Leading Like a Monk: Looking Beyond Our Next Move

Looking Beyond Our Next Move

Two of my strongest strengths are being analytical and being strategic.

I am a good strategic thinker. There are only a few things I enjoy more than figuring out how to get from here to there. The space between where we are and where we want to go is creative space for me.

Life can feel like a big chess match in which we are looking for and beyond our next move.

At the same time, I believe our strengths carry the seeds of our weaknesses. Depending on the ability to think through where to go next may help us find an orderly path. It may also keep us from recognizing steps which rely more on our intuition or imagination.

There are lessons I have not learned because I needed to work out my strategy before I acted. I have given up on things I wanted to do when I could not figure out my next move.

A strong ability to lay out a strategic plan is a valuable tool, but it is not the entire toolbox. We may take comfort in our planning skills and our tenacity in putting our plans into practice. The fact is we may need to look beyond our next move to win the game.

Monastic Strategies

The monks I know tend not to construct complicated strategic plans.

The hermitage where I am an oblate is Benedictine. Life there is grounded in Benedict’s Rule.

A strategic plan lays out the steps to take to get from where we are to where we want to go. We design each step to take us toward our goals.

Benedict’s Rule is a framework for going more deeply within ourselves. It does not measure our progress in meeting our goals, but in finding our potential.

The monks who inspire me do not see life as a chess match. We are not trying to maneuver our way toward victory or away from defeat. It is not as if our steps forward, or back, are completely in our own control.

Monks and monastic communities do have aspirations and hopes. A monastic approach tends to be more open to possibilities than focused on pushing forward.

Monks have taught me significant lessons about finding ways forward. Their openness appears to give more room for creativity, intuition, and imagination. Monks identify where they want to go in community, then depend on the community to get there.

Monastic planning feels less marginal and incremental than planning outside the monastery. The shared values within the Benedictine framework provide a context for decisions.

Monks focus less on planning and making decisions than on discerning. The community comes together within the Benedictine framework to discern a way forward.

Monastic community discernment has roots in shared values and history.

Monks tend to be less concerned about getting from where we are to where we want to go. There is more of a sense of exploration and anticipation.

Monks see planning from a different perspective.

Strategic Like a Monk

Monks have shown me there is more to strategic thinking than seeing our next move. We need to look further, out of the corner of our eye, beyond our next move.

I used to take time each year to plan ahead. My focus was on what I wanted to accomplish during the year and what I thought I could do. I came to see each year’s plan was a version of the one before. There were adjustments around the edges, but my goals were essentially the same.

My approach to leadership was similar. We would try to become better this year but still leave room for future improvement. We might do things a little better each year, but we were fundamentally doing the same things.

I liked to plan around things I could control. If I fell behind, I could speed things up. My goals were measurable and realistic. The goals each year were simply working a little harder or faster than last year.

The monks I know have shown me strategic planning can limit us. When we settle for tinkering around the edges we do ourselves a disservice.

Is there a reason we plan only a year in advance?

Do we leave room for the unexpected, the possibilities in our plans?

When our planning grows out of our shared core values we may go further.

Now I take time each year to get away and listen. It is not about identifying the steps to take me where I would like to go. My time is more about finding the stillness to hear the voices within me and all around me. I set aside as many distractions as I can and try to open myself to the possibilities.

My actual goals may not change much from year to year.

A Step Beyond Our Next Move

There is freedom in exploring what we have not thought of before. Our next move could take us anywhere.

Leadership is not about squeezing a slight increase in productivity out of an organization. We are leaders because we bring out the best in the people around us. Our first step in going beyond our next move is tapping into the best within ourselves.

Our leadership is more than just knowing which pieces to move where on the board. We do not lead merely to win a match, to vanquish an opponent. Leading is about looking beyond our next move, and the move after that.

Our leadership is about finding potential in people even when they hide it well. We are able to see several moves ahead and help them do better than they think they can.

We lead by looking beyond the board and the pieces, and even the people playing. There is something essential happening here and we are tying into it.

Leadership is more than meets the eye.

How will we look beyond our next move today?

Where is our leadership inspiring someone to be their best self this week?

[Image by iantmcfarland]

Greg Richardson is a spiritual life mentor and leadership coach in Southern California. He is a recovering attorney and university professor, and a lay Oblate with New Camaldoli Hermitage near Big Sur, California. Greg’s website is StrategicMonk.com, and his email address is [email protected].