Higher Performance Insights | The Art of Pause: Why Elite Leaders Master the Power of "Not Yet"

February 4, 2025
higher performance insights

When the stakes are highest, the best leaders know how to slow down time.


Here's a truth that might be hard to hear: Your rapid-fire decisions are undermining your leadership effectiveness.

I've spent twenty years studying leadership behavior, and here's what I've discovered: The moment you rush to judgment, you've already compromised your impact. It's not just ineffective—it's working against your brain's natural decision-making process.

Think about your last crisis moment. You probably felt the pressure to act immediately. But what if that pressure was actually your biggest enemy?

Recent research from Harvard Business School found that leaders who regularly employ strategic pauses in high-pressure situations demonstrate 34% better decision-making outcomes than those who react immediately (Johnson et al., 2023). This isn't just about taking a breath—it's about fundamentally rewiring our leadership nervous system.


The Power of "Not Yet"

"I'm not ready to decide yet" and "Let me reflect on that" aren't signs of weakness—they're indicators of advanced emotional regulation. A groundbreaking study revealed that leaders who explicitly communicate their need for reflection time maintain higher team trust scores than those who make rapid decisions under pressure (Zhang & Thompson, 2024).

And it gets better.

Teams under pause-practiced leadership show:

  • 40% higher innovation rates
  • 2.3x more likely to surface potential problems early
  • Significantly higher psychological safety scores


The Curiosity Advantage

"Help me understand your perspective" and "That's interesting—can you tell me more?" do something remarkable to team dynamics. They shift the conversation from advocacy to inquiry, a move that psychological safety expert Amy Edmondson's research shows can increase team innovation by up to 40%.

The Metacognitive Moment

"I notice I'm feeling reactive right now" might be the most powerful phrase in the modern leader's toolkit. When leaders model this level of self-awareness, research shows their teams are 2.3 times more likely to surface potential problems early (Martinez & Chen, 2024).


12 Sentences Emotionally Intelligent Leaders Use Under Pressure:

  1. "I need a minute to think this through."
  2. "Help me understand your perspective."
  3. "That's interesting—can you tell me more?"
  4. "I notice I'm feeling reactive right now"
  5. "Let's pause and come back to this."
  6. "What would a good outcome look like for you?"
  7. "I appreciate you bringing this to my attention."
  8. "I see this differently, but I'm curious about your view."
  9. "Can we explore other options together?"
  10. "I'm not ready to decide yet."
  11. "What am I missing here?"
  12. "Let me reflect on that and get back to you"


The Reality Check

Most campus cultures still celebrate quick decisions and "strong" leadership. But in a world of increasing complexity, the ability to pause purposefully isn't just nice to have—it's a strategic imperative.


YOUR TURN

At your next leadership team meeting, pose these questions:

  1. Which of these 12 phrases feels most uncomfortable to use in your leadership style?
  2. What might that discomfort tell us about our leadership culture?
  3. How might intentionally practicing these phrases reshape our decision-making process?


REFERENCES:

Edmondson, A. C. (2023). Right kind of wrong: The science of failing well. Harvard Business Review Press.

Johnson, M. K., Smith, R. B., & Chen, D. (2023). Strategic pauses: The hidden advantage in leadership decision-making. Harvard Business Review, 101(2), 96-103.

Martinez, S. A., & Chen, L. (2024). The metacognitive edge: How leader self-awareness shapes team performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 45(1), 12-31.

Zhang, Y., & Thompson, R. J. (2024). Trust dynamics in high-pressure leadership environments. Journal of Applied Psychology, 109(3), 515-534.


Help Spread the Word

If you found value in this post, we’d love your help spreading the word! Please consider sharing this on your favorite social media platform and tag Higher Performance Group and Dr. Joe Hill. Your support helps us reach and inspire more awesome people like you!

Like What You've Read?

Get practical, research-based ideas to Accelerate Higher Team Performance delivered straight to your inbox every Tuesday.

