I mount my Orbea road bike starting my 25-mile trek heading east on 2nd Street and I find myself weaving my way around and over the cracks in the road. A few rotations of the crank case and a move to the left side of the street provides a quick reprieve from the bumps. A few more rotations and I find myself swerving a bit more to the right. Ah, smooth pavement! Just when I started to feel my wrists and hands relax on the small spit of a smooth surface, I find myself rising off my seat to absorb the bump caused by a large crack in the pavement. This manner of riding is not comfortable and does not bode well for the 25-mile ride I just commenced. I continue nonetheless as I needed the exercise and greatly appreciated the stunningly beautiful scenery of the San Luis Valley, high desert at 7,500 feet in elevation, surrounded by majestic 14,000 feet mountains.
The views took my mind off the jolts and gave me a spark of energy needed for the evening ride. I find myself drawn to the roads which provide the best views. Invariably these roads have the roughest pavement from the many cars and trucks rolling over them during the snowstorms, ice storms, and through the intense heat of the summer months after the below freezing temperatures of the winter months.
Riding on smooth pavement is clearly the optimal path for easier, long bike rides. It takes the pressure off my wrists, forearms, shoulders, and neck and allows me to feel comfortable and confident to look around and enjoy the spectacular scenery. Just like smooth pavement for an enjoyable, long bike ride, looking for smooth pavement in leadership can be equally rewarding.
I have found navigating leadership roles can be very similar where the desire to find smooth pavement creates a greater chance of achieving organizational goals with the least amount of discomfort or disruption. Smooth pavement can allow a more enjoyable path forward for the entire organization. It probably seems straightforward for one to find smooth pavement as an essential part of an enjoyable bike ride. Hopefully the same desire to find smooth path forward for an organization seems equally logical.
What are the qualities of “smooth pavement” for an effective leader and successful organization? Millions of ideas fill my head as I make a turn out North River Road while taking in a glimpse of Mt Blanca shining brightly in the early evening sun. Of those many thoughts I sorted out in my mind while enjoying the warm sun and farmlands all around me, the following stood out as central elements any leader and organization should considering while trying to create an environment with smooth pavement for a successful path forward. These questions might be helpful to use as a check list to determine if you and your organization are ready to move forward toward accomplishing your mission.
Know your purpose and how it matches the organization’s
When taking a relatively long bike ride, clarity about the reason for my ride is helpful. What am I trying to achieve on this ride? Am I working to increase my overall speed or am I hoping to find more hills to increase my endurance? Asking myself what my purpose is helps me chart a course, developing a plan to achieve my goal for the ride gives me a greater chance of knowing I accomplished it, and knowing how this ride fits into my overall fitness and training plan brings me greater satisfaction to know the evening’s ride is about a larger framework of lifelong health and fitness.
The same questions can be asked of organizational leaders. What are my purposes, mission, and values? A key set of questions for anyone who wants to lead a group is for the leader first to be clear about her own purpose, her intentions, her desires. If one is not clear about what one is trying to accomplish it does not provide the needed clarity for the organization. The contributions I intended to make and have made first come from my own focus and desires for improving organizations, from my own care about an organization and wanting it to be stronger, and from my own drive to leaving things in a better place than I found them. As a leader, it is imperative I be clear what my goals are and to also take the necessary time to ensure I am clear about the organization’s goals as well. It is my responsibility to state the intended direction which must be shaped from listening to the members of the group, listening to those in the community, and listening to those in the governance structure of the organization. Setting the direction and especially the clarity of it is the leader’s most important task.
A second key question to ask is does my purpose match the organization’s purpose. A mismatch leads to countless hours of extra work, frustration, a rough path forward with limited successful outcomes. A good way for me to visualize this is to create a venn diagram where one circle represents my purpose statement and the second represents the organization’s. If there is a significate amount of overlap (or gray in the diagram) then there is a greater chance of mutual intentions. How much overlap is something to consider and important to note, it is highly unlikely there would be 100% overlap of the two circles. From my experiences, looking 80% – 90% overlap is a good indicator for greater success. Taking the time to be clear about my own purpose and those of the organization is a necessary component to a smooth leadership experience.
Know your direction, goals, and KPIs
Just like needing a route map for my bike ride, having an organizational road map of where we are going, what key outcomes we are trying to achieve make for a good experience for the organization and the leader. When I am trying to build my endurance and cardio, I will intentionally find a route with gradual hills and opportunities to get my heart rate up. These kinds of rides are purposefully designed to build my lung capacity and to give me the needed muscular development to take longer rides on other days.
