“Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley.”~Theodore Roethke
I was talking with a client the other day, and they felt stuck. Stuck in old reactions. Stuck in a situation. Stuck not knowing what to do.
They were involved in a project at work that wasn’t going well, and they felt pressure from one senior leader to push through no matter what and pressure from another to lead more from consensus and have a more team-focused approach.
And they needed to deliver on the project no matter what.
My client couldn’t see her way through this. Every next step she considered did not seem like a way through – or over the mountain.
I suggested to my client that she take the time and space to go more slowly than she thought necessary but to keep going. I offered the thought that maybe the best path was there, but, as is proposed by Theodore Roethke, it might be hidden from her because she was, in many ways, deep in the valley.
My client took the time to reflect and also, perhaps equally important, the time to reach out to colleagues who might have additional views and opinions. Who might have already gone up the mountain and found a path.
It worked.
Sometimes we need to just keep going in a bit of faith or “one foot in front of the other.” Sometimes we need others around us to help us get perspective and a more inclusive viewpoint. Sometimes we just need time and space.
But almost always, there is a path, perhaps a hard one, over the mountain.
If you enjoyed this post, you can read more like it in our book, The Power of Thoughtful Leadership: 101 Minutes To Being the Leader You Want To Be, available on Amazon.
To find that path together, contact Robyn at rmcleod@chatsworthconsulting.com.
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