For many years, we’ve coached leaders on how to shift from reactive to purposeful. Often, we’ve used the metaphor of shifting from “your back foot to your front foot.” Last week, one of my clients asked a question that has haunted me: is it enough to protect my institution from the spotlight right now – or should I be taking a stand? This great question captures the leadership moment and highlights common confusion about what effective leadership looks like in the first half of 2025.
In ordinary times, leaders challenge themselves to be bolder, calling for innovation and seeking to lead the way not only in the marketplace, but also within their own organizations. Today, faced with great uncertainty and changes unfolding daily with impact on their businesses, most leaders have paused with some bewilderment to study the situation. I’ve noticed that many are calling this a “tactical pause” or a “strategic pause.” Uncertainty has made strategic plans obsolete, upended high priority initiatives and forced leaders to work with a different set of questions, including these:
- What is realistic in this environment?
- What are our essential priorities (vs. what we originally planned)?
- Does this challenging time present any opportunities for us?
- Can dealing with unexpected conditions give us a chance to make long desired changes?
- Who should we keep? Whom must we let go due to changes in the business?
- What can we count on as we look to the next six months?
This shift from “front foot” proactive leadership to “back foot” reactive leadership may call into question the nature of leadership. Extensive research by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, authors of The Leadership Challenge revealed that being “forward-looking” and “inspiring” are two of the top four characteristics of admired leaders. Yet, as one of my CEO clients put it, “People are looking to me for answers about how to get through this. I want to be reassuring, but I am less than half-step ahead of them in understanding what lies ahead.”
So, what CAN you do?
The “back foot” leadership metaphor can be helpful as we notice and name the shift from driving towards achievement of a well-crafted plan to working adaptively and creatively in a disruptive period. In a more stable period, intelligent planning and a strong focus on execution can yield exciting progress. In a disrupted period, a leader must be vigilant, assessing threats and scanning for opportunities continually. In our client work currently, we recommend that leadership teams spend time weekly doing a “sensemaking” exercise to stay abreast of developments. In uncertain times and under urgent pressures, one must commit to taking a clear view of reality, tallying the knowns and unknowns and formulating a working game plan that is subject to change as new information comes in. If a leader is too cautious, seeking to hold onto an old way of operating, the wait-and-see attitude can have dire consequences for the organization. If overly reactive, the leader’s decisions and demeanor may fertilize seeds of fear and anxiety already present in the organization, making it harder to address near term priorities.
To better understand how to take a defensive posture while staying committed to an offensive, forward-looking approach, I recommend In Extremis Leadership by Dr. Tom Kolditz, former head of the Behavioral Sciences and Leadership Department at West Point, and a Professor of Practice in Leadership and Management at Yale University. Dr. Kolditz writes that while in extreme situations, leaders must be highly competent, they must through their actions and communications build high trust, competence, and confidence in others. The leader in extremis environments is not above doing any job, explains and shares risk with others, and models commitment as the situation unfolds.
While leading from your “back foot” may not be your preferred stance, the sooner you recognize that you are in a reactive situation, you can adapt your strategy and lead your team courageously forward. A tactical pause to get oriented is welcome and needed, but don’t linger there.
Your organization needs you to lead action from a new perspective.
Would you like to learn more about how Nebo can help you and your team move forward? Contact us at leadership@nebocompany.com