As a leader, I look for ways to help build the organization’s capacity and to build up strength to achieve new opportunities. Are there “stretch goals” for the organization? Can we gain greater satisfaction or improve students’ experiences on campus? Can we increase our retention and build an upward trajectory to see an increase in completions? Doing well at one level and accomplishing goals allows the organization to build on the momentum to improve its overall performance and objectives.
An important aspect in knowing your direction, goals, and key performance indicators is predicated on the leader taking the time to know where the campus wants to go, learning the existing strengths of the teams on campus, and designing routes (or providing supports) to gear the campus toward the goals. Taking the time with members across the entire institution to know their passions, their goals, and their concerns will help. Taking the time to include others keeps the bike ride a group ride which is needed for total organizational successes.
Know your pace and the timeline available to reach your destination
A key observation I know about myself while taking a solo bike ride is I can often start out too fast. Too fast might be seen by some as an advantage as the ride may not take as long. For me it can be dangerous as I may run the risk of not being able to safely return home. I may go out too fast and become worn out to keep the distance I had intended thus greatly reducing my ride. Starting out too fast, with intentionality and expectation, however, can be a good training tool as it elevates my heart rate and allows a good cardio workout. For most of my rides I want to gradually pick up the pace and with intentionality keep a comfortable cadence for a period and then gradually increase my speed. The intended increase in pace is then expected and planned for. I calculate when I am going to increase my speed and how long I will maintain a given pace. I will often think over my total distance and use incremental mileage achieved as the signal to change my pace.
Most of my enjoyable and successful bike rides are while biking with others. We talk through some level of preplanning where we know how much time we have over what distance we will ride. The same is helpful when thinking about leading an organization where I need to talk through with others about how fast we want to move, where we are trying to go, and how much time we have available to achieve our goals. I need to make sure there are enough members coming along to ensure success.
In leadership, the pace of change is critical to understand and to monitor. Starting out initiatives too fast can be just as disruptive as starting my bike ride too fast. Members may get overwhelmed with trying to move too fast. Some may not completely understand what the goals are, which direction is best, and even why the change is necessary. Taking the time to share the intended pace and milestones along the way can make a significant difference in achieving a successful outcome. I have found when the preplanning is thoughtfully done in an inclusive and transparent manner about direction, what is success, and how much time we should expect to see the results are all commonly shared, understood, and agreed upon makes a tremendous difference in the outcome. When there is mutual understanding on the pace of change and members feel included, I have found they will often “lean in” more to make sure the goals are achieved according to expected timelines. I am often reminded of the African proverb: if you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go with others. To move the entire organization requires lots of “others” and lots of positive constructive energy from each member.
What are your milestones and how can you recognize and celebrate them?
On my bike rides I start out with the goal in mind around my cadence, direction, and route. I have these in mind and think about them as I turn the crank case shifting up and down changing gears to adjust to the traffic, terrain, temperature, wind, how the other riders in the group are doing, and my own speed. I am constantly observing where I am juxtapose to others on the ride and what is impacting our ride. I have found after many years of long bike rides to break the ride up into smaller segments…the ride within the ride….so to speak. I think about reaching the next mileage marker on the road or watching the computer display on my bike to see my progress. I have learned to celebrate each milestone sometimes in thirds or quarters of the total mileage. I recognize each milestone achieved adds up to the total bike ride and to achieving my fitness goal for the ride.
The same is true when leading an organization. We need to recognize each milestone achieved and to be aware of and celebrate the small, incremental accomplishments. Those individual accomplishments form the foundation for the total success in the change we are trying to make. The ultimate goal might be to improve undergraduate student retention and the year over year return of students is the key indicator we are working to increase yet waiting a full year to see the change is long away. One smaller goal or milestone is to see the change after one semester. Another incremental milestone may be to examine after one semester if there are differences in which students returned. Are certain students experiencing the institutional differently with a higher return rate than other students? Are the credit hours attempted in the first term like those attempted at the second term? There are a myriad of incremental indicators to select as milestones to examine along the way to achieving the ultimate goal of increasing retention from year to year. Breaking the goal into smaller segments can be a helpful way to keep the organization motivated to accomplish the larger goal. Taking the time to celebrate the incremental progress can help keep the team focused on the larger goal.
