Leadership Without the Drama: Practising Objective Detachment
“You can’t control the waves, but you can learn to surf.”
The theme this week, walking our talk. It is very easy for a coach to suggest a behaviour or way of working to others, but in many areas of life, it is more challenging to apply the same advice to ourselves. This week in TRC, we have spent time focusing on one such subject: Objective Detachment. Objective detachment is simply the concept of stepping back and judging something without a personal bias, so seeing things as they are rather than as you would like them to be.
For the first time in a while, a couple of clients have paused our partnership with them for various reasons. When working with a relatively small number of clients, this can understandably create an initial sense of concern about whether there is something we are failing to do or provide. The subjectivity and attachment kick in, so that was when we need to walk our talk and practice objective detachment
But once that unhelpful combination is replaced by a more logical, objective detachment, it becomes clear that both clients have worked with us for over two years and, for different reasons, need to pause and direct their time elsewhere. At the same time, we have signed one new client and received strong referrals from existing clients. Thus, from a subjective perspective, we might feel we have lost two clients we wished to retain; however, from an objective standpoint, our annual retention rate remains over 85%, indicating that this is simply natural client churn, and other clients are referring us, suggesting they must be deriving value from what we offer. This situation is not necessarily about us; it is about them.
Reframe: Look for the macro
rather than micro trend
If we use too short a measurement period we can misjudge the situation and choose the wrong course of action. Detachment means looking at the wider picture which for us was two clients going on a break in the last 8 months not just the last week. Our annual retention is still over 85% so the detached view sees this as natural client churn. Not something to ignore but rather something just to monitor as we have always done. If a key metric is within the pre-agreed ‘acceptable range’ then no immediate action is needed.
Rethink: Are they any adjustments
we need to make?
We speak about our clients internally regularly so there are very seldom ‘surprises’ that occur but there are still sometimes lessons to be learnt or adjustments to be made. So the rethink this week was is there anything we need to adjust here?
Did we deliver what we agreed?
Did we miss anything?
What, if anything, can we do better or differently?
In this case we were happy with what we delivered but we did recognise there was some improvements we could make during our onboarding process.
Refocus: And the impact is?
The final conversation was around the financial impact and how the loss of income from 2 clients impacts our key (sanity) metric - monthly recurring revenue. Fortunately we have had 1 new client start this month and we have 2 ‘hot’ referrals we are speaking with right now, so the objective assessment is that nothing needs to change here. Our focus moves onto onboarding new clients as we have to accept every client engagement is finite.
Objective detachment is a skill that can be acquired, but like every skill, you must actively practise it for it to become the natural way you operate. Once acquired, you will find it brings a sense of serenity and calmness to your leadership, as you will judge situations with less emotion and personal bias.
We always have a choice whether we react or respond to anything that happens. The difference being one is instant and emotionally led, the other is considered and is logic led. Experienced leaders have learnt that responding rather than reacting is usually the better option. Objective detachment in action.
