Contingency
Until last week, my plan was to use this space to continue talking about the subject I introduced in the first Set the Boat newsletter: The challenges of managing change.
But things started shifting, first slowly and then very quickly in the week of March 9th, as it became clear that the COVID-19 pandemic would have major impacts on everyday life in the United States.
When I go through goal-setting exercises with the people with whom I consult, a key topic we discuss is contingency — the acknowledgment that as much as we want to believe our plans will proceed from Step A to Steps B, C and D and completion in perfect cadence, the reality is that most objectives we try to achieve depend on factors outside our immediate control.
Those may be small details, like whether another team is able to hit a deadline that’s a key delivery point in a larger project.
They may be medium-sized things, like getting all the way to an offer to a key executive hire, then having to go back to Square One of the job search because that person leveraged your offer to improve their present situation and declined your job.
Or they may be massive, act-of-God type things — like a global pandemic that sows fear, confusion and macroeconomic turmoil.
One way I try to take contingency into account when I help clients with goal-setting is by pegging their goals to results that are dependent on personal outputs — “If I do these things and hit these marks, then I am doing everything I can to achieve this objective that I have set” — and not on outcomes that might overly depend on external factors.
Another way is by acknowledging that goals themselves are contingent. When we set goals, we don’t etch them in stone like the Ten Commandments; we write them down, but with the understanding that circumstances may demand we revise or even scrap them. At one business where I consulted, a new chief product officer started work on the first day of our first quarter of formal goal-setting. Within 48 hours, he had made a decision about the product direction that essentially killed one of the head of engineering’s main goals for that quarter. So we scrapped it, set a new goal and moved on.
Across the world right now, leaders of governments, institutions and businesses are working long hours under immense pressure in a very fluid and uncertain situation to make the right decisions. They face a contingency that many have thought about and some have planned for — but few have ever actually had to lead through.
If you are one of those leaders, CXN is here to help. Our approach pushes you to step back from fighting brush fires and helps you think about how to keep your organizational boat set through a time of change and uncertainty. Just contact us at info@cxnadvisory.com, and we are happy to schedule everything from a one-hour phone call to half-day onsite to assist — all pro bono.
