“A higher rate of urgency does not imply ever-present panic, anxiety, or fear. It means a state in which complacency is virtually absent.” John P. Kotter
One of the points I taught on in my online leadership teaching call last week was about how people who live intentionally create a sense of urgency in all they do (click here to receive the audio recording). That got me thinking..this statement also applies to organizations alike.
I have had the pleasure of working in two global organizations who seemed to have created a sense of urgency in their different work environments. Looking back, these are organizations who were very intentional about achieving their organizational goals and everyone moved with a sense of urgency to accomplish those goals. There was no room for complacency and most of the employees (including me) really enjoyed being a part of the organization, as it also helped us grow individually as well. However, that depended on if you were with the flow or resisted the culture of urgency.
John P Kotter, a Harvard Emeritus professor on leadership and change, and author of ‘A sense of urgency’, highlighted four ways to create and maintain a sense of urgency:
- Bring the outside in – This is when we look on the ‘outside: for external opportunities, or hazards and make the necessary changes’. Creating a sense of urgency is especially important for those of us who live in Nigeria who are currently witnessing changes in the nation’s economic conditions. With an insufficient sense of urgency, you may tend not look hard enough, or as Kotter says – you look and do not believe your eyes, or do not wish to believe what your eyes are seeing. As a result, you do not act and respond to external conditions that will help propel you to the next level.
- Behave with urgency every day. A need for alertness and agility is really needed in an increasingly changing environment. Interestingly, he added that this model must be modeled by the boss all the time. It is not enough that the mid-level and junior staff see the need to behave with urgency, but these attitude of a sense of urgency must be modeled by the leadership team and the CEOs for this behavior to be effective in the organization. A few of the behaviors he details: purge and delegate, speak with passion, walk the talk should be imbibed by the leadership.
- Find opportunity in crises. There is a saying that there is a silver lining in every dark cloud, and I truly believe this statement. It is by cultivating a sense of urgency in your mindset that you can take advantage of those opportunities in crises, which most complacent people will not see immediately.
- Deal with the No Nos – There will always be people in your organization who will be satisfied with the status quo, and are fine just the way things are, and have reasons why things should remain the same, or spend time overanalyzing rather than than taking action. Intentionally creating a sense of urgency to keeping growing will help move and break through the Naysayers.
Kotter further alluded that, your greatest tool for maintaining urgency is the knowledge that “urgency leads to success leads to complacency.” Keeping up the urgency to stay the course to a long term goal or to maintain a high level of performance in the face of short-term gains requires a conscious reworking of the four tactics again and again.
I have attached a very short insightful video recording on Kotter’s additional comments on creating a sense of urgency. Click here to download.
Question – How do you create and maintain a sense of urgency in your own environment?