded. Well, not really, but in our physical realm, it's bounded. Right. It is. Right? It is. So what you're struggling with is making a choice. Right. But why is making a choice hard for you? I think because there is so much that we could be doing.

39:47There is so much that we already do. And I don't want to stop doing those things, but yet I have the appetite for us to do more. And I, a member of my team who I work with, I learned a phrase from her that I'm a time optimist. She is a time realist. it's a being a time realist versus a time optimist I'm a time optimist and so I think that there should be more time to do more and there should be more opportunity to do more as we try to serve our students in the best possible way and a time realist would say you got to make a choice we can't do all these things because there isn't enough time so the time optimist that I am, doesn't like that answer and doesn't want to hear that answer, wants to continue to just push ahead and to try to keep adding more and more, which is unrealistic.

40:47Yeah. But you know, there is such a thing that is known as a realistic optimist. Okay. I think this is going to be what we're going to aim for. Realistic optimism, right? And the optimism part, it is the having a vision that you're pushing forward towards. You see what's possible. That's the optimism part. The realistic part is what can be done within the context, the framing of where we are towards that vision. And I think you're seeing them as mutually exclusive, right? Like if I can't be doing everything right now as it relates to that vision, then I'm not marching towards that vision. That's not true.

41:37There's a difference between what can I do within the time frame that I have or the time limitations that I have, which is for you on a weekly basis, 24 times seven, but hopefully you're not using up all that time. Right. What can I do? There's a difference between that question and the question, what can be done during that time? And so what's the difference to you when I say that? The difference is finding other people who want to help do the work and spreading it out. To me, that's the difference. Yeah, because this is where you have to ask yourself, particularly for you as a leader, who's now what we call scaling up, right?

42:21You went from managing a team to now managing multiple teams, you went to becoming a manager of managers. What is more important to you, that you're doing the work or that the work is getting done? Oh, it's very much more important to me that the work is getting done. Okay. Right. Okay. So this is where the realistic part is, what can I do within my time parameters? How do I prioritize? How do I make choices? Of which one of the parts that you're responsible for is making sure that the other work that you aren't responsible for personally is getting done. So I think I want you to hold this like being a realist and an optimist because the reality part is in the present and the optimist part is in the future.

43:16Right. And so it's your capability, your capacity to hold both. Your calendar is what holds you to the reality, the present. The vision is what holds you to the future, the optimist part. They're not mutually exclusive.

43:35In talking through how she might tactically move forward to her goals, we've worked through a few important points here with Mo. It was interesting that she zeroed in on the number of calls on the specifics of how to divide her time as she works towards her goals, which is an important concrete thing to do. To set goals around what she can achieve, what she has control over, what she can measure the results of. But in some ways, she was focusing on the trees and we lost a bit of the forest. I love that we reach this point of being a realistic optimist and how to hold both of those things at once.

44:12Because that allows her to think realistically about her time, how she spends her weeks, and how much time she needs to reach the goals she has for the team. But also allows her to hold on to the excitement and hope she has around those goals. And realize that there are things within her control. She just has to make some decisions. I wanted to dive back in because I was picking up on something from Mo, that she's having a bit of a hard time prioritizing because she has this feeling that time is limited, but that her goals will also take years to accomplish. I asked her about how that tension made her feel.

44:52I feel okay about it. There is part of me who wishes that we were already there, many of the there's. Like there are lots of things that I already wish we had accomplished, but I know that it takes time and I know that it's okay to invest the time. I mean, if that's okay, that's a good use of time is to try to work toward accomplishing these strategic directions. But I am just a little impatient and I wish in many cases that we were already there, but I just have to keep reminding myself of the work that we have accomplished. It's just, it's been good to go back and reflect and like look through prior strategic plans and realize, okay, these are things that we got done.

45:39These are new initiatives that we started and we're doing them and they are working and they're good. What's hard is to look at all of the tactics that we had hoped to implement by this time and, you know, that we just haven't even begun yet. And so that is a call to realism. Just was that too optimistic to try to think that all of those things could have been accomplished in a three or four year time period? I mean, I think it's good to have aimed for it, but it just shows that there's still so much to be done. Yeah. So I'm sensing that you're looking back and saying, you know, we've been down this road before and we didn't accomplish it.

46:24But man, not on my watch. If I'm flying this plane, we are getting to this destination. We are trying to get there. Yes. We are trying to get there. Yes. And there's no magic ball as to whether you're going to get there or not. Obviously, you wouldn't be heading in that direction if you didn't think you could. Right. But that's what you have to try to figure out is what is within our capabilities. Yes. Okay. Exactly. And because it's multi-year and because it's culture, look, the culture, this is the thing with culture change, right? Like people are like, oh, I want to change the culture and it needs to happen in a year.

