Pause, Center and Pivot: Practicing Agility in the Face of Uncertainty
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by Becca Krantz, CORE lead organizer, August 2015
At CORE we have long practiced a kind of organizational agility and plan-act-reflect-redesign cycle recommended by organizational experts. During the current period, while I am in treatment for breast cancer, we are faced with an even greater than usual need for agility. Our capacity is both lower and less predictable, and as a result we have cut back on what we’re trying to accomplish this year. In fact, we have decided not to run our successful Match for Change program this fall as we did the past two years. While we are sad about this, we also see it as an opportunity to pause and step back to do a deeper assessment of this program’s impact and how it aligns with our newly articulated promise and vision. See more on this in the Match for Change update below. {link} As we navigate this challenge together, we are reflecting and learning as we go, and as much as possible living more deeply into our values.
While this situation is in some ways unique to us and this moment, it is also the kind of challenge many organizations face. Organizations are made up of |
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people, with real and often challenging lives, and the whole is impacted whether we share the details of those challenges with each other or not. Combined with other organizational issues like the vagaries of funding and unexpected changes in the external environment, there can be a lot of uncertainty in organizational life.
Dealing effectively with ambiguity and uncertainty is a pretty high-level leadership skill, I think. As a consultant I once sat in a meeting with the leaders of two well-respected national organizations who were comparing notes on their use of Lominger’s FYI: For Your Improvement, A guide for development and coaching, which articulates 67 leadership competencies, 10 performance dimensions, and 19 “Career stallers and stoppers.” Knowing these two extremely accomplished leaders and their jobs a bit, I expected them to be focusing on trying to improve their time- and people-management skills. To my surprise, both said they felt that their biggest challenge was the competency that FYI labels “Dealing with Ambiguity.”
One of the things we are learning at CORE about how to deal with uncertainty is the need for extra communication. For instance, we usually assume we know who will staff an upcoming meeting of an established committee. Recently, however, we have had to assess, will I be up for planning the agenda, showing up, and facilitating the meeting, or will I hand it over to Julie? And when will I communicate that hand-off if it needs to happen?
Another aspect of dealing with uncertainty is the ability to “pivot,” or be able to stay centered (or return quickly to center) in the midst of a rapid change of plans. A few weeks ago, my planned chemo treatment didn’t happen because my blood counts were too low. When I got this news, instead of heading home from the clinic, I had my chemo buddy drop me off at the CORE office partway through a committee meeting I'd been hoping to Skype into from the chemo chair. It was great to see everyone in person and participate more fully than I would've been able to do via Skype. Then, because my chemo had been postponed until the following day, we also decided on the spot to have the staff meeting originally planned for the following day.
I realized we were doing what my somatic coaching training calls "two-stepping." The “two-step” is an exercise drawn from Aikido, where you take a couple of steps while reversing direction, practicing finding your center each time you change direction. It's good practice for a sudden change of plans like going to work instead of getting chemo, or having tomorrow’s meeting today! It felt good to be able to access this internal and team flexibility.
Dealing effectively with ambiguity and uncertainty is a pretty high-level leadership skill, I think. As a consultant I once sat in a meeting with the leaders of two well-respected national organizations who were comparing notes on their use of Lominger’s FYI: For Your Improvement, A guide for development and coaching, which articulates 67 leadership competencies, 10 performance dimensions, and 19 “Career stallers and stoppers.” Knowing these two extremely accomplished leaders and their jobs a bit, I expected them to be focusing on trying to improve their time- and people-management skills. To my surprise, both said they felt that their biggest challenge was the competency that FYI labels “Dealing with Ambiguity.”
One of the things we are learning at CORE about how to deal with uncertainty is the need for extra communication. For instance, we usually assume we know who will staff an upcoming meeting of an established committee. Recently, however, we have had to assess, will I be up for planning the agenda, showing up, and facilitating the meeting, or will I hand it over to Julie? And when will I communicate that hand-off if it needs to happen?
Another aspect of dealing with uncertainty is the ability to “pivot,” or be able to stay centered (or return quickly to center) in the midst of a rapid change of plans. A few weeks ago, my planned chemo treatment didn’t happen because my blood counts were too low. When I got this news, instead of heading home from the clinic, I had my chemo buddy drop me off at the CORE office partway through a committee meeting I'd been hoping to Skype into from the chemo chair. It was great to see everyone in person and participate more fully than I would've been able to do via Skype. Then, because my chemo had been postponed until the following day, we also decided on the spot to have the staff meeting originally planned for the following day.
I realized we were doing what my somatic coaching training calls "two-stepping." The “two-step” is an exercise drawn from Aikido, where you take a couple of steps while reversing direction, practicing finding your center each time you change direction. It's good practice for a sudden change of plans like going to work instead of getting chemo, or having tomorrow’s meeting today! It felt good to be able to access this internal and team flexibility.
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Another thing we think is important about dealing with uncertainty is transparency. We want to be up front with members of the CORE community about what we are dealing with, but we want to do so without being wishy-washy or reducing people’s trust in our ability to deliver. We are trying to be as clear as possible about which things people can count on us for, and which things are a second-tier priority whose fulfillment will depend on our capacity.
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Just as individuals can practice centering through change, as a team we are practicing returning to our organizational “center;” our core values, vision, and practices we know help us deliver on our promise to the world. |
And, we are learning that our culture of valuing relationships deeply can support us during this time of uncertainty. People who have already given time, money, and expertise to help create CORE are being invited to step in and step up more, and many are doing so. We learn more about each other and our connections as we traverse this new territory, and sometimes find our connections strengthened as a result. Just as individuals can practice centering through change, as a team we are practicing returning to our organizational “center;” our core values, vision, and practices we know help us deliver on our promise to the world.
We are interested to hear from others in our network what you may have learned about operating in conditions of uncertainty and /or reduced capacity. Please try out our new comment feature below, or send us an email!
We are interested to hear from others in our network what you may have learned about operating in conditions of uncertainty and /or reduced capacity. Please try out our new comment feature below, or send us an email!
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