"Some of the biggest leadership mistakes don't happen because someone's careless. They happen because someone feels pressure to respond immediately and prioritizes urgency over accuracy. Someone makes a mistake and you groan. You hear feedback and go on the defensive before you've even fully heard it. Someone gets sick during a key project and your first thought is, " How will this get done now?" These moments pass fast, but the ripple effects linger."
"That's why leaders can use a simple framework that creates better decisions and better conversations without slowing down the work: Pause-Consider-Act. Not because leaders need to become slower. Because they need to become steadier. Here's how it works. Step 1: Pause (not stop) When leaders hear the word "pause," they sometimes picture a dramatic freeze or a long, awkward silence while everyone waits for a decision. That's not what this is."
Fast, reactive cultures pressure leaders to prioritize urgency over accuracy, causing mistakes and defensive responses. The Pause-Consider-Act framework provides a brief structured method: pause to avoid immediate reaction, consider options and perspectives to preserve accuracy and relationships, then act decisively with clearer priorities. Pausing doesn't mean freezing decisions; it means creating a steadying moment that reduces ripple effects from hasty choices. Practicing short pauses, rapid reflection, and purposeful actions helps maintain momentum while improving decision quality, team trust, and outcomes during unexpected problems or urgent demands. Leaders gain steadiness without slowing work by training routines and simple language to normalize short pauses.
Read at Fast Company
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