Turning Insights into Effective Action Planning
By: Maureen Anderson, FAAC®, Vice President of Consulting and Compliance
Effective leadership is vital for navigating uncertain times. It requires cultivating a growth mindset, keen listening skills, and a willingness to take strategic action. In this three-part series, members of the Financial Aid Services leadership team explore one key dimension at a time—offering practical insights to help guide your team through challenging times in higher education.
Turning Insights into An Action Plan
The two previous blogs highlighted the benefits of leading with a growth mindset and the importance of listening to your team, customers, and key industry leaders. What’s the next step to take these inputs and put them to use? It’s time to operationalize with a focused yet flexible action plan.
Plan in the Face of Uncertainty
When your team has fostered a growth mindset, they can expect and embrace uncertainty — and begin planning. This process of shifting focus from rigid outcomes to adaptable strategies creates space for scenario planning and agile decision making.
But leading through uncertainty isn’t just about reacting. It’s about setting your team up to move forward with confidence.
Acknowledge Your Wins
In fast-changing environments, it’s easy to focus only on what’s not working. Effective leaders remind their teams to recognize progress and celebrate their achievements. When the focus is solely on uncertainties and setbacks, the indicators of success become blurred. A sense of progress is the best antidote to uncertainty.
Celebrating wins helps your team:
- Learn from missteps without losing motivation
- Stay open to innovation in the face of change
- Maintain momentum, even during turbulence
Great leaders foster a positive, resilient team culture by consistently recognizing and celebrating achievements. This reinforces the value of their efforts, boosts confidence, and creates a shared history of overcoming challenges, making the team more open to future growth and development.
This acknowledged success and growing confidence leads to the final aspect of effective leadership: the willingness to embrace calculated risks in pursuit of innovation and progress, even in turbulent times.
Take Calculated Risks
The Chinese character for crisis is the same as that for opportunity — a powerful reminder that even in the most challenging moments, there is room for growth. Crisis or adversity presents opportunities to learn, innovate, and take calculated risks. Instead of weathering the storm and waiting for the perfect conditions, bold effective leaders understand that it is more impactful to identify smart risks and act with bold intention.
Take calculated risks. Act boldly and thoughtfully. Be an agile company.
-Ray Kroc
As you consider how to move forward, remember that calculated risks don’t guarantee success, but they create the conditions for it. This focus with a leader that has their back helps your team lean into the possibility with trust and transparency rather than retreating in fear and that mindset can be transformative.
Turn Challenges into Opportunities
Navigating turbulent times demands more than a positive mindset; it requires action. By embracing the inherent uncertainty, planning for multiple scenarios, celebrating small wins, and taking calculated risks, leaders can transform challenges into opportunities for growth.
Contact FAS, and let’s start a conversation to help you find solutions to your institution’s challenges.
