The Blessing Behind the Breakdown

Leading and managing isn't for the faint of heart. Sometimes things just don't go well. No matter how hard we try, things around us seem to be breaking down. It seems the harder we try, the faster they fall apart. It could be a project, a team, or a relationship that seems to be disintegrating despite our best efforts. Can you relate? Think of the last breakdown you experienced. 

Breakdowns occur when our systems and processes no longer serve us as they once did. Breakdowns are common in business and organizations just as much as they are for your car or in your relationships. They are not to be feared, but they are to be recognized. The transformative leader can see not only the breakdown but has the ability to see the gift behind it.

Here's the million dollar point: breakdowns always precede breakthroughs.

If you don’t experience the breakdown, you cannot experience the breakthrough. One is dependent on the other. The scariest thing in an organization does not come from the risk of a cataclysmic meltdown, but rather from a breakdown that is either not recognized, tacitly accepted or fearfully ignored. This leads to the slow and silent death of the team or organization. 

Our failure though, is usually not in the recognition of the breakdown, but in the fact that we roll up our sleeves, double our efforts and do more of what we always do. And...it...just...doesn't...work!

As a leader, you need to train yourself to look for the breakdowns around you. This is where your leadership skill is needed. Then you need to train your mind to be calm and be open to change and new possibilities. 

Be curious about the breakdown. What is it telling you about you and the current environment? What is the message it wants you to decipher? What change is it screaming for that you didn't know you needed until now?

Then you are ready to try new, different and novel actions. Now you'll be poised to watch, with wide-eyed wonder, the breakthrough reveal itself in ways you didn't plan or expect. 

The next time you feel like there's a breakdown, rather than running from it, or throwing good effort after bad, stop for a moment and ask yourself this question: "What belief, attitude or action is no longer serving me?" Remember, you'll always have what you've always had if you always do what you've always done. Do nothing, or do more of the same, and you'll guarantee your breakdown will lead to failure. Be curious and try something new and you have a fighting chance of finding the breakthrough. 

Consider it a gift that this rough patch is forcing you to do something differently, to shift your thinking, to try something new. After all, if we weren't forced to change would we ever? 

Think about it.