A Sense of Urgency

“Leaders who think systemically are often courageous and know how to create a results-oriented environment. …. This urgency is not reactive and crisis oriented; rather, it is strategic and purposeful…” ~ Kirtman and Fullan (2016)

Why is a sense of urgency important for a leader? Leading with a sense of urgency is the energy that moves things forward purposefully in our organizations. When we focus on what needs to be done today we take the necessary proactive steps in order to create the best future outcomes. Leading with a sense of urgency is a mindset - not a moment. It is leading from passion and purpose and intention and it drives the organization and its work and its results.

What does it look like when we lead with a sense of urgency? We, and our people, pay attention - we don’t go on autopilot - we resist inertia and complacency. We are learners and listeners and watchers of details - we are using these attributes to not be surprised and to focus our attention on our priorities and the results we have set out to achieve. What’s happening in our industry, in our community, in our departments, in our teams and in the world around us? We create cultures (and deploy strategies and embed systems) of learning and co-ownership and high expectations with accountability.

What does it look like when we don’t have an organizational sense of urgency? Often this shows up as ‘doing things the way we’ve always done’ them and resting on our past successes. Status quo is comfortable. The difficulty of not having a sense of urgency is we often let things ride until they become a bigger problem. If our organization recognizes that as leaders we are not addressing important matters in a timely manner - they believe that those things don’t matter or aren’t important. Individuals and teams are often not held accountable and we can begin to lower our expectations or what we will tolerate:according to Harvey Goldberg “What you tolerate is what you will get, and that becomes your culture.”

But urgency for the sake of urgency or EVERYTHING being urgent is another situation. If we make everything urgent then nothing is really urgent. If as leaders, we try to make everything urgent we create chronic stress, exhaustion and lowered performance/outcomes. Additionally, cultures of 24/7/365 urgency lead to high turnover and are barriers to keeping good people.

Leaders with a sense of urgency, an action orientation and a focus on results set clear goals, make decisions and take action, keep their focus on performance to outcomes, empower their teams and hold each other accountable. In order to lead an organization into a culture of urgency and results focused action, leaders must be committed to continual learning and development - for themselves and for their team. They create organizations that attract talent and where people want to come to work.

“One of the great advantages of districts that focus and start to get better and better results is that they are great places to work. They attract people who want to make a difference. Good people attracting and working with other good people get even better… they tend to have a ‘come work with us’ mentality”.  ~ Kirtman and Fullan (2016)