1. Schedule-in regular timeouts to ‘Stand on the Balcony’
Following on from the video, one of the traps that can prevent us spotting the need to adapt is tunnel vision. A state of mind where we become so narrowly focused on a single issue, detail, or outcome that we lose awareness of the bigger picture. Including alternative options, or important surrounding information. In the video above, about 50% of watchers are so focused on the task of counting passes between players, they miss the gorilla! To counter tunnel vision, Ron Heifetz recommends we take regular time outs to ‘Stand on the Balcony’. Zooming out to analyze our environment and the assumptions we are making about it. To bring his analogy to life, imagine hosting a party which you initially think is going brilliantly because you’re having a great time. Then you stand on the balcony and notice lots of people on the periphery who don’t know anyone. How often have you seen a sports team transform their approach after the opportunity of a ‘time out’ provided by the half time break? This enforced structure helps teams to take a
If you’ve not yet come across the test of our ability to keep track of passes of a basketball between the players in a complex environment, take 90 seconds to complete this famous science experiment by watching this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG 698U2Mvo
collective time on the balcony. Combining multiple different
perspectives. Similarly, this is one of the key habits that enables adaptive leaders and teams to continually update their thinking. Regularly pausing to seek out new data and critically evaluate their assumptions.
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Adaptive Leadership : Building your capacity to thrive in a disruptive environment
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