Burst the Bubble of Isolation

Don’t Get Stuck in Your Echo Chamber

“There is a difference between solitude and isolation. One is connected and one isn’t. Solitude replenishes, isolation diminishes.” ~ Dr. Henry Cloud

Prevent a Dive to Isolation

Don’t let your climb up the ladder lead to a dive to isolation or loneliness. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to keep from being isolated.

Studies show that isolation is a distinct leader problem, no matter the leadership level. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple shares “To avoid becoming insular, you have to go out of your way to solicit different points of view. Otherwise, you will find yourself living in a bubble, an echo chamber”.

“Even the most inclusive leaders can feel isolated”. Often without peers, leaders get a sense of having to deal with situations, decisions, or even thought-topics alone. Input and feedback are important, but the lack of ability for a confidential, deep dive conversation, with one at your level, can take leaders down this dark path. This sense of isolation can negatively impact one’s performance with a loss of confidence, depression, and even degrade judgement.

“Leadership comes with a lot of power”, Tanya Ahmed reminds us. “However, the nature of power and its psychological effects frequently leave the debilitating feeling of being isolated from others. It’s a feeling so common among successful people that it’s become an idiom: “It’s lonely at the top.”

Thomas J. Saporito, Ph.D. has found that the feeling of loneliness or isolation for leaders can occur both at work and on the outside. This is more common especially for those in more senior positions, who have no true peers, compounded by their greater demands. He has found that acknowledgment of these feelings as a first step, significantly reduces the negative impact that they can have. He advises leaders that acceptance of these feelings is not failure, but rather a critical step in minimizing or eliminating them.

Once acknowledged, other actions that have proven beneficial include seeking and leaning on trusted advisors – personal “board of directors”, leveraging fellowship within your network and engaging with other leaders at your level, and escape from your office.

Seek Others You Trust

When making a significant decision, seek an outside perspective, says Trey Gowdy. In his book Start, Stay, or Leave: The Art of Decision Making, Trey shares the value of seeking others you trust to listen to you and to provide advice and counsel. This is not to have them make the decision for you, but rather to provide a different view, allowing you to develop the best conclusion. Often, they can offer a perspective we have not considered. They can clear the fog of emotion to help us focus on the important facets that can have a true bearing on the situation. This insight, in turn, can help us to see a clearer site picture, enabling us to make a better decision.

This can be a single confidant or may be as Nicole Marra suggests, a select group who can serve as your personal “board of directors”. “Identify people outside your organization in whom you can honestly and confidentially confide. These individuals become thought partners and sources of out-of-the-box solutions. They are agenda-less sounding boards to help refine ideas and identify landmines or unforeseen consequences.”

Seek Others at Your Level

As you move up, grow your network of peers and remain (or get) engaged with them. Listening and talking with peers, whether in a similar sector or not, provides space to discuss, think, and hear from others. This type of association or engagement may not be available or comfortable within your organization.

Peers may be experiencing similar challenges that you can learn from. Or they may be facing things that you can contribute to. In either case, it allows you, without restrictions from internal hierarchy, to burst the bubble of isolation with secondary benefits to you and your organization.

Escape from Your Office

Lead by walking around. If you find yourself spending most of your time in your office, break the shackles and get out.

Eric Geiger advises that leaders who get out of their office encourage their team, discover amazing people, and avoid making decisions in isolation.

Your best “operational advisors” are those within your organization at the functional levels. You can’t gather this level of insight from your office.

Be “present” while walking around. That is, focus on the people, not your iPhone. Focus on the workers, not their bosses. Focus on the outcome of the work, don’t micromanage.

Integrator Leader Reflections

· How often are you out of your office to engage in leading your organization?

· Are you regularly connecting with trusted advisor(s)?

· Have you expanded your network with others in positions at similar levels?

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