47:05I'm like, well, the current culture you're in didn't get created in one year. So why the expectation that it's going to change to something else overnight? Right. You know, creating a new culture is like changing organizational habits. Yes. and when we think about how much time it takes just for habits at an individual level to change think about what it takes collectively right and so with that in mind i'm just curious around what your expectations are do you have a sense of what you can expect to even happen within the next year and then the next two years and the next three years? Have you mapped it out in that way?

47:51We are in a process of doing that right now. There was a larger strategic planning process that then needed to be put on hold just with the change in top leadership. With a new leader starting just in a few months, that strategic planning process will begin again. And then at that point, you know, we'll know which of our, which of the things that matter to us so that we have thought were important will be adopted and which of the things will not be adopted. So, so I think it's hard to know, like, where will we be in 12 months, 24 months until we know what the strategic priorities of the institution are and where ours help push forward the strategic priorities.

48:37So again, you're back to, you got to figure out what you can figure out within the context that you're in. And you've already decided you're going to do that. Why the impatience? How does that help you in any way? Yeah, I guess it doesn't. I guess. I mean, I'm not making judgment. Like I'm curiously, you're like, I guess, you know, you either don't guess. Is it helping you? Is it not helping you? Why be impatient? I think the impatience is at the point that I am in my career, I view this as the final chapter. So within 10 years max, I will decide to retire. It could be eight years and eight years is going to fly by.

49:24And so knowing that there is just as the weeks have finite bounds on them, like the years now I'm starting, it's not this infinite stretch of my career, but I'm starting to see that there is a pretty finite length of time that will move pretty rapidly just because the years do. The years move pretty rapidly. And I would like this to be a legacy of my career, this strategic vision. So now we're seeing. That's why the impatience. That's why the impatience. That's So there's a level of urgency for you because you're seeing your timeline with this organization as finite. Yes. And you want to make sure that the work gets done within the next couple of years that you're going to be there.

50:23Yes. Because this is kind of your, as you see it, final hurrah. Right. Right? Right. But is it? in this role. I think it is. Yes, I think it is. So there's definitely a completion or an ending in terms of time that you're there. There's a difference between time being finite and then what happens with impact. Impact is not finite or it doesn't have to be. Right. So I think the formula that you're actually solving for, I'm going to go back on what I said earlier. I actually think now that you've shared this, the formula you're solving for is what should I be spending my energy on in the next couple of years to ensure that it has impact beyond those years?

51:12Yes. So when we frame it that way, how does that inform where you should be spending your time? Does it inform it any differently? I don't feel like it does. I feel like it still calls me to focus on my top priorities of which the strategic vision of this culture is the top. Okay. Because of the impact that it can have, because if we get it right, then every student going forward is impacted. Every student, 100 % of them. Yeah. So perhaps where you need to feel rest assured, have some confidence is that if you put in the effort now, there will be a residual beyond the years, right? It's no different than like, I mean, again, I keep coming back to this because you're in the field of educating young people, right?

52:17And you've dealt with alums, alumni. It's no different than you put in those four years while they're there. Right. Is that really the end all? When do you start seeing the results? Right. I mean, the results, you can see the results during the four years. You can see the results within the first years. You can see the results in some cases, because I've worked with them for a long time, like a decade and two decades later, you still see the results. Exactly. And so the confidence has to come in. Can you trust that what you're doing now is going to have the long-term results, the long-term impact that's aligned with the vision that you have for the culture.

53:02And you may not see it. I hope you do. But rather than thinking, I need to do everything that's possible, right? The exhaustive list of what's possible to see this culture come to life within the timeframe that I've put on this because it's tied to my retirement age. Right. Right. Right. Not arbitrary. Right. Right. Okay. If we put a bit of a different lens on it, which is what can I do? Where can I put my efforts and my team efforts in the time that we do have so that it sets the foundation, maybe even the next step, it sets the scaffolding, maybe even more than that for the culture that we hope to have.

53:56And as you said, it sounds like that doesn't really change what you came to around, hey, I just, I need to be prioritizing these strategic conversations. I need to be prioritizing the aligning and start off probably a little slower. Right. So that I build a strong foundation. And for you, it's, you know, we started off this conversation where you ask, is what I'm doing enough? Right. And so when we frame it that way, in terms of the doing, being in service of the longer-term impact of the culture, what does enough look like for you? Yeah. I think enough looks like, you know, defining success maybe in smaller chunks so that it's easier to know, yes, this was enough.

54:48We were able to define what success would look like in year one, and either we achieved it or we came close. I think in a way, by making the timeframe smaller, instead of realizing that the timeframe is eight to 10 years, like figuring out what would success look like in 12 to 24 months? What could we call that? If we could consider it a win, if we were able to do X within 12 to 24 months, I think that that would be more helpful than trying to have this very large bowl that has a very long timeframe because it's hard to know within a shorter timeframe, was it enough? Did we get anything done? If you're constantly looking out so far ahead.

