Maybe it's not them...

Some themes seem timeless even if the circumstances that gave rise to certain scenarios varies over time and place. I first wrote much of this post in November 2013.  Different time, different place, and different person than who I am today. That being said, what goes around comes around and the subject matter appears equally relevant to me as it did many years ago.

A lament that I've often heard from many leaders is "Why doesn't my staff perform at the level I need them to?" The context for this can relate to many things: a focus on developing new products or service offerings, a desire to enhance customer service capability, a shift in emphasis in strategic direction, or any number of other "big-ticket" ventures that a leader believes their organization needs to undertake and achieve. Regardless, the long and short of the story is things are not going right and certainly not as well as the leader expected. In fact, rather than succeeding, there is a feeling of losing momentum, of being stalled, failing, and even of going backwards.

The leader's frustration - and mystification - at the lack of success arises because in his/her mind, the initiative should be moving forward rapidly, smoothly, and with a minimum of bumps along the way. From the leader's perspective, the reasons for moving forward assertively and confidently are self-evident. There should be no reason for confusion or lack of action. From the leader's perspective, the importance of the initiative is clear. From the leader's perspective, implementation and execution should now be a foregone conclusion. Barriers? Challenges? Problems? Hardly worthy of consideration. We shall overcome.

Yet, success is not forthcoming. And maybe that means it's time for a change in perspective. Maybe it's not about them. Maybe it's about you.

It's often far easier to blame others for a lack of success or progress in moving an organization forward than in taking a hard look at what we are doing or not doing as the leader. It's personally challenging to start asking some hard questions about what role I as a leader played in not setting the organization up for success. What steps did I not take? What warning signs did I ignore? 

So maybe your leadership is getting in the way.  First off, like anyone else, leaders can develop tunnel vision. We may have become so engaged with our day-to-day work that we start to lose perspective.  Despite the fact that we are specifically tasked with maintaining that 50,000 foot view - or maybe as a result of it - we can lose a sense of what else might be happening in and around the rest of the organization. In essence, we have become trapped by our own mental box and simply can't conceive of factors or issues that might impact successful implementation of our ideas. The facts may even be staring you right in the face but you simply are no longer able to see them. Here's where developing a true climate of trust and confidence in your team can pay huge dividends. The more objective eyes on the ball the better.

Related to the tunnel vision is a phenomenon I'll describe as the speed trap. As leaders we can easily get caught up in the desire to move forward as fast as possible. Time is money, we have to get out ahead of an issue, we have to be first to market, we have to move, move, and move faster. This driving sense of urgency, however, can cause us to plan in a superficial fashion and gloss over challenges. More importantly, as we try to solve a problem, the anxiety we feel to get on with things can actually prevent us from understanding the issue before us. As a result, we may not be tackling the real problem but only dealing with its most obvious symptoms.  The adage of pay now or pay later bears listening to. Only in this regard, the currency in question is time.  Slow down to move faster and more effectively.

Leaders can also be confounded by an overconfidence in their ability to communicate. Effective communication is never simply about getting the memo(s), emails, or newsletters out, or about having a grand launch event. For any significant initiative, the leader has already spent a considerable amount of time coming to grips with the whys and wherefores of the initiative. The leader believes they understand the importance of the effort at an intellectual and gut level. Leaders are therefore surprised and amazed that the rest of the organization doesn't have the same level of understanding and commitment. The reality is nobody else has been able to spend as much time on this idea as the leader already has. They truly don't yet "get it" because they have not yet been given the time to understand the rationale for the effort. A leader must communicate and allow time for the idea to be digested. In addition, effective communication will ensure and incorporate a feedback loop that allows a check on understanding of key messages and expectations.

