Get above the fray

Recently I stood in a crowded glass room in the centre of London. It was a lift on the side of an office tower.

I’m not used to London, and find the frenzied pace and congestion exhausting. Feet away from me, cyclists, taxis, cars, buses, lorries, pedestrians and, as it happened, scaffolders were all jostling for space, bumping into each other, weaving, slamming to a halt and grinding into motion again.

I don’t like crowds, either, and the lift was packed. I felt claustrophobic and anxious.

But then the lift started rising, and the people and vehicles became miniature versions of themselves. I could see other streets beyond the one we’d escaped from and the frenzied activity going on in those streets, as well.

People got off the lift. It went up some more, and more people got off.

Soon, I could see out beyond the city centre. There was the river, the sky, even fields on the horizon.

Intense and physical was the sense of relief. I felt exhilarated, expansive.

The fray down at street-level, instead of being oppressive and overwhelming, now had context. I could see how the city and its environs were knit together.

It made me think of the challenges senior teams face as they try and steer their companies or projects. Often, they’re stuck down in the fray, oppressed by street-level problems, limitations and anxieties.

What they can’t always see is the bigger picture, which includes the possibilities and threats out there on the horizon.

At one point they might have been aware of a bigger picture but, since then, the team’s collective consciousness has lost sight of it and sunk back down to street-level, which means that the bigger picture has lost its power to organise efforts.

You can get it back. You don’t have to ride a glass lift in London, but you do need to carve out some time to have the deliberate and focussed conversation.

I know: who’s got time for that?

It’s valid question, but I’d say that getting clarity and buy-in on the bigger picture is the first and most important task of a leadership team.

We help teams delivering critical projects get the bigger picture and establish a solid basis for success, whether at inception or after. Our popular one-day and half-day sessions introduce the principles described above. Check out Discovery Day.