Late last week I attended a function to celebrate the over-achievements of participants in a graduate programme at a big professional services firm.  I like these sorts of events because the young people I meet are well informed and have fresh perspectives on diverse issues.  I often come away from such functions inspired to keep pace.

For days before I had been under pressure to complete a L&D plan for an overseas client.  I was happy with the body of the paper, but lacked a punchy conclusion and a call to action was nowhere to be seen.  For hours I had written and rewritten my close.  Each draft slipped farther from what I really wanted.  It was either very late one night or very early the next morning when I proof read my recommendations.  In my angst to complete the project I had cobbled together a collection of corporate-speak peppered with some L&D jargon.  What I read belonged more in a Dr Seuss story than a project paper.  I walked away.

Many hours later I was rested and refueled.  Sadly I still lacked the clarity to craft the elusive closing.  I found myself torn between the desire to explore what looked like a stunning late winter’s day and the very real tick-tock of my looming deadline.  I opted to leave the cave and headed off on my bike to test my declining fitness on some of the rolling country roads around my home.  Experience had taught me that my planned should have taken about three hours on a good day.

As I rode, I drifted back to the woeful close I had rewritten so many times.  Peddling away some things started to make sense.  About half-way through the ride there was a particularly ugly climb (the climb is stunning, the way I rode it is the ugly part), I started to think about an organisation’s need to balance work output with the desire to grow human capital.  One is always sacrificed for the other and that has often been the undoing of so many great initiatives.  In times of prosperity firms spend big on development.  When the squeeze hits, development becomes the Christmas turkey.

In my close I talked about the things that have transitioned organsiations into the high performing zone and the need to accelerate capability growth in times of hardship, but to adjust the method by which the learning is delivered.  Evolve the learning to meet the needs of the end user.

Back at my desk after my ride I finished off my paper with a close that I am really happy with.  Really happy.  The ride was not my quickest, but that was never the intention.

So back to the function.  I was explaining the process I had been through to the graduate group.  I said that sometimes you have to walk away to do your best work.  We talked about what they like to do as individuals to recharge.  We also talked about something they could do as project teams to stimulate fresh thinking.  Sadly, to the partners at the professional services firm, the idea of a group heading out for a morning surf session or a mid afternoon run did not directly equate to billable hours.  There may be some convincing yet to do with this firm though I suspect I will not be invited back.  Suggesting their best and brightest spend time AWOL was not taken well.

Regardless, I encourage you to look for innovative ways to enable the creative process for your people and within yourself.  You will be a more a more productive leader and change agent and if you are lucky, you may even be invited to participate.

Enjoy your heavy breathing.

SDG