Paradoxically, I have also observed that leaders can similarly be confounded by their own lack of confidence or sense of self. There may, in fact, be a lot of exceedingly strong-minded contrarians among your leadership team or other significant stakeholders. I have observed too many conscientious and "nice" leaders failing to follow through on their core values when faced with well-stated or vociferous opinions.  They hesitate, change their mind, or never achieve the full potential of what they envisioned for the team or their larger organization. Ultimately, they find themselves challenged by not owning their own values and hopes for the organization strongly enough. Or they hold out false hope that eventually consensus will win out. Unfortunately, many leaders - effective or ineffective - discover eggs have to be broken to make an omelette.  

Success in implementing past initiatives may also cloud judgment on a go-forward basis. A lack of planning, preparation, and good communication may not have confounded success in the past. A leader may have succeeded in spite of himself for a whole variety of reasons. A fact-based analysis may not have been undertaken to help identify key learnings. Perhaps we were saved by even worse planning and preparation of a competitor. Perhaps we were saved by the extraordinary efforts of our staff. The truth is, we don't really know what factors supported success or what that success actually cost us. The result is that a leader is unduly confident in their own ability or is otherwise complacent relative to what the next effort is really going to take. 

Finally, the ability to move an initiative forward may be most fatally confounded by the organization's assessment of the leader and his/her motivations.  Ultimately, I believe words and actions of a leader must line up over the long run. Staff and stakeholders will commit more strongly to something if they believe it serves the achievement of the organization's stated mission, vision, and values. They will commit if they can see benefit for themselves as individuals, and for the organization as a whole. If, however, past experience has informed them that the leader is first and foremost concerned about his/her personal gain, an integrity gap will develop and grow. In these circumstances, the leader may gain compliance but they will not gain true commitment to future plans.  Staff and stakeholders will ultimately see through the motivations of a self-absorbed leader. It may take some time, but eventually organizational performance will suffer.

There could probably be a few more warnings posted here about not rushing to judgment on one's staff.  The cautionary tale is one of making sure to look at yourself in the mirror first before casting aspersions on the skills, abilities, and motivations of your followers. Have you done enough to set the stage for success? Have you provided the right tools to support effective implementation? Have you looked at the issue from all perspectives? 

In the end, it may be that it's not them that failed you. Maybe you failed them.
______________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
Executive Coach/Leadership Consultant
President & Co-Founder - BreakPoint Solutions
gregh@breakpoint.solutions

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.

What is Culture...and Why Does it Matter?

The subject of culture continues to be one that I grapple with and encounter on a regular basis in my coaching and consulting practice. The reality and challenge of culture comes forward from a number of different angles - leaders not appreciating how their actions or inaction foster a dysfunctional or low-performing culture; lack of consensus throughout an organization on what the culture is or should be resulting in a whole series of competing subcultures; a need for an organization's culture to adapt to changing external realities; a lack of appreciation for how legacy systems confound an imperative for change that is being communicated by a leader. The examples are myriad of how culture needs to change, but how unprepared or unaware we might be about what culture is and how we impact effective shifts in culture to support goal achievement. 

                                     

In my career as a leader, learner, executive coach, and consultant, I've gathered a few gems of knowledge (if not wisdom) along the way related to culture change. Included among those insights or lessons are included a need to persevere through adversity with optimism and energy, a commitment to celebrate milestones and achievements even in tough times, a need to continuously develop one's own leadership and the leadership skills of your team, and the necessity to balance work with one's whole life.

So much food for thought, but for this blog, I choose to focus on one key question: Is there really a recipe for culture change, particularly at an organizational level? So being either bold or foolish I'll take a crack at the question.

First, I believe there is some value in defining what we might mean by the term culture. Being a creature of our time, I googled the term and came up with the following (amongst a variety of definitions): "...the total of the inherited ideas, beliefs, values and knowledge which constitute the shared bases of...action..." and "...the total range of activities and ideas of a group of people with shared traditions, which are transmitted and reinforced by members of the group."  I've highlighted what I think are some key elements of the definition and upon which I will touch in this blog. 

