The Strategic Pause. Why the Best Leaders Don’t Always Move Faster.

You don’t realize you’re lost until everything suddenly looks unfamiliar. And by then, your instinct isn’t to pause—it’s to move faster.

That’s exactly when leaders make their worst decisions.

When You Lose the Trail (and What It Teaches About Leadership)

Years ago, I was hiking north of Anchorage, Alaska. I was used to the Northeast—clearly marked trails, painted blazes, and well-defined paths.

Alaska was different. Wilder. Unstructured. Quiet. There were no markers. No signs. No other hikers.  After reaching a crystal-blue lake, I turned back—and somewhere along the way, I lost the trail.  Nothing looked familiar. The silence got louder. A subtle panic started to build.

And then something unexpected happened….I stopped. 

Not intentionally. I just froze.  After a minute, I checked my compass, reoriented myself, and found my way back.  Years later, I came across a line from a poem by Michael Wagner that captured that moment perfectly:

Lost? 

Stand still.

The trees ahead and bushes beside you are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here.

That lesson has followed me into every leadership conversation since.

The Problem: Executive “Sprinting” Under Pressure

When you feel lost as a leader, your instinct is rarely to pause. You sprint.

It shows up in ways that feel productive—but aren’t:

• Panic hiring

• Abrupt strategy pivots

• Overpromising to appear decisive

• Reactionary policy changes

In healthcare, especially, pressure is constant. Decisions carry weight. And the expectation to “move fast” is embedded in the culture. But moving quickly and moving effectively are not the same thing.

Why It Happens (And Why It Feels Like Progress)

Under stress, your body shifts into a fight-or-flight response. Adrenaline kicks in. Your thinking narrows. Action feels urgent.  And here’s the trap:

Doing something immediately feels like doing something right.

It’s also fueled by a deeper concern—how you’re perceived.

You don’t want to look uncertain.

You don’t want to appear indecisive.

You don’t want to lose credibility in the room.

So you move.  But a fast, misaligned decision doesn’t reduce risk—it compounds it.  It creates friction across your team, erodes trust, and burns through time and resources that are harder to recover later.

What It Costs You and Your Team

When leaders react instead of respond, the ripple effects show up quickly:

• Teams feel the volatility and mirror it.

• Problems get solved at the wrong level—or by the wrong person.

• Decision fatigue accelerates.

• Trust erodes when direction constantly changes.

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You may feel like you’re taking control.  But your team experiences instability.  Over time, this isn’t just inefficient—it becomes unsustainable.  Physician leaders are well-trained and have developed a rare skill: the ability to assess and fix quickly.  But organizational problems are different from patient problems.  Leading people is different from healing patients.

A Different Approach: The Strategic Pause

The alternative is deceptively simple:

Stand still.

Not inaction. Not avoidance. A deliberate, controlled pause.  This is what emotional intelligence looks like in practice.  On that trail in Alaska, I didn’t solve the problem by moving faster. I solved it by interrupting panic.

I paused.

I regulated my breathing.

I assessed what I actually knew.

Then I moved—with clarity.

The same principle applies in leadership.  When a clinical director brings you a sudden staffing crisis on the floor, your instinct is to immediately fix it. In many cases, you shouldn’t.  The most effective move is often to pause long enough to ask:

• Is this problem mine to solve?

• What problem are we really trying to address?

• What information is missing?

A strategic pause is a deliberate, controlled interruption of the fight-or-flight response that allows leaders to assess a situation before acting.  The pause creates space for better questions—and better decisions.

Teams under pause-practiced leadership show:

·       40% higher innovation rates

·       2.3x more likely to surface potential problems early

·       Significantly higher psychological safety score

Source: Zhang & Thompson, 2024

Two Practical Ways to Pause Under Pressure

If you feel yourself slipping into reaction mode, try this:

1. Reset your physiology

Start with your breathing.  Simple, controlled breathing—like box breathing used by Navy SEALs—can quickly regulate your nervous system.  It slows your heart rate, improves focus, and gives your brain time to re-engage. You don’t need five minutes.  Even 20–30 seconds can shift your state.  This breathing practice has often helped me regulate my pace and increase my effectiveness during difficult conversations with physician leaders and presenting HR dashboards with the C-Suite.

2. Ask a question before making a statement

As an executive in the healthcare industry, I work in a fast-paced environment.  It’s common for department leaders to request policy and/or program changes. Instead of immediately offering a solution, ask:

• “I need a minute to think this through?”

• “Help me understand your perspective?”

• “That’s interesting.  Can you tell me more?”

• “What have you already tried?”

• “What outcome are we aiming for here?”

• “Who else should be involved in solving this?”

This does two things: It buys you time.  And it builds capability within your team.  Not every problem is yours to solve—and when you always step in, you unintentionally create dependency.

Staying Grounded When the Stakes Are High

In moments of conflict—board tension, operational pressure, team dysfunction—your system again shifts into fight, flight, or freeze.  This can often lead to burnout among healthcare leaders.

• Fight: Force a decision too early

• Flight: Avoid the issue

• Freeze: Do nothing out of overwhelm

None of these creates clarity.  The goal isn’t to map the entire path forward.  It’s to identify the next right step.  Clarity at the micro level builds confidence at the macro level.  Sometimes, the best decision is to let the situation settle.  Give your team space. Allow emotions to cool. Revisit decisions after 12–24 hours.

What feels urgent in the moment often looks very different the next day.

When You Feel Lost in Your Career

This doesn’t just apply to leadership decisions.  It applies to your career.  Many healthcare leaders reach a point where something feels off:

• The role no longer fits.

• The work isn’t energizing.

• You feel either underprepared or overqualified.

The instinct is the same.  Make a move. Any move.  But just like on that trail, running in a random direction doesn’t get you found faster.  It just gets you more lost.  Before you make a major change, pause.  You’re not behind. You’re not lost. You’re exactly where you are.

From there, you can assess:

• What matters most now?

• What kind of work actually fits you?

• What direction aligns with your strengths?

The leaders who navigate this well don’t rush the answer.  They create the space to find it.  Many engage a healthcare-specific executive coach to partner as they explore these areas.

The Leadership Skill No One Teaches

The hallmark of a mature leader isn’t constant motion.  It’s the ability to stay still when everything around you feels urgent. You’ve seen it before.

Leaders who bring calm into chaotic rooms.

Leaders who don’t react—they respond.

Leaders who move with clarity, even under pressure.

That doesn’t happen by accident. It’s a practiced discipline.  The next time you feel the urge to act quickly—pause long enough to ask yourself:

Am I making progress…or am I just running?

Summary

·       The instinct to move fast under pressure often compounds risk.

·       A "Strategic Pause" regulates the nervous system.

If this resonates, you don’t have to navigate it alone.

We work with healthcare and physician leaders at exactly this intersection—where pressure, decisions, and identity collide.

If you're in that moment, send me a message.

Let's start a conversation about finding your next right step.

Reach out at TrueNorthLeadershipPartners.com.

No pitch, no pressure, just a real conversation with someone who understands the world you're working in.

Joe Kenney, M.Ed., SHRM-SCP, ACC

Executive Coach | Human Capital StrategistTrue North Leadership Partners

I work with healthcare and physician leaders navigating complex transitions, leadership pressure, and career inflection points. My focus is helping you move with clarity—not just speed.

Connect on LinkedIn: Joe Kenney