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Brain Circuits
Are you choosing the right battles to fight?
Leaders face multiple challenges in managing relationships every day – but fighting every battle can drain energy and disrupt the organization. Ask yourself the questions below to assess whether you’re tackling the right issues, and explore techniques to help choose which decisions are worth challenging.
What battles are you fighting?
- Do you take up causes on behalf of other people that no one else has the courage to fight for?
- Do you take up every problem or complaint that people raise with you?
- Do you often respond angrily to events that impact the people you manage?
- Are you known as the voice of dissent within the organization?
Techniques to help choose your battles
Breathe
When faced with a dilemma or asked to intervene on behalf of your team or a colleague, take three deep breaths before speaking or reacting. This will give you the chance to pause, think, and become calm before choosing an appropriate response.
Take time out
When confronted by a problem or an issue that you find upsetting in some way, ask for some time to go away and digest the information. This will give you the space to reflect on the issue before deciding how to react – or whether to react at all.
Consult the checklist
Go through the following set of questions before responding to the situation. Doing this not only helps you figure out your response, but also obliges you to marshal more cognitive (and less emotional or visceral) processes to keep knee-jerk reactions in check.
- What do I stand to gain and what do I risk in responding to this situation?
- How much might I risk damaging relationships with those who might be against me?
- Why has this person asked me to intervene, and what could they do themselves that they are not doing now?
- Do I have a chance of winning this fight? If not, is it worth what I’m risking?
Key learning
As a leader, it’s important to know which battles are worth fighting — and when it’s wiser to stay out of the fray and maintain stability.
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