Transcript of video, Slow Down to Speed up^®: Lead, Succeed and Thrive in a 24/7 World

Slow down to speed up is a concept that I have developed and have been using with my clients for some time now. I actually wrote a book that was published just a few months back called Slow Down to Speed up^®: Lead, Succeed and Thrive in a 24/7 World. https://lizbywater.com/book/

And the fact is we are living in a 24/7 world. There’s never been more work to be done more rapidly with fewer resources. And so when clients, executives, teams take the time to be thoughtful, strategic, deliberate in the work they do, rather than simply going faster all the time, they actually can get better, more sustainable results, in a shorter period of time, and with fewer mistakes that they have to turn around and fix.

When do you slow down? And when do you speed up?

The slowing down—and this is part of both the philosophy and the set of tools that I provide for my clients—the slowing down is all about when you have a big decision: you’re trying to figure out whether to buy a new company, when you’re trying to find out who to hire for an important role, when you have something that might change in your industry… you’ve got to slow down long enough to make the right decision. You’ve got to slow down long enough that you don’t inadvertently make an avoidable mistake. But once you figured out what you’re doing and you’ve got the right people in the right roles, doing the right things, at the right time, you’ve got to go fast. That’s when you speed it up.

What type of organizations are good at slowing down to speed up?

Well, you know, I’m fortunate. I work with clients across the Fortune 500 as well as an array of other smaller companies in different industries.

It doesn’t really matter what kind of company it is, or what industry it is. Companies where there is a strategic future focus, where the leaders cascade a culture in which they’re preventing fires rather than fighting them day-to-day, those are the companies that really do well. And once the entire organization embraces the slow down to speed up^® philosophy and approach, the impact is actually quite extraordinary.

What people say is you just always have to keep going faster. If you don’t go fast, you lose the race.

What I’ve been telling all my clients is it’s quite the opposite. It’s slow down to speed up^®. So be planful, thoughtful, deliberate, take care of yourself and your team, look ahead to the future. Don’t just put out the fire of the day. Prevent avoidable mistakes. The slowing down will get you there better, faster with more innovation and greater sustainability.

It’s putting your time, effort, and energy into things that are going to help the company grow faster, more effectively with greater innovation. It’s not about doing more. It’s about doing the right things at the right time.