If you were to ask any of my clients what is the leadership practice I’m super passionate about, and what adds most to a leader’s organisational value – I’m confident they would all immediately say “White Space”. I talk about it A LOT!
White Space is time quarantined for thinking instead of doing. But what I want you to know is that doesn’t mean anything that’s not actively progressing projects or staring down action items is White Space.
It’s not time allocated to professional development, time dedicated to stay on top of industry trends, time spent networking, or investment in curating team relationships. Listening to a podcast isn’t White Space, nor is writing a to-do-list, and the same goes for coffee with a colleague. These are all important and valuable - but aren’t giving you White Space. An investment in White Space might result in items added to a to-do list, but White Space itself is way less structured than that.
White Space is where you allow your thoughts to come and go in a much more relaxed fashion. Where you think and reflect on what you do now and how you do it, as well as what you could do more of and how that might happen. It’s about jumping out of your everyday and into White Space. A place where you afford yourself the luxury of time without distraction, interruption or negativity.
Many of the world’s most successful people understand the value of White Space. Bill Gates is famous for taking two weeks off per year, spent in a secret waterfront cabin pondering the future of both his company, and technology at large. Similarly, Warren Buffet says “I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think”. Mahatma Ghandi spent much time engaged in self-reflection and meditation to guide his actions and decisions. My favourite American poet, Mary Oliver, invested piles of time deep in thought and in her work actively encouraged others to slow down, observe the world and reflect on life’s deeper meanings.
Professionals pour megalitres of time and headspace into stuff that demands to be addressed. It's human nature to want to DO stuff. We satisfy a hunger to be of value by ticking boxes from early school days and spend our formative years being congratulated for annihilating to do lists and “getting stuff done”. Early careers are electrified by the rush of being busy and those who don’t look, sound, or smell busy are judged to be ineffective or just bloody lazy.
We’ve forgotten how to give ourselves White Space. My children are bright, but don’t embrace reading because the delicious pleasure of losing themselves in a book feels alien and frightening to them. Instead, they cast wonderful and worthy novels aside to return to the doom-scrolling delights of their phones. Why? So they never have to feel the perceived emptiness of not drowning in brightly coloured, mindless videos or memes.
Freek Vermeulen, Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the London Business School, cautions: “If you can’t find time to think it probably means you haven’t organized your firm, unit, or team very well, and you are busy putting out little fires all the time. It also means that you are at risk of leading your company astray.”
So the bottom line here is that if leaders want to stand out from the pack, they need to make a habit of taking time out for reflection.
Some thoughts that might help you get hungry for White Space are:
· It offers opportunity for increased clarity of purpose
· Encourages more considered and effective communication
· Builds emotional intelligence
· Creates fertile ground for strategy development
· Encourages innovation
In other words, it’s well worth blocking time out for White Space. Shut off the phone, lock the door, find somewhere just for you, don’t check emails…do whatever you need to do to make sure you can think in peace.
Once you’re in your White Space, here are a few questions that may help you unlock some ideas. These ideas might surprise you, solve a curly problem, or create something amazing.
This list is not exhaustive, it’s simply a kick-off point if you can’t find an ignition key for the reflection.
1. What’s happening that no longer feels “right”?
2. What would someone whose advice you respected do in a similar situation?
3. What needs to be included in this solution for me to be proud of the direction taken?
4. Is what I/we’re doing in line with where we wanted to be?
5. Am I clear why we do things this way?
6. If we do this, what will it look like in 1,5,10 years from now?
7. If this turns out to be a mistake, what can I learn from it?
8. What needs to be different about this decision for me to be at peace with it?
So let’s challenge the relentless pace of our days and carve out some sacred time for thinking. In those quiet moments, seeds of creativity and innovation can take root, plus our successful outcomes might just inspire those around us to realise the transformative power of thoughtful reflection too.