Among the hardest-working leaders I do know are additionally probably the most annoyed.
They’re skilled. Good. Pushed. Their staff respects them. The corporate is rising — or a minimum of it needs to be. However they’re caught. It’s not as a result of they’re doing the fallacious issues, however as a result of they’re fixing the fallacious issues. They usually’re mistaking movement for momentum.
They’re making an attempt to outwork a considering drawback.
Caught doesn’t imply failing. It means main at nighttime
When leaders say they really feel caught, they don’t imply paralyzed. They imply that they’re doing lots with out seeing ahead motion. Selections get made, however priorities preserve shifting. Individuals keep busy, however progress feels unpredictable.
That is the place management will get harmful as a result of most of the actual obstacles are disguised.
Disguised obstacles are challenges that appear to be about technique, individuals, or execution however are literally rooted in how the chief is considering the state of affairs.
It’s not that the chief is fallacious. It’s that they’re fixing what’s seen, not what’s basic.
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Movement versus momentum
Most leaders are in fixed movement. They’re in conferences, fixing issues, reacting to stress. However movement is merely exercise. Momentum is motion with course.
Momentum means the staff is aware of the place it’s going and why. It means choices construct on one another as a substitute of pulling in several instructions.
With out momentum, leaders exhaust themselves making an attempt to create progress by way of pressure. That’s after they attempt to outwork one thing they haven’t but named.
That brings us to the true entice: the considering drawback.
What’s a considering drawback?
A considering drawback is when leaders apply power and urgency to a state of affairs with out first arriving at readability and formulating construction. And disciplined considering, the type that offers you readability, isn’t straightforward.
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Individuals assume considering is simply reflection. However considering is figure. Onerous work. It’s like digging ditches. That first shovel isn’t tough. However 5 – 6 toes in, after dozens of shovels, that’s the place the true work begins. That’s the place perception lives. Most leaders cease after the primary psychological shovel. Some don’t even take that first dig.
A considering drawback reveals up when a frontrunner:
- Jumps to unravel a symptom earlier than understanding the basis trigger. As a substitute, decelerate lengthy sufficient to ask, “What’s really driving this problem?”
- Operates on assumptions they haven’t examined or shared. As a substitute, make assumptions seen, pressure-test them, and align the staff round shared actuality.
- Confuses exercise with effectiveness. As a substitute, focus the staff on outcomes, not output. On progress, not simply busyness.
- Repeats outdated methods in new circumstances. As a substitute, apply what’s labored elsewhere (the science) however adapt it to suit the present state of affairs (the artwork).
Why sensible leaders get caught right here
Getting caught in a considering drawback isn’t resulting from inexperience. In actual fact, the extra profitable a frontrunner has been, the extra probably they’re to fall into this entice.
Why? As a result of their early instincts labored. Fixing quick, doing extra, and deciding solo received them by way of the startup section. However what works in urgency fails in complexity.
It’s not a abilities problem. It’s a management evolution they’ve by no means been taught to make.
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When the issue isn’t the issue
Let me provide you with an instance: A founder feels just like the staff is underperforming. Initiatives miss deadlines. Accountability is low. They assume it’s a individuals problem. In order that they rearrange reporting strains. They provide bonuses. They convey in a coach.
Nonetheless caught.
In a vacuum, all of these could possibly be good concepts. However are they the best concepts? Or are they modify for the sake of change?
Once we dig deeper, we uncover one thing else: roles had been by no means clearly outlined round outcomes. Nobody knew who owned what choices and there was no shared language for achievement. Initiatives slowed. Accountability disappeared — not as a result of the staff was weak, however as a result of the system lacked readability.
Getting clear on roles and outcomes could result in restructuring, however that’s the end result, not the start line. The true problem wasn’t construction. It was the considering that formed it.
The shift: From response to disciplined considering
The answer isn’t extra power. It’s higher readability.
That’s why I educate leaders to make use of the 3Cs Course of — a disciplined considering course of that helps them reduce by way of complexity and transfer ahead with goal.
Disciplined considering isn’t about sitting nonetheless. It’s about going deep. Most leaders assume they’ve carried out the work after the primary concept. However the true perception, the type that results in traction, comes a number of layers down.
That’s why groups find yourself targeted on actions as a substitute of outcomes. The chief typically is aware of the result intuitively however by no means has articulated it. So individuals keep in movement, however nobody takes possession. As a result of possession lives within the “how,” that solely works when everybody understands the “what.”
Disciplined considering doesn’t simply make leaders sharper. It helps them grow to be end result communicators, which is what makes execution scalable.
How the 3Cs course of works
Apply the 3Cs by way of these steps:
- Make clear your problem.Most leaders react to the loudest symptom. The primary transfer is stepping again to grasp what’s really blocking progress. What are we fixing and why?
- Chart your course.Subsequent, map a path ahead by figuring out non-negotiables — circumstances that have to be honored and outcomes that have to be averted. Consider them as bumpers. They don’t outline each tactic, however they make sure the course results in success. For instance, a product staff may agree that the launch should occur earlier than finish of quarter, can’t bypass authorized or customer support evaluate, and should not disrupt present clients.
- Co-align the staff.Execution doesn’t occur in isolation. Co-alignment means everybody concerned understands the problem, the plan, and their function. It additionally builds suggestions loops to maintain the plan adaptive.What to do in case you really feel caught proper now
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- Title what feels caught. Be particular.
- Ask your self, “What if this isn’t the actual drawback?”
- Step again. Have a look at the system, not simply the symptom.
- Use the 3Cs Course of. Make clear, chart, co-align.
It might really feel like slowing down but it surely’s the quickest approach ahead.
Pat Alacqua is the creator of Obstacles to Alternative: Reworking Enterprise Challenges into Triumphs – Tales and Methods from Leaders Who’ve Mastered It (Entrepreneur to Enterprise, Could 6, 2025).