55:41Right. Right. And just because you have the shorter time frame of what success looks like in the next year, two year, three years, week, doesn't mean that you're letting go of the longer term vision and the longer term goal. It's actually the contrary. Those shorter term milestones are what keeps you moving towards that goal. And maybe instead of asking yourself, am I doing enough? The question could be, am I doing what's aligned with the longer vision? Because I mean, are we ever doing, who knows? Enough is such a relative term. The question is, are you doing and is it aligned? That's it. Right.

56:38Is what we're doing aligned with that longer term vision? Yes. Okay. Yes. There's a, I can't remember the name of the book now, but it's by one of my favorite writers, Tenahisi Coates. In the book, he talks about the march towards justice. Yes. And anti-racism and how we need to really think about what we're doing in that area as this multi-generational effort rather than thinking what we're going to do is going to make us see that vision come to life in our lifetime. Right. It might. It would be great if it did. I mean, of course, nobody's going to say, no, no, no, no, no, we don't want to end racism in my lifetime.

57:32Let it wait. Nobody wants to say that. And so there's the optimism that it will end, that there's a hope that it ends. And then there's a realism that it might not end in my lifetime, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop the work. right so i think in any change effort that's the case right what you're doing with these kids in school you're planting the seed in them you're creating a foundation so that they can go out in the world but you might not see as you said the impact till 20 years down the line you might never see it but you have to trust that it's going to be there right that you've done what you needed to do in alignment with them being able to be successful in the world as alums yes that's right so let me ask you a question how much are you struggling now versus how you were struggling when we first started our conversation so i it's been really helpful to realize that i need to define success but then i need to define it in shorter time frames as opposed to having this very long far off goal so that I think is going to that's going to help me that's going to help a lot and it's going to help me struggle less and it's going to help me realize that enough is a really weird word to try to define um as far as a week goes and And so I think that I hope to struggle less.

59:18I think there's a lot to think about. And I don't do this work alone. I mean, there are great partners in the immediate team. And so, you know, this is just really helpful as we anticipate bigger strategic conversations as an institution. and as we try to figure out how our work supports those strategic initiatives. Yeah. Defining success in shorter term groups, that's just going to be really, really helpful. Yeah. Because it will help me feel like, it'll help me measure what enough is, right? Because if you can figure out what does success look like in the coming academic year, then you can reverse engineer and figure out, okay, by May or June of next year, if we want to be at a specific place, then okay, what do we need to do to get to that specific place?

1:00:14And so trying to make smaller goals and name what those milestones are is just going to be so helpful. So helpful. Because the phrase boiling the ocean, right, like comes up like that is, Of course I want to boil the ocean. Wouldn't that be great? I mean, no. So I struggle with the wanting to do it all. And so just remembering that you can't and figuring out, okay, what could be done in 12 months and within 24 months? And then measure the path, measure success in those smaller timeframes. In those smaller timeframes with the confidence that it will have a residual impact over and beyond the finite time limit that you've said.

1:01:04Right. Very nice. Thank you. Thank you. Hopefully that was helpful. It was so helpful. I've got anxious. It was very helpful. Thank you so much.

1:01:23sometimes it takes a while during a coaching session to really understand my client's underlying motivation and we cracked this code further into the conversation as we started talking more about the years left in her career and the legacy mo wanted to leave she came into the conversation focused on how to be a manager of managers and how to set strategic priorities But like with so many leaders, there was also something else at play for Mo, the desire to leave a lasting legacy. Having a better understanding of this, why she felt the need to move quickly, and why she felt frustrated when it felt like things were moving too slowly, was the key to her breakthrough.

1:02:02Once Mo came to this realization, it helped her reframe her goals and the milestones she wanted to hit. In some ways, this reframing might help Mo reset her parameters to shift from the idea that she's doing enough and moving fast enough to ensuring that what she's doing is aligned with her longer-term vision. This shift will help her better reach her goal of doing what needs to be done and making a lasting impact at her organization.

1:02:37that's it for this episode of coaching real leaders next time i felt unsuccessful both in asking for and receiving the support that i needed but also building trust with the new leadership that i had slowly my team began to be reduced want more of this episode join the Coaching Real Leaders community, where I host live discussions to unpack the coaching sessions you hear on this show. Become a member at coachingrealleaderscommunity.com. You can also find more from me on LinkedIn at Muriel Wilkins. Thanks to my producer, Mary Dute, sound editor, Nick Kringko, music composer, Brian Campbell, my assistant, Emily Sofa, and the entire team at HBR.

1:03:20Much gratitude to the leaders who join me in these coaching conversations and to you, our listeners who share in their journeys. If you're dealing with a leadership challenge, I'd love to hear from you and possibly have you on the show. Apply at coachingrealleaders.com. And of course, if you love the show and learn from it, pay it forward, share it with your friends, subscribe, and leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. From the HBR Podcast Network, I'm Muriel Wilkins. Until next time, be well.

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