When is it best to change direction, change the course, and/or redesign your intentions?
I monitoring the factors influencing our bike ride and I use the information to determine if it is advisable to change our route or to alter the intended destination. If we are heading into a strong wind, we can turn away to lessen the impact of the wind. If traffic is too heavy to feel comfortable riding, I will often suggest we turn onto another road to get away from the large trucks or farm equipment. It is important to scan our environment to see what is or might impact the safety and enjoyment of our ride.
Equally important is to scan the organizational environment to see what is influencing or might impact our work to accomplish our change(s). As the leader I need to make sure we are each looking around us to see if our intended direction or planned change is moving ahead as desired and with continued buy-in and appreciation. Are we safe in continuing our change? Is there confusion about what we are doing? These are important questions we want to take the time to ask and answer. Engagement of all team members is critical to make sustainable, lasting changes and scanning our internal environment will support our work and increase our successes. We must also diligently examine the external environment to see if conditions warrant a change or redesign. Having a strong pulse on the internal and external environments through feedback and with constant monitoring we can be assured our direction is still achievable and our milestones are being achieved at the pace to see the overall goal as successfully accomplished.
When is it advisable to cancel the ride – to cancel the goal?
Sometimes, there are rides that just do not work out. The close call from a passing truck was too uncomfortable. The weather took a turn for the worse. My bike had a flat tire and the time to change it did not allow me to continue the expected distance. I thought I had more energy than it turned out but I was too exhausted to continue. There are several reasons why I have decided to stop a ride and return home. Generally, I have felt good about returning home when facing adverse certain conditions or circumstances. Concomitantly, feelings of disappointment come into my thinking. Did I let that passing truck spook me unnecessarily? Was I too out of shape to take such a long ride? Did I miscalculate the time to finish the ride? Why didn’t I pick a better route? After processing my answers to these and other questions I conclude it is ok to cancel the ride. It is also ok to stop so I can ride another time. I have learned it is ok to cancel a goal and readjust my intentions under certain circumstances.
So too as a leader, I have had to face questions about whether we should continue. Should we abandon our goal? Should we modify our strategic plan? Should we wait until conditions improve to continue our path forward? Are there members working against the goal? Is this a small number of people who happen to have loud voices or is there a sizeable number who have decided the direction is not the change they individually want to make? These are critical questions a leader must explore with the organization’s members when faced with unexpected conditions. While members generally trust the wisdom of their leaders in setting a direction, they too must trust their leaders when the leader or others share new information which leads to stopping an initiative. The cost to stay with the same insurance company, for example, is too expensive so a decision to cancel a contract to move to another vendor makes fiscal sense. The goal of increasing enrollment by 10% was too aggressive so we need to modify our planned expenses and manage to the actual enrollment goal (revenue) during this academic year/budget cycle. There are under-enrolled programs and revisions need to be made to modify the program to be more attractive to prospective students or the program may need to be closed. There are times when it is advisable to greatly modify the goal or plan.
Feelings of disappointment about canceling and stopping an initiative are often natural. Some may feel like it meant we failed. Others may feel stopping represents a weakness. I have learned we need to stop doing certain things from time to time. We should not feel compelled to continue doing tasks or following procedures or practices that no longer fit or make sense. Perhaps they were good choices at one point but today’s environment calls for a different approach. Just like stopping a bike ride that has encountered unexpected circumstances we too in organizations should understand it is ok to stop doing things that no longer work or seem useful.
From Biking to Leadership
Biking has many aspects relevant to good leadership practices. Thoughtful consideration of distances, routes and directions, pace, and goals are needed for enjoyable, smooth bike rides as well as for creating a smooth path forward for an organization. The reflecting I do while on long rides has been exceedingly helpful to allow me to sort through the needed considerations and decisions I must make as a leader. As a leader with a servant-based approach I know I build trust and maintain relationships across the organization. With positive energy, I support others to continue to accomplish the goals and aspirations bringing value added enhancements pertinent to today’s complex campus environments. Most importantly, and fortunately, I am a well prepared and experienced leader who positively influences others in a constructive manner to ensure we will achieve our mission and purpose through a shared approach. Further, I provide strategic leadership to direct reports while building on strong teams working together to support the entire organization. Whether we are on a bike ride or addressing tough organizational issues we must keep the community in mind serving all for today and well into the future.
