“We choose to go to the moon.” John F. Kennedy, 1961
It was early in his presidency when Kennedy made the speech that stimulated the nation to do the impossible, “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” I recall the conversations and excitement around this challenge which was accomplished in 1969. The picture was painted by Kennedy, and a nation was inspired by possibility.
Many of my clients want to know how to be more inspiring. Inspiration isn’t easy, when so many of our organizations are dependent on looking back, taking a critical focus of what’s gone wrong rather than looking for what’s right. I understand the need to look back and be critical, but doing so is rarely inspiring. A conversation on future possibility can be a breath of fresh air!
Inspiring leaders are stirred by the future. They look within themselves to determine what inspires them, and they see that most often, it is a future of possibility that sparks imagination. You too can inspire others by creating a future of possibility. Consider the conversations you need to have to create possibility in one-on-one conversations and with your team:
Invite others to participate: Begin at the beginning. Have that conversation about what the future can be together. Not only will the possibilities be numerous, they will be rich and ripe with expectation. Help to facilitate the creation of future possibility, but don’t dominate the conversation. You will set the stage for others to be motivated to act on the possibilities that are imagined without your having to push and micromanage your team. They’ll want to be a part of something bigger and better.
Stay focused on what could be: We human beings seem to be hard wired to spend our time in conversation being critical. If you listen carefully to many (most?) conversations at work, you’ll hear a preponderance of disparagement. When you have conversations around possibility, criticisms may not be as numerous, but they’ll pop up nonetheless, often in the form of “why we can’t do that”. Your role as the conversation facilitator, is to keep it focused on positive future possibility. Eventually, things will get narrowed down to what can or cannot be done.
Listen without judgment: Listen more than you talk, and beware of dominating the conversation. Enjoy the silence that occurs, knowing that the conversation is helping participants to think. Most of all, withhold your judgment for now. As a leader when you speak your opinions, it can squash conversation – even if the opinions are positive but especially if they are critical. Join in the conversation as a facilitator and minimally as an equal participant, treading lightly on passing judgment on what you hear.
Deciding and moving forward: Take in what you hear. If you can, invite others in deciding the route to take, but in the end you may need to make the decision on action and move ahead. Make sure that those who participated in creating the future possibility know you are grateful for their help and that they were a part of the creation.
One way to inspire others is through the conversations you have about future possibility. Stop spending all of your time in the past, and facilitate the conversation of tomorrow.
I like your line: “Facilitate the conversation of tomorrow.” Many leaders and organizations get so busy with the day-to-day conversation about operations that they forget to think and talk about the innovations for tomorrow, the ones that open the way for new possibilities to emerge.
Thanks for the reminder!
Thanks Dr. Ada. I also think that there is a pull toward the immediate that keeps leaders from having these conversations. Action-oriented people (most leaders) get a brain boost from solving the issues that are front and center, often keeping them from facilitating tomorrow’s conversation. They must stay ever-vigilant to assure they don’t get burned in fire fighting!