John P. Kotter, Harvard Professor and leadership expert has a new book out entitled A Sense of Urgency. The title brought back memories because it was the favorite phrase of one of my former managers. Whenever the team seemed to be moving too slow he would tell us to stop being complacent and get a sense of urgency lest our competition beat us to market. In an interview at the LeadershipNow blog, Kotter gives some insights into the principles outlined in his book. He looks at a sense of urgency as a key asset in any organization and discusses how to create and maintain it.

I've seen some managers create a sense of urgency through fear and intimidation. They keep the pressure on by reminding the team that their jobs or performance ratings are on the line. They focus on the negative personal consequences for failing to achieve the desired results. While this approach may work in the short term, it's hard to sustain. It hurts employee morale and causes higher staff turnover. It also stifles creativity because people are so focused on meeting objectives as laid out by the boss, they don't have time to reflect and come up with new ideas.

Kotter says that real urgency exists at an intellectual level. When the team understands that huge opportunities or threats exist outside of the organization, they respond on a more emotional level. They want to win and succeed. My boss understood this dynamic. He talked about what our competition was doing and helped us see how our actions could help us gain market share. He also talked about our customers and how we were helping them to stay in business. This got us energized even when we were under very aggressive deadlines.

Kotter closes the interview by challenging us to do something every day to help our organization win. Some days it may be only five minutes at the end of a meeting where a key decision is made. Other days, you may be working full out on a project that will be critical to your organization. The key is to start each day with the mindset that you will find and do at least one thing that moves you closer to your goal.

That's good advice both in your job and in your life.