When thick in the midst of chaos, change, and/or challenge, it can feel like pressure under heavy weight. Demands are intense, everything is “now,” details are many, breathing becomes shallow. Defeated, stressed, frustrated…there's no visible way out. The light at the end of the tunnel is merely a distant dot.
I’ve known the feeling—as if things are swirling out of control, wanting to just put my foot down to stop the spinning, needing a sense of clarity, not knowing where to start, being overwhelmed by the sense that everything is calling for my attention.
What I learned to do in those moments—despite my instinct to dig in further, work harder, work longer—was to just stop. Back up. Back out. Take perspective.
I’d scan the mounding emails, post-its, and collected papers, reflect on recent conversations, go out and observe actions and behaviors in my department, talk with staff…then write a list of everything that needed attention. No action, just a list. Suddenly, my priorities and “next steps” would emerge. I’d regain focus. Feel refreshed. And I hadn’t yet made a single action of progress towards the list.
This process I now know is called “getting on the balcony.” It’s a metaphor taken from the adaptive leadership model that encourages leaders to step away from the ground level where the activity and challenges swirl and look at things from a higher-level view, gaining perspective on what’s happening. With that comes greater clarity. (Seeing the forest, not just the trees.) Author Ryan Dunlap from How to Untie a Balloon says, “…getting on the balcony gives you the greatest opportunity to work on your problems without necessarily working in your problems.”
When we’re close to the chaos, we can’t see all the potential solutions. All we see is the swirl. Instead, if we zoom out and see things from an objective, third party view without the emotion, watching the action but not IN the action, suddenly patterns, options, realizations emerge.
Start with a time out. Literally step away. Distance yourself for a few moments. Take a deep breath. Then try asking yourself these questions:
- What key things am I seeking to achieve right now? Our brains are meant for processing information, not storing it. Do a brain dump and get the chaos out of your head and onto a list where you can manage it.
- What are my goals? Narrow the list. Try to limit priorities to five or less.
- What has my approach been towards those goals? How is that working for me? What’s going well? What’s not working well?
- If I removed all story and emotion from these current experiences, what would I notice differently? How might my perspective change?
- What is an opposing viewpoint (a viewpoint someone else might have about this)? What insight does that give me? What strengths of this different perspective challenge my current beliefs or conclusions?
- Which things that are beyond my control or influence do I need to let go of right now?
- What are my options? Which actions that I can control or influence will move me closest to the goals I am seeking to achieve? What is the next small step towards accomplishing that goal?
There’s value in the pause and zooming out (go slow to go fast). When you find yourself buried under the daily burdens, knowing there’s more to do than you can possibly accomplish, those are moments when you should take the balcony view.
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“Zoom in and obsess. Zoom out and observe. We get to choose.” - Rick Rubin
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Explore these workshops and programs offered by our RWHC Education Team to improve your skills of managing change, taking perspective, and handling multiple priorities:
- MindSET or MindSET Reboot
- Change Management: Leading Teams & Chartering Alternative Paths
- Monkey Management: Becoming an Effective Supervisor of Time, Energy & Talent
- Time Management: Prioritization, Procrastination, Distractions & Email
To learn more, visit: https://www.rwhc.com/Services/Educational-Services/Leadership-Series or email me at csearles@rwhc.com.
Consider joining our Leadership Bites program: https://www.rwhc.com/Services/Educational-Services/Leadership-Bites
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Corrie Searles, MPT, Leadership Development Educator
In Corrie’s role as Leadership Development Educator at the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative (RWHC), her aim is to empower leaders—formal and informal—to create positive influence that enables others to serve well.
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