Pausing For Advantage
Some things in life and work can be done in two steps, instruction and execution. If you have ever tried meals kits like Hello Fresh, you follow the instructions to unpack, mix, cook and assemble a meal. Hello Fresh has created the recipe, determined all ingredients and nutrition, and pre-packed it all together with an instruction card. It’s not quite a “just add water” level of simplicity but it certainly does not require much thinking, learning, or discussion.
What about more nuanced or complex situations where jumping from instruction to action does not quite allow for the deeper and well-designed response needed. Some circumstances require a pause. Not a pause to do nothing, but a pause to prevent jumping right into taking actions in reaction to a problem, need or even an opportunity. A pause that allows you to assess, look at the situation from various perspectives, collect a set of viable paths, and form the right solutions or response. It’s easy to feel the drop in anxiety by taking action and doing something immediately, yet often we fumble around with missteps and misfires and choose poor solution paths or even extend or amplify the situation we are working to address.
As an example, one day I walk into the kitchen, and I put something away in a cabinet to later go looking for it, but I don’t recall where exactly. Option one is to start flinging doors open, rummaging around frantically, and simply resort to a search and destroy approach. In about 2.5 minutes I have found what I was looking for, but the collateral damage is 360 degrees with a side of elevated frustration. Option two is when I step into the kitchen to locate my item, but I pause, I take a moment to think through where I might have logically placed it or think back to where I remember being in the kitchen, or what I saw in the cabinet when I opened it to place my item. In this second approach I might find my item in less than half the time and likely locate it behind the first door or two, without the dramatic commotion of urgency without a useful purpose.
It takes some intention and restraint to resist our action bias and not jump first and think later. Choosing a pause is its own productivity hack with better results, most of the time. In organizations if you come across a problem the next step is a solution to work it. If you run into a risk the expectation is to immediately de-risk by taking some kind of action. We lean into thinking that speed and velocity is life or death sometimes when it’s not. It is usually a factor but usually not valuable when at the expense of chasing conclusion or outcome in an urgent rush. Even in a mass casualty event, the entire protocol around triage is about taking a pause or a moment to organize the chaos to maximize success in saving lives.
In business it is necessasry to consider that idea that taking a pause can save a project, retain a great employee, or serve a customer beyond their expectations. Often our urgency with a pause does the opposite. A pause has a purpose. A pause is not paralysis. A pause is creating a space for identifying the right actions and setup success for taking those actions. Sometimes the pause affords us something else we need for success, the facilitation of pondering, thinking, walking through, or discussing things to some conclusion of an approach to a situation. It enables an intentional, measured, and considered formulation leading into eventual action.
Think of the classic “crossing guard” scenario. Their entire job is to create pause to facilitate children walking to school safely when crossing the street. They stand, the blow a whistle, they raise a hand to communicate and que drivers in cars what is happening next. Its codified behavior built on a pause. Can you imagine if a crossing guard took a no-pause approach? You would see the crossing guard randomly grabbing kids by the arm and dragging them and weaving through traffic while blowing their whistle. It would look like playing the classic Frogger arcade game to get to the other side. That kind of crossing guard would not be employed long, and the degree of chaos and risk would be off the charts.
Do yourself and those you lead a favor and give a nod to the pause. It’s a tool to leverage for not only better outcomes but it also keeps your projects and your people out of moving traffic. Though very underestimated, pausing is one of your best behavior-driven advantages. Taking time to pause and consider is the advantage not a liability. Teach it, model it, do it.