Some Ways to Avoid the Complacency Trap
- Routinely disrupt your own habits.
- Success is built on systems, but systems can also become traps.
Ask:
- What’s one thing you’ve always done this way?
- What if you changed it?
- Monitor your mindset
- Confidence is essential, but overconfidence is dangerous.
- Watch for signs of assumption, arrogance or being on autopilot.
Ask yourself regularly:
What have I stopped questioning?
What am I tolerating?
What can I do better tomorrow?
- Embrace challenge
- design mechanisms to challenge yourself and your team (this could be reverse mentoring, external benchmarking, or rotating leadership responsibilities.)
- the goal is to disrupt predictability, without dismantling what works.
Ask:
What’s one way you could stretch yourself or your team this quarter?
- Cultivate moral clarity
- define your non-negotiables.
- when the pressure’s on, it’s easy to rationalise.
- knowing your values in advance helps you hold the line when it matters most.
Ask:
When was the last time you felt ethically tested and how did you respond?
- Build feedback loops that bite
- surround yourself with people who will challenge you constructively
- establish mechanisms such as after-action reviews or reflection sessions that encourage critical thinking and accountability.
Ask:
Who tells you the truth when it’s hard to hear and when did you last ask them for input?
- Set the standard
- people are more likely to strive when they feel safe to take risks and when they know the lines they shouldn’t cross.
- set clear standards of behaviour and create space for values-based dialogue.
- invite dissent, especially when the stakes are high.
Ask:
What behaviours are you modelling?
Who are you?