Saving Your Mind Space for the Calls That Matter
As a senior leader you attend a high volume of meetings.
Half way through them you feel you are already spent.
One of the key reasons for this is not having a differential sort for opinions Vs Positions.
An opinion is an input into something the room builds.
A position is a commitment you stand behind & act on.
"I think there are risks with this timeline" is an opinion.
"I would delay this by a quarter, and here is what I would need to see to change my mind" is a position.
The key to save your mind space and retain energy is to know when to offer each and in what context.
Three questions that help you
Is the room exploring or deciding?
Early in a problem, a position anchors the room to you before anyone has thought properly, and people stop offering what they actually see.
Who carries the risk & responsibility?
If you own the outcome, you owe the room, a position. If someone else owns it, a position from you crowds them out of their own decision. It also moves their problem onto your plate, where it will cost you for weeks.
Were you asked for your thinking or your decision?
"What do you make of this?" invites an opinion. "What should we do?" requires a position.
Some guidelines on offering each are:
Offer an opinion when:
A peer is working through something they own.
The room is still framing the problem rather than solving it.
Your direct brings you a decision that belongs to them.
You have instinct but no evidence and there are no other options.
You are new and still learning how the place works.
Take a position when:
The matter sits inside your own mandate, budget or team.
The room is drifting towards a default nobody choses or willing to choose and that delay would harm your mandate.
You are the only one who can see the risk and own it.
Your team cannot act until they know where you stand
What the sort buys you
Disagreement with an opinion costs you nothing.It frees mind space.
People challenge you more freely, so you hear more of what they actually think.
Your positions carry weight because they are rare.
You reach the calls that are genuinely yours with something left.
This mind space & energy can be Invested in your positions to
Say what you will do rather than what you just think.
State what would change your mind.
Name the cost of your own recommendation
Attach yourself to the outcome.
Reflections:
Which argument from last week are you still running in your head, that was never yours to win?
Where are you holding a view as a commitment when it was only an input?
Where are you hedging on something you actually own?
Which call this quarter deserves your full weight, and what are you protecting to make room for it?