The phrase Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast is probably familiar to most of us and reflects the very real challenge in moving an organization forward or changing its direction. As many an executive will attest to, you can have spent countless hours and money on developing a world class strategy, putting together and delivering a slick internal marketing campaign, and engaging all manner of expertise and external resources, and yet find that after a year (or less), you have made no progress on your lofty goals - and may actually have taken your organization a step or two backward. The culture of the organization - its inherited ideas, beliefs, values and knowledge - can be a very effective barrier or block to your plans. 

So instead of developing the glitzy strategy, or restructuring the organization, or implementing new processes or systems, why don't executives focus on organizational culture? My perspective is it often appears easier to tackle structure and process than culture. One can implement structural and process changes in a far shorter timeframe. Quick or easy, however, doesn't equate to effective. Such initiatives can certainly disrupt the organization and give the appearance of action, especially to those looking at the organization from an external perspective (e.g., shareholders, community leaders). Cultural changes take a much longer period of time to realize a more intense and sustained effort. Unfortunately, too many leaders (and too often a variety of stakeholders) don't have the patience for these types of efforts. We want instant solutions and instant results.

The term inherited also implies something that is built or created over a long period of time. And it will take just as long to mold, alter, or modify this reality, as it took to create. Moreover, it's critical to understand that, for the most part, this set of shared ideas, beliefs, and values have worked for the organization or key stakeholder segments. It doesn't mean life has been easy or great. But the organization has survived, it has accomplished something, some element of progress has been experienced, and the organization's staff believe it works and/or is good enough. If it ain't broke don't fix it. If it ain't broke why change it?  So suggesting there is need for change or trying to initiate big cultural change will not come easily or without effort. 

One of the first key steps in changing culture is to define the characteristics of the new culture and why it is important to shift to this new set of beliefs, behaviours, and practices. This is the leader's role. The leader has to achieve clarity for self as to the where, what, and why of culture change. If the leader doesn't have a clear idea about this preferred future and the necessity of this new path, a change in culture will be a non-starter. Clarity of vision is critical to to overcome resistance and inertia. 

Just as important as defining the new desired culture will be the concrete actions that a leader and the organization as a whole must take to reinforce and support the shift. This includes steps such as recruiting, hiring, retaining, rewarding, and promoting individuals who will, by their behaviours and actions, develop and reinforce the tenets of the new culture. People build culture. Focus on cultivating the right people.  Make a long-term commitment to them. They become the proverbial stones thrown into the water, with ripples emanating out from them and influencing the behaviour of others.

Communicate, communicate, communicate. Along with that comes the importance of leadership visibility and reinforcement - by word AND action - of key organizational values and expectations. As a leader you are being watched all the time and people will rapidly determine whether you hold the values of the new culture sincerely or merely as another fad of the moment. Your energy, your perseverance, and your consistency is going to be critical to success.

Make sure all processes and systems of the organization are aligned and supportive of the culture you are trying to create. If you are marketing the organization as one that prides itself on innovation but have an incentive system that rewards everyone at the same level regardless of performance, then creativity is not likely to be sustained. If you are asking for daring and bold initiatives but your performance management systems actually reward a risk management mentality, you may make stuttering steps forward. If you are touting yourself as an organization that fosters empowerment and employee participation but have a human resource system that tolerates old-style management practices, you will quickly short-circuit your efforts.

As leaders you also have to ensure your own personal words and actions are aligned with the corporate culture you say you are trying to build. If you set yourself apart from what you are expecting of your staff - do as I say, not as I do - you will have compromised your leadership credibility. You won't be able to retain your best leaders or get the kind of change you were expecting or hoping for. In addition, you have to have patience for this effort; you have to be in it for the long haul. Culture happens through long-term, consistent behaviour and effort. The best and most successful organizations build from within and stay true to their core for years.

Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither is the culture of your organization created or changed in a fiscal year.  And building a new temple to the gods won't keep the barbarians away from the front gates. Only strong and vibrant citizens/staff working from the same page will ensure long-term success.

________________________________________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions 

www.breakpoint.solutions 

780-250-2543

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.