I just had the most wonderful opportunity to participate in the Executive Leadership Forum with Americans for the Arts.  Eighteen executive directors of Local Arts Agencies from Alaska to Florida spent four days at Sundance Resort discussing all manner of topics, including diversity, cultural districts, the art of healing, and navigating change.

We bonded quickly, and shared information that might be difficult for any of us to share aloud in our respective communities.  Here, we had the opportunity to discuss issues openly and honestly with a goal toward resolution and developing a way forward.

For me, and I actually think for all my colleagues, probably the most impactful session came near the very beginning of our Forum.  David Grant, former President and CEO of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, led us on a journey of, “Thinking Past Urgent:  Organizational Assessment, Decision Making, and Change.” What David showed us was a number of “mental models” that help diagram how we approach our jobs, work with our boards, engage staff, etc.

We looked at an array of models from a tabletop of “programs” supported by four legs that represent management, governance, financial, and administrative systems, to a Venn diagram showing the intersection of what is desirable, viable, and feasible when looking at charting the vision for an organization.

The one “model” that really stood out for our group focused on the amount of “urgency” and “importance” that we have to address as we attempt to solve problems or simply do our day-to-day jobs.  This model is divided into four quadrants.

The two scales that divide the quadrants measure the following:  First, the level of urgency, from urgent to non-urgent; and second, the level of importance, from important to non-important.  Most of us spend our working lives in Quadrant I – where things are urgent and important.  We’re constantly putting out fires, running from one thing to the next, trying to balance three meetings and a report that was due yesterday, while also trying to guide the staff on a new project and meet with a donor about an upcoming event.

We’d like to think that the things we do for our jobs all have some level of importance, so Quadrants III and IV don’t have nearly as much relevance to our day-to-day work, because these quadrants are for non-important issues.

Therefore, the key to our success and I would submit, ultimate happiness, is to reside in Quadrant II, where the things we need to focus on are important, but non-urgent.  Quadrant II gives you time…to think, to reflect, to breathe, and to consider the best path forward.  When you reside in this quadrant, you are looking at key issues facing your organization, but you have the time to pause and reflect, to consider options, and to seek out additional feedback.  You aren’t having to manage a situation and rush to a decision because you have 28 emails that need a reply and three phone messages and two staff that just need five minutes of your time, while you are running out the door to yet another meeting.

Now, the challenge is to be able to center yourself in Quadrant II, while circumstances are constantly pulling you toward Quadrant I.  You must resist the urge to ramp up the urgency of a situation, and instead, remain calm, take a deep breath, and say, “give me a few minutes and I’ll get back to you.”  I know that this is much easier said than done.  However, as I was sitting on my deck at my cabin at Sundance, listening to the rain and watching the leaves turn as I wrote this blog, I made a commitment to myself to really make an effort to exist in Quadrant II when I’m back in my office.  I highly recommend that you give it a try!