Full Potential Realized

Despite being grateful to get this feedback, I thought at the time the idea was dumb.

It’s so inefficient to have multiple meetings. If we’re all in the room at the same time, let’s just talk about it there

We don’t need to have repeated discussions about the same topic

very wasteful.

That was my take before I understood about the trust and alignment domain aspect of organizational life and how you have to be conscious of that if you’re operating above the Maverick Inflection Point.

When she told me I got the part about how you need to manage the dynamic in the room

Which can go sideways if you don’t have some people who are already on your side and have already thought through it with you

that it could become a frenzy sometimes and you don’t want that

But beyond that what I see now is how people think through things differently

Some people can process immediately. Some people need time to hear something and sit with it a bit.

So for those who process slowly or in quiet it’s it’s not ideal for them to be hearing it in the meeting

That’s just one example of an interpersonal preference.

It could also be that somebody would be willing to give you the feedback privately, but they’re not going to put themselves out there in the group.

They’re not going to use up their political chips to tell you in front of all the other leaders

As they might be stepping on somebody’s toes

Or whatever — so many reasons why what could go on in the group dynamic could be very different

When I think about the effort and time that is actually saved by previewing it and working through it with some of the key leaders that need to endorse it

because what I’ve also learned an organizational life is that you can push something through, but people will not take it up

So it looks like it was done, but whatever you’re trying to implement doesn’t happen unless people are really bought in

and if they are upset or uncomfortable about how they received the information that may throw the monkey wrench you don’t want for them and their people to stand behind it.

savvy

I love this reframe from what can feel terrible to framing it as a great opportunity. Because it can be if you shift your thinking a bit.

And the idea of recognizing signals looking for them and making sense of them and learning to read them is an important part of the transition to your next level career

because often no one comes out and explains what’s going on, but if you have the idea that you’re reading signals and not taking it personally, you’re getting data from what’s happening and how your colleagues are responding to you that you can use to elevate how you operate.

There’s a certain thing to do when you’re presenting to senior leaders that’s different from the thinking about the presentation or the deliverable from the expert perspective.

When I say operate in the trust in alignment domain,

I mean look through the executive’s lens — think about whatever you’re sharing from their perspective

and how aligned it feels to what you know is important to them.

Because as experts were often so infatuated with our area of interest, our area of expertise and doing the right thing for the business with it

that we’re not necessarily focused on how does it land for the executives

And by understanding how the business occurs to them and what’s really pressing for them,

you have a chance to shape what you say to make sure that it’s in alignment and that positions you as trustworthy.

On the other hand, if you come in with something that is not vetted and doesn’t land as aligned, it puts you in a vulnerable spot and can have unfortunate consequences.

See more about exactly how to handle this situation in the full YouTube video.

I’ll be posting it on Monday on my channel, Full Potential Realized.

Yesterday I had a juicy conversation with a woman about what do we want our leadership to look like and what don’t we want it to look like

And who are the role models that lead that way and where are they

And how can we show up powerful + kind, generous, inclusive.

Then with my family we watched 9 to 5 and all this week we’ve been so immersed in many heartfelt tributes to Dolly

and how she led with so much generosity and warmth, but at the same stood her ground, stood for her inclusive beliefs long before that was the norm, and held boundaries to show up how she wanted to show up.

She made a beautiful difference with her power for a lot of people.

And today listening one of my coach’s podcasts -

she was saying how we need to spend time talking more about what I call the desired state.

Like how it could really be if we do the work to get to the other side of the transformation —

what’s really possible and what could that be like.

In our case leading powerfully and with grace, playfulness, and ease.

I really got that I’m talking a lot about the problem and the situations that we find ourselves in

and I do touch on the desired state of what we want to be like, but I feel like we can have a lot more fun with that

and really paint the picture more frequently, more gloriously, and more creatively

because that’s the whole point of the work is adopting a new way for women to lead

Inclusively, dynamically and in a way that we think is cool

where we’re not taking up the harsh realities of capitalism run amuck

we’re not dressing people down in front of others, embarrassing people

we’re not leaving other women behind or pushing others down

We’re enjoying our power in a way that’s aligned with who we want to be.

Not shrinking, not apologizing, not making ourselves smaller, just rocking on and having fun.

My mother always used to say it’s not enough to just be smart. And I didn’t know what she meant and she didn’t explain.

But this is what she was talking about exactly.

And I thought it was just me, but I have found there’s a lot of women just like me who are very good at doing the work

and when it comes to thinking about navigating in the trust in alignment domain, we’re not paying attention to that

and it winds us biting us in the butt

and limiting our prospects.

So I implore you to start noticing what’s going on there if you’re not already studying it and learn to master that realm.

Because you absolutely can.