Pausing–The Mark of a Powerful Contributor

This past summer I journeyed to Wales for the first time.
These days I select my vacation and retreat spots based on the beauty I am expecting to experience. Nature is soothing and relaxes my mind for careful and productive reflection. Though this is not true for all, I would say pausing does wonders for insightful and refreshed approaches to the demands of life.

When I began my career, I became intimately aware of long hours, hard work, demanding obligations, and at least a hundred voices a week seeking something from me. The latter describes the Wal-Mart management team member’s context.

Today, I still put in long hours, work hard, submit to demanding obligations, and the voices today are not only audible but stream in constantly through email. In a recent class discussion, my business students discovered that they could encounter some 400 emails a day in the workplace.

So what has changed in my professional life after some 20 years?

Realizing the value in pausing, reviewing, reflecting, and, when possible, seeking a little solitude.

If one really wants to make an impact and take responsibility for his or her contributions, there is a need to pause and question if a specific direction has yielded to the lessons of the past while considering the future. Sometimes solitude sets the stage for such consideration.

As I work with and coach student leaders in the Leadership Development Institute (LDI) and consider all the demands they face and will face after university life, I am determined to help these future local and global leaders see the value in pausing. Below is the excerpt of an email I sent after intense LDI team meetings:

Good Morning LDI Participants,

I want to thank you for what appeared to be very productive and engaged meetings last night.

Now, however, I need you to do something:

Pause, Review, and then Continue Meeting and Planning.

Take time to pause and review the following documents in your LDI Notebook:

Vision, Mission, and the LDI Agenda/Topics (see the Retreat agenda and the LDI Semester Calendar)

These topics were not selected at random; they support the features and tools of a leader.

. . .

Finally, considering your specific team, review the LOTY (Leader of the Year Award) Action Plan with noted dates and all that you reviewed above.

You are now ready to continue meeting, planning, researching, and developing questions to support phenomenal team initiatives.

A leader not only knows how to do something, but why and when he or she must complete various objectives and through which means achievement is possible.

Rupert

Do I practice what I propose? Yes. And if you would like to see the evidence, take a look at my Wales photos.