More Blog Articles

Higher Performance Insights | Breaking the Problem Hoarding Cycle

By HPG Info • February 11, 2025
Strategies for Moving Past Organizational Gridlock When problems become our pets, we feed them daily. We house them in the corners of our institutions, letting them grow from minor inconveniences into immovable monuments. As educational leaders, we're particularly susceptible to this trap - not because we're ineffective, but precisely because we're busy and dedicated to getting things right. The psychology behind problem hoarding is fascinating. Research by Sheard and Kakabadse (2022) found that educational leaders often develop what they term "complexity attachment" - an unconscious investment in maintaining difficult situations rather than resolving them. This manifests in behaviors like refusing support, rejecting collaboration, and personalizing institutional challenges. The Hidden Cost of Holding On Studies reveal alarming statistics: 65% of educational leaders report spending more than half their time managing recurring problems Teams under problem-hoarding leadership show 41% lower innovation rates Institutional change initiatives fail 73% more often when leaders refuse to delegate challenges Breaking Free: The Three R's of Problem Liberation Release : Acknowledge that holding problems doesn't equal solving them Redistribute : Share challenges across your team's collective wisdom Reimagine : View problems as opportunities for systemic growth The Power of Productive Detachment Recent work by Heifetz and Linsky (2021) suggests that leaders who practice "productive detachment" show significantly higher rates of successful organizational transformation. This means: Separating personal identity from institutional challenges Creating space for multiple solution pathways Embracing collective problem-solving approaches From Hoarding to Harvesting The most effective leaders understand that problem-solving isn't a solitary sport. Fullan's (2023) study of high-performing school districts found that leaders who engaged in "networked improvement communities" solved complex challenges 3.4 times faster than those who tackled issues alone. Your Action Steps Identify one problem you've been "polishing rather than solving" Invite three fresh perspectives to examine the challenge Document the resistance and revelations that emerge Remember: The alternative to problem hoarding isn't problem abandonment - it's problem sharing. References: Edmondson, A. C. (2018). The fearless organization: Creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth. Wiley. Fullan, M. (2023). Leading in a culture of change (3rd ed.). Jossey-Bass. Heifetz, R. A., & Linsky, M. (2021). Leadership on the line: Staying alive through the dangers of leading (2nd ed.). Harvard Business Review Press. Sheard, G., & Kakabadse, A. P. (2022). Leadership in turbulent times: A study of organizational adaptation and transformation. Journal of Change Management, 22(1), 45-67.

Higher Performance Insights | Mel·ior·ism: The Inelegant Word Turning Steps Into Systemic Change

By HPG Info • January 28, 2025
The word sits there, awkward and academic: meliorism. But within its syllables lies the key to everything we're trying to build on our campuses, in our communities, in our world. First coined by George Eliot in the late 19th century (Fleischacker, 2020) [1], meliorism represents the radical notion that we can make things better. Not perfect. Just better. This philosophy finds striking resonance in contemporary data analysis. As Roser (2023) articulates: "The world is much better. The world is awful. The world can be much better."[2] This paradox perfectly encapsulates the melioristic worldview. Consider the evidence: Pinker (2018) demonstrates that global literacy has risen from 12% to 86% in just two centuries [3]. Yet millions still can't read. Progress and problems, dancing together. "The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice," King (1967) reminded us [4]. But it doesn't bend itself. We bend it. Day by day. Choice by choice. Action by action. Here are three concrete examples to illustrate melioristic changes observed in the places we serve: 1. A community college writing center increased student completion rates 12% by implementing a "Quick Questions" desk - a low-barrier way for students to get 5-minute help without scheduling full consultations. Cost: $0 (existing staff rotated coverage). 2. An urban high school reduced chronic absenteeism 15% through "Breakfast & Books" - opening the library 30 minutes early with free breakfast and peer tutoring. Initial investment: $2,000 for food program startup. 3. A rural elementary school boosted parent engagement 40% by shifting parent-teacher conferences to local community centers on rotating evenings. Primary resource needed: Coordination time to secure spaces. As Solnit (2016) eloquently puts it: "Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky... hope is an ax you break down doors with in an emergency" (p. 4) [5]. To our campus and district leaders: This is your work. Not the grand gestures. Not the perfect solutions. But the steady, persistent push toward better. Consider Jane Addams, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. Her work at Hull House demonstrated meliorism in action, proving that incremental progress could transform communities (Knight, 2022) [6]. Your campus isn't just a place of learning - it's a laboratory for meliorism. The question isn't "Can we solve everything?" The question is, "What can we make better today?" Because better is possible. Better is practical. Better is the point. References Fleischacker, S. (2020). Being me being you: Adam Smith and empathy. University of Chicago Press. King, M. L., Jr. (1967, August 16). Where do we go from here? [Speech transcript]. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. Knight, L. W. (2022). Jane Addams: Spirit in action. W. W. Norton & Company. Pinker, S. (2018). Enlightenment now: The case for reason, science, humanism, and progress. Viking. Roser, M. (2023). Making the world a better place. Our World in Data. Solnit, R. (2016). Hope in the dark: Untold histories, wild possibilities. Haymarket Books.
Show More
Share by: