In today’s climate, executives usually create a sense of urgency in the organization to decide, execute, and change fast. This is particularly important when the organization is at peril because of dramatic market changes. Unless the organization adapts quickly or acts quickly, it will probably fail.
Urgency triggers much adrenaline, which pushes our teams to run sprints, sell more, produce faster, repair quicker, and the like. If it doesn’t create panic, the sense of urgency usually brings the anticipated benefits.
However, this is only when it happens occasionally and for a short time span. In fact, trying to keep the sense of urgency for many months and years is usually not sustainable. People get exhausted or indifferent and complacent.
Urgency should be used for a short period of time, giving the organization time to recover. Continuously dramatizing the situation of the organization or exaggerating the severe consequences for the people has the risk of killing the leader’s credibility.
Equally important to the sense of urgency is to practice patience. Often, new ventures, expanding to new geographies, or triggering significant operational changes take longer than initially planned to show positive results. It’s not uncommon that impatience leads executives to kill ambitious projects just before they start flourishing.
Naturally, executives should remain demanding to avoid employee complacency or negligence that can jeopardize new projects. On the other side, they should objectively assess the reasons for taking longer to bring positive results and, if needed, get involved hands-on to help the failing team before they decide to stop a new operation.
ISOROPIN the sense of urgency and the virtue of patience is important in this fast-changing world.