A spanner in the works

Early yesterday morning around this time (05.30am), I opened my inbox and found a surprise, a significant shift in a voluntary global programme I’m involved in.

No heads-up, no warning.

Just increased complexity.

I reached out for clarification and got on with my day.

Whilst out walking a couple of hours later, a colleague involved in the same project rang and said: “Well, that throws a spanner in the works!”

I hadn’t heard that phrase in years, but it was a great fit.

A perfectly timed, blunt idiom that summed up the situation: something had unexpectedly jammed the gears of our project!

Together we discussed the situation at hand.

It would’ve been easy to react on instinct and fire off another quick reply.

Through the day yesterday in preparing for another matter, I came across the perfect quote from Stephen Covey, which described what happened next, almost perfectly, he once said: “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.”

Instead, we both paused and considered a careful response.

We thought about implications, options, and risks.

But before we could act, we received a second and then third message which clarified the new position and an opportunity to address the matter directly in a call later this week.

Here is what I learned yesterday….

• Spanners will always get thrown into the works.

• You can’t stop surprises, but you can control your response.

• Don’t underestimate the power of the pause.

• Reacting is easy, but responding with purpose is leadership.

But remember most of all – slow down!

How do you train yourself to pause when pressure builds?