Face reality, find the gap, make progress

#WeeklyNRG – A Snapshot of All Things #NRG

This week’s theme? Face reality, find the gap, make progress.

It sounds simple, but honestly assessing where we are — as leaders, teams or organisations — can be surprisingly difficult. We may avoid information that challenges how we see ourselves, or feel stuck because we can see a gap between where we are and where we want to be, but cannot yet see how to close it. Research on “motivated avoidance” suggests people sometimes avoid feedback about their progress when it threatens their self-image. That doesn’t mean we are unwilling to improve; it can mean we need to make looking honestly at the facts feel safe and useful, rather than like a verdict on our worth.

The Weekly Debrief

This week has prompted me to think about what honest self-assessment looks like in leadership. I have some areas of my own leadership skills that I want to improve, and I need to be honest with myself about the gap between where I am now and where I want to be. That is not always comfortable — but it is difficult to make progress if we do not first understand our starting point.

I studied music and played the clarinet and piano. I was never naturally brilliant at either; I had to work very hard. But I fell in love with orchestration and conducting. Looking back, that feels like a rather good fit.

Being the chair of a board, or leading a company, has something in common with conducting an orchestra. The conductor does not play every instrument. Their job is to bring out the best in each player, help the different parts work together, find the right balance and give the group a clear sense of direction. In a business, that means understanding the strengths and challenges across the team, making space for different voices, and helping everyone contribute to a shared purpose.

The Week Ahead

This week I’m attending Leadership Live, The Institute of Leadership’s conference in Milton Keynes. It includes a full day of sessions, followed by an awards ceremony and a members’ event the next day. It is always inspiring, and I’m looking forward to hearing new ideas and meeting people who are thinking deeply about leadership.

I also want to use the experience to challenge myself — not just to collect interesting ideas, but to notice what I need to develop and what I might do differently. A conference can be energising, but the real value comes when we take something we have heard and put it into practice.

It will be another busy week of travel and meetings, but I’m looking forward to being challenged and inspired, in that order.

Lessons Learnt

We cannot change what we refuse to see. But seeing the reality clearly does not mean blaming ourselves or deciding we are not good enough. It means identifying the gap between the current situation and the outcome we want, then choosing a practical next step.

There is good evidence that translating a goal into a specific “if–then” plan can help turn intention into action — for example: “If I finish the conference on Friday, then I’ll write down one leadership behaviour I want to practise next week.” A review of 94 studies found that these kinds of plans improved goal achievement on average.

That is the approach I want to take: look honestly at where I am, decide what I want to improve, and make a plan that helps me move forward. Not perfection, and not a wholesale reinvention — just clearer awareness and deliberate progress.

Here’s to listening carefully, facing the facts without judgement, and helping the people around us make their best contribution. Just the right dose of #NRG.

Question for you: What is one gap you can see between where you are now and where you want to be — and what is one practical step you could take to start closing it?