The 3 P's of Stinking Thinking

I have to take a break from my previous blog with this incite from Henry Cloud's book, "Boundaries for Leaders".

He talks about the 3 P's that can be devastating to a leader's thinking.  A typical spiral can take place in a leader's mind if things are not transpiring the way they want.  Or perhaps there is some sort of criticism that affects the way a leader thinks.  Here they are:

Personal:  Whenever there is something negative taking place a first temptation is to take it personally.
Things might be said like, "What ever made me think I could be a leader?" " The reason we are stuck is that I'm not up to this task."  "What ever made me think that I could pull it off?"

Pervasive:  The next step downward in the spiral is to believe that everybody must think this is true. Or that everything is failing.  Things might be said, "It seems like everything I am working on is failing." "Nothing seems to be going right."

Permanent:  The final step to this spiral is that it is always going to be this way.  So we think that things will never change.

How many times have any of us gone through this spiral in various forms?  It is critical for us to stop the spiral.  That kind of inward thinking can kill the morale of those on your team.

If you are in that spiral, it is time to stop the merry-go-round and get some outside objective counsel before you fall into a depression or create a permanent culture of negativity.