When reading this practice I initially wondered about the use of the word pain in the context of our industry - local government and specifically around leadership in this sector. But the more I thought about it the more appropriate I believe the word to be. We are experiencing real pain right now. And we are hearing the real stories day after day. And what will follow is some helpful advice from the book around how to recognize discomfort and leverage it to get ahead of it becoming worse.
It is important to acknowledge discomfort because it actually helps you determine what is truly important and likely the most meaningful to us. For a local government leader there are a myriad of things that could be causing this discomfort. A mindfulness practice is so very helpful here because of the intentional time that it affords a leader to determine where the most discomfort is being felt and gauge how it aligns to our bigger picture. The term "don't sweat the small stuff" comes into play here. We only have so much time in the day to address issues therefore it is extremely important to use that time wisely.
The author Marc Lesser suggests that every type of pain needs to be acknowledged. Just as physical pain assists a doctor in diagnosing a patient, so to can emotional pain help a leader ascertain organizational disfunction. So many times in my career I have witnessed a Council Meeting where you can actually witness, in real time, where an issue is starting to encounter discomfort. You can literally see the emotions start to show up physically on a presenter's face. And it often spreads to their team around them. Everyone having a hard time not reacting with some facial expressions that show the tension being felt.
There is a real skill in performing a "pre-mortem" for this very occasion. We are all likely more familiar with a "post-mortem" where after someone passes away doctors examine the body to determine a cause of death. What factors led to this person passing away. This becomes helpful for everyone but the diseased. A "pre-mortem" is an exercise of proactively attempting to determine factors that could lead to both a positive or a negative outcome in certain situations. In the case described above a leader going into a Council Meeting should perform a "pre-mortem" with there team to determine where tension may arise and plan accordingly. Good "pre-mortem" work here could include using Council's strategic plan and the goals identified within it and gauging how well what we are brining forward aligns with furthering those goals. Anticipating where Council may feel some pain is hugely beneficial for more successful engagements with them.
One can even, on purpose, contemplate the worst possible scenarios and the pain that comes with them. For example, in my time I worked with a Chief Financial Officer who would always share their very harsh experience in losing an enormous amount of assessment where they worked previously. Their single biggest taxpayer left the community with very little warning. You can only imagine the pain this caused. It forced a very stressful identification of the truly most important things required for their community. Historically significant services provided to the community were lost and those that remained looked much different. This CFO carried this experience with them as they moved to new communities. They always had people thinking about the "what if" scenarios. This practice injected resilient thinking and proactively thinking about value of our offerings in their current state. Awareness of a worst possible situation also provided perspective. Things seemed not as bad as they potentially could be.
For our industry I feel this chapter is very relevant these days. Yes, we are experiencing pain today, perhaps like we have ever felt before. However, there are mindful ways to use this pain to inform us of what is truly most important right now. Take the time to understand this very well. It serves everyone.
