Author and former GE Vice Chair Beth Comstock (of whom I am a huge fan), recently shared a post on LinkedIn that talked about how she channels her anxiety into scenario planning. That post really resonated with me, because this is what I have been training myself to do as well.
In business terms, scenario planning is a structured way for organizations to think about the future (thanks to The Economist for that definition). Although there is a defined structure to be followed in scenario planning, it incorporates elements of creativity and collaboration that aren’t typically found in more linear business planning methods. Among other features, the method allows for the posing of ‘what-if’ questions and the development of potential solutions.
Applying the Concept to the Leadership Journey
In managing my leadership journey, I have made it a habit of developing several scenarios to situations that create anxiousness for me (Note, I’m using the words anxious and anxiousness here instead of anxiety to avoid confusion between occasionally feeling anxious and experiencing an anxiety disorder*). These situations typically occur when I am working outside my comfort zone or where there is a high-level of uncertainty. Anxiousness can derail forward momentum by convincing the mind that it is trapped. In healthcare, I’ve found two truths: that uncertainty exists as a constant, and that forward momentum is vital to success. As a leader, I don’t have the option of allowing myself to be permanently derailed by anxious thoughts. So, by allowing myself to consider the good, the bad and the ideal, and how I would handle each of these scenarios, I am able to move past my anxious feelings and focus on the work at hand. As a result of building this habit, I’ve found myself able to function at increasingly higher levels when faced with the unknown.
From Theory to Practice
I recently had to launch a brand-new functional area of my team, and it involved collaborating with several people as well as introducing new workflows and new technologies. I felt a great deal of anxiousness about the outcome of this project, and allowing myself to remain in that state could have easily derailed the forward momentum of the project. But I took the time over a couple of weeks to chart out what the good, the bad and the ideal looked like to me. The good scenario was that we would launch this new functional area, but we would need some remedial steps to get it working properly. The bad was that it would go horribly wrong- the participants would disengage, the technology wouldn’t work, and it would ultimately fail miserably. The ideal scenario was that participants would be highly engaged and would learn new skills along the way, that the technology would advance our team’s ability to support our organization, and that the workflows would integrate seamlessly. My response to each scenario was also crafted, using a series of if-then pathways.
The actual outcome was a cross between the good and ideal scenarios. The participants were highly engaged and did learn new skills through the project’s launch and subsequent on-boarding process. Although there was a learning curve that made for a more protracted launch than my idea scenario, the technology did and continues to advance our team’s ability to support our organization. The workflow integration was slower and wobblier than the ideal scenario I envisioned, but nowhere near the bad scenario I had planned for. Most importantly, by developing the various scenarios, and how I would respond, I was able to relax and focus on leading the project instead of worrying about every little thing that could go wrong. I wrote in a previous article that asking for team input that’s counter to one’s own can make for a more productive outcome. That was certainly part of this process as well, and fit nicely with scenario planning.
Keep Moving Forward
I firmly believe that leadership is a journey and not a destination. There is no ‘getting there.’ We simply progress from one level to another in our understanding of ourselves and how we can continue to improve to better serve our organizations and most importantly, the members of our teams. The more we as leaders can apply skills such as scenario planning to situations that make us anxious, the more time we can spend focusing on the things that really matter.
I encourage you to apply scenario planning to your leadership journey and the projects you lead, if you’re not already doing so. If you already use this method, or of there are other methods that work for you, please let us know in the comments so we can all learn together.
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*When writing this article, I was aided in making the distinction between occasional feelings of anxiousness and anxiety disorder by the website apa.org (American Psychological Association), which also has a feature that can be used to find a psychologist near you. If you are experiencing feelings of any kind that are overwhelming, please reach out to a healthcare provider. Let’s all work together to #stopthestigma.
Christina Deidesheimer 