Hello out there - in a rushed world,
Here comes your weekly permission to Un-rush and Stress Less.
Timeless insights and impulses on how the power of slow helps you grow - in a rushing world crushing your life
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IMPULSE
The Paradox Of Accepting Slowness As A Strategy
Strategic Slowness is the big trend in 2024
I'm not sure if I like Slowness to be a "trend" (which often means, it is just for a limited time) or that it should be "strategic" (rather than a normality).
But we can be sure of one thing: The world is moving too fast for most people. Under time pressure and workload stress, how can we possibly do all the things we need to? How can we be more successful if we don’t have the time and the space to think strategically and plan effectively?
So, if we think of Slowness as a trend, it means that it can be a general movement over time, a current style or fashion, or a trending topic that is the subject of many posts and discussions on a social media website or application in a short timeframe. Let’s hope that Slowness will be a long-lasting change or development towards a new or different way of looking at life and business. We urgently need some slowness.
It feels to me like a paradox to look at slowness as a strategy. I guess I have to come to terms with that unless slowness is considered in society and business as a deliberate strategic move, people don’t pay attention to it.
"Strategic slowness will be the key to success for innovative leaders and companies in the coming year," Stanford management professor Bob Sutton predicts for 2024. Why? “Because the era of ‘move fast and break things’ (as Facebook's first motto memorably put it) has led to some colossal, high-profile failures,” he says. Haven’t we seen those tremendous failures for a couple of decades, with leaders walking away unharmed while having their next job offer already in their pockets? Stressed and pressured to constantly make fast decisions and moves, so many fiascos become fueled by hurry sickness.
"Knowing when and how to slow down and fix things is the path to enduring financial success, to building healthy workplaces, and staying out of jail, too." - Prof. Bob Sutton
In The 1950s We Were Told To Take Time To Think
The discussions and writings about strategic slowness make it seem like the method of slowing down is a fresh discovery and a surprise revelation. Did we get so caught up in the whirlwind of tech, inventions, and ferocious competition that we forgot to think things through, so they don't fall apart?
I found this description in an article on the Reuters news site (tagged with Attorney Well-Being): “Strategic slowness offers a refreshing alternative to the traditional working styles. By intentionally slowing down and taking the time to assess operations, goals, and priorities, legal professionals may be taking the right steps to avoid burnout, improve client service, and increase profitability.”
Especially in the legal profession, I would expect being thorough and thinking things through to be a given. But describing this as a “refreshing alternative” to traditional (!) working styles?
Already in the 1950s Earl Nightingale spoke on the radio about the most fundamental rules for business and success. One of his strong pieces of advice is: Think it through. “The trouble is that most of us easily mistake a quick solution as the best or only solution, whereas a quick answer is all too often a poor one and may often be the wrong one which doesn’t solve the problem at all. It might create new problems.”
Nightingale lays out 4 simple steps in straight thinking. Which all involve slowing down and taking the time to think things through. Some of the fiascos fueled by hurry sickness could be avoided by following these steps. And they apply to any issues we are facing and need to tackle.
Step one: Separate facts from opinion and analyze the facts.
Step two: Define the real problem and consider possible solutions.
Step three: Secure evidence on possible solutions.
Step four: Weigh the evidence and arrive at a sound conclusion.
This is not a preventing wrong-decision-making method, but a system that will let you make fewer wrong decisions.
Being Slow As A Strategy Allows For Daydreaming And Company Growth
“Enabling a healthy workforce is no longer a luxury but rather a strategic imperative for organizations to navigate turbulent times in an ever more complex society.” - McKinsey 2024
Gethin Nadin, Award-Winning Psychologist, Author, and “HRs Most Influential Thinker” thinks more wellbeing support should be a strategic decision for employers. He is not referring to reducing absence rates or healthcare expenses.
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