You know that optimistic feeling when you start a new self-help book or find a new tech solution you hope will solve all of your problems? 🌈 That.

That dopamine hit that comes from believing that you may have an answer to something that has been holding back your progress. Sometimes a new system or approach can unlock a new perspective or help you get into action.

But often it ends up being a waste of time. (Unfortunately 🤦‍♀️)

You get the new calendar system setup, or the tablet working with your work files, or some new software for project management that is going to help you stay focused or have the right information at your fingertips.

And you start using it for a week or two, and then you inevitably run into some problem.

(Likely a problem that existed before, but you couldn’t see it clearly or else you would have addressed it already…)

Then, a couple months later, you don’t even remember what it was supposed to be doing for you… and you have cobbled together a new version (or maybe reverted to the way you’ve always done things.)

We are especially prone to this waste of time or energy when:

1. You are running on empty and need some relief. OR

2. You come to the end of yourself as you reach for something new or bigger than you’ve gone after before.

You should know: this isn’t your fault. This is normal for anyone trying to make change.

It isn’t even the system or calendar or software’s fault.

The reality is that these technical solutions aren’t able to address what are typically adaptive challenges you face - ones that require you to uplevel skills, let go of limiting beliefs, or see things in an entirely new way.

Great leaders are able to discern when the problems their team faces can be addressed with a tech fix, and when you need a more adaptive solution to unlock something new.

Some people think good leaders just have this innate ability. But in reality, the ability to discern what is really going on with your team (or customers for that matter) is something that you can learn how to get better at.

And when you have a handful of frameworks or mental models, it gives you the ability to look at issues from a higher perspective and pinpoint the targeted solution needed at this moment.

On December 5th, I’m offering a free training to help you discern which of the 5 common dysfunctions are present on your team. This is one of the frameworks I use with my clients.

Clarity is always where you want to start, even if it is just getting a more clear picture of the uncertainty or chaos that you are experiencing. Discerning if your problems are systemic, cultural, or interpersonal is really important. And which dysfunctions are present will determine the order to experiment with interventions to get to high performance.

This insight actually turns down the temperature on stress, because clarity is a gift that prevents wasted time trying to figure out why we run into the same issues or which tactic to try next.