When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail

When You Have a Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail

Do you have your ‘go-to’ response for when you are faced with a challenge, or scenario where the stakes are high? It has worked well in the past, you’ve been rewarded or recognised as being good at it, and it makes you feel good to have a moment of “I’ve still got it”?

There are too many contexts (new job, to a new problem/scenario, or the regular routine of managing teams) for which any ‘go-to’ response is applicable, so I hope this is self-explanatory enough to say the focus of this article is those times where we automatically react that this is the right scenario for {insert response here}. This is instead of curiosity towards what’s the right response, right now?

Hence the article title ‘When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail’. You might know that Abraham Maslow refers to this as the Law of the instrument, and that it commonly refers to the use of tools or methodologies. My interest in this quote or metaphor relates to the pros and cons of the mindset or approach we offer, resulting in how we choose to show up to scenarios or challenges that we face.

The law of the instrument suggests that if we rely too much on a narrow range of responses and overlook alternatives over time this can lead to suboptimal outcomes, wasted resources, missed opportunities and potentially harmful consequences. Pretty much the opposite of what we set out to achieve as leaders.

I would welcome any examples that readers might be courageous enough to share where they adapted a historically successful pattern of response to a challenge and what they learned from that? Alternatively, when does that turn into second guessing or a lack of confidence and missing the opportunity to play to our strength?

Because Embertree was founded to serve leaders how they need it, when they need it; it is common to observe this polarity between playing to a strength that has worked for us in the past or experimenting with something new for the leaders I work with. It can be challenging to scan for the data to inform the next choice, versus just listening to the internal stories we tell ourselves. A potential hint may be when you are ‘reacting’ to the situation, rather than ‘responding’ but that can be difficult to reflect on sometimes.

If this sounds like you, and you are keen to explore some early warning signs that you might be leaning too hard one way or the other, feel free to reach out for a chat or in-person coffee. Embertree might be able to help you make progress too.