Hello   

I traveled by air last week for a speaking engagement.  When I arrived at the airport and realized how the air traffic controller furloughs were going to impact my itinerary, one fact became perfectly clear to me:   

I'm stuck here for a potentially long while.

Once I accepted that 'fact', the noise caused by the 'details' as to why this occurred quieted for me as I decided how best to respond to the delay (the fact) and manage myself through the situation.

I observed some travelers struggle to accept the fact and spend an enormous amount of time trapped in the details of why or how this happened.  They wasted a ton of energy and, in the end, didn't change the fact one bit.

Most challenging business situations bring about similar reactions that can be quite disruptive to an organization. The most effective leaders I have ever met are masters at seeing the facts among the pile of details quickly and with astonishing accuracy.

All facts matter.
Not all details matter.

All facts are details.
All details are not necessarily facts.

Facts influence the relevance of certain details.
Details don't change the facts.

Facts can stand on their own.
Details must be organized to be useful.

When faced with a challenging situation, do your best to get to the facts as quickly as possible.

Then organize the details into three distinct categories:    

Impact details:
These details speak to the effect the facts have on you or your team.   

Response details:
These details articulate the options for reacting to the facts.

Empowerment details:
These details give clues for the future that help you grow and improve.

Any detail that can't be placed into one of these three categories is just noise and can be eliminated.

This week, pay attention to how the noise of details might be making it difficult to identify and react to the facts of what challenge you might be facing.  

Greetings!  

email: mmalinchok@verizon.net