laws of physics state that objects at rest stay at rest and objects in motion stay in motion unless met with force or resistance. this was very evident to me this week as i was pulling my rig up a hill into the Rockies. the grades ranged between 6-8%.  some were straight, some were windy, some were clear sailing and while others had trucks crowded to the right and speeders flying to the left. a certain grade presented a dilemma that most of you will answer quickly. if you have some momentum and are going faster than the trucks in the right lane, do you get over to left to keep going even if you might frustrate some of the traffic there who end up following?

answer = YOU BET!

if you answered NO, you have never faced the challenge of pulling a load up a steep incline.

Momentum is a critical ally in leadership. building ‘MO’mentum takes hard work, well developed strategies, diligent oversight, lots of cheering, clarification of mission and goals, and the celebration of victories. quite possibly it will take many cycles off these to attain it. you will know that you have MO when as some would say “you feel things begin to click”. victories come easier and more often. goals and objectives are being reached and when your mission is being achieved (in part or whole) right in front of your eyes. then invariably, you will come to a juncture where you and other leaders will face some tough decisions about the continuation of things from the past and opportunities that are presenting themselves for the future. with each of these decisions, you must ask this important question:

WILL THIS KILL OUR MO?

Sometimes the killer of MO will be resistance to growth. Or it could be resistance to change. Or it could be the desire to go faster (throttle down) than your group can keep up with. Or…. i think you get the idea. it could be a lot of things. but know this, once momentum is lost, it is a hard slog back up the hill to where it can be recaptured again.

side note: Momentum and Rhythm are closely related but not the same. you can get into a rhythm but have no momentum. Both are important but momentum is more important.

2nd side note: this nugget easily applies to bike riding, rv pulling, building teams, organizational progress and to leadership.