Recognize the Pivot

As I got off the last lift for the day, I felt burn in my thighs. It was an awesome day of skiing, particularly since it was day two. First day was “work out the kinks” and “build back the confidence” day. Today was a new day, and I must admit, much more about the fun.

As I ascended down the hill, I reflected on the day. It was a great trip. We hadn’t lost anyone and we honored the “marker” signal. When we turned direction, someone always stayed back to mark the pivot point. That marker turned out to be critical. It kept everyone aligned and together. It was a difference maker for the trip.

Funny how in life, recognizing the pivot isn’t always obvious. And so we wander, we get misaligned. We lose momentum and our ability to build forward movement as a team because our mission has become unclear. And although there are stories to tell at the end of the day, it doesn’t exude the same kind of joy.

Recognizing the pivot point and standing as the marker is a critical job of leadership. Working to keep your team moving down the mountain is critical to building momentum towards the future goal. After all, life is the ultimate experience model. And it is definitely not a spectator sport. So it requires each pivot be marked.

Too many times, I see leadership wait until the end is clear before the next mile-marker is established. It is a failed effort to not waste time and effort from others.

Go back to my descent down the hill at the end of the day. Many times during the day we lost our way, but never did we lose sight of the fact we needed to not lose anyone on the slope. We stayed to committed to our journey together and our ability to celebrate the journey at the end of the day.

What a great perspective to bring to leadership. What if we made it our daily leadership pledge to experience the journey together as a team by marking the pivot points and then focusing on what is next? What would the stories be at the end of the day? What would we figure out as we celebrated the day and looked ahead? I can’t imagine the joy and power we would unleash as we practiced working together to figure it out, can you?