“Slowly is the fastest way to get you where you want to go.”
– Andre De Shields
VIM Executive Coaching greatly admires the sustainability and tenacity of actor, singer, director and choreographer Andre De Shields. He has won multiple professional awards for his work and is still active at near 80-years old, with no reason to stop. We might also add he is a long-term survivor of disease and he has lost several close friends and relatives to sickness and disease as well.
Nothing about his climb has been easy, nothing about the profession he is in, is a given, nor was his more than 45-year career journey.
In his Emmy award acceptance speech, De Shields made the quote we see above, along with the observation, “the top of one mountain is the bottom of the next, so keep climbing.” His advice should be embraced by any executive leader seeking to learn and understand about their industry. Unfortunately, most don’t.
The Cost of Shortcuts
J.D. Pretorius, CEO of a major payroll and HR organizations wrote (September 12, 2024) on the dangers of taking shortcuts.
In an age of “hacks,” “easy routes,” “slacking off, hanging about, vegging out, idling, bumming, loafing, kicking back,” and on and on, both employees and employers have greatly suffered by viewing the art of taking shortcuts as some type of Holy Grail.
While we don’t take an official position on the virtues of remote working versus in-person, we can’t help but note that the results are overwhelming that organizations – and people in general – work a lot more efficiently when they interact in-person. We’ve rarely seen arguments for one-hundred-percent remote that hold-up over the long-term. Far too many remote teams have been crippled by team members who have thrived on shortcuts and steadfastly refusing to put in the work.
According to Pretorius, excessive shortcutting leads to employee missed learning, an increase in stress, decline in work quality and indecision. As to employers (executive leaders) see shortcutting as reducing productivity and in real-human terms in manufacturing, construction and transportation, a compromise in safety.
Overall, the taking of shortcuts, leads to a decrease in organizational morale and damaged reputations.
In pursuing shortcuts almost as a fine art, the greatest damage that executive leaders and subordinates alike do to the organization is to promote an environment of lost mindfulness, with an absence of authenticity, a decline in compassion and a loss of true communication.
When executive leaders are directed to believe that management by an easy, short-cutting route is as effective as mindful response and compassion, organizations suffer.
Slow is the new fast
The rush to the top and hasty reaction to challenges, has crippled more organizations than any commitment to deliberate (not lethargic!) and mindful response. The rush to the top and “easy tools” that celebrate simple solutions over the development of skills and the need to be authentic in decision making, simply don’t work. Not historically, not now, no matter the organization.
Unfortunately, when expediency is considered a greater attribute than authenticity, the employee suffers. In our present time, with an uncertain economy and apprehension about job security, to not nurture one another, is a virtual guarantee that when the economy and employment opportunities return to firmer ground, companies will again endure greater turnover and a loss of loyalty.
We consider slow, to be the new fast. When workplaces act with greater mindfulness, and a deliberate response to challenges, everyone is better-off and satisfied with their place in the organization.