leadingtoday.org
Leadership Tip of the Month
June 2006
Copyright 2006 ã weLEAD, Inc.
How to Destroy a New Strategy or Idea…
It happens a hundred
times every day. An executive or management team discovers or formulates a new initiative.
They devise, and then implement the idea thinking, “wow…is this a great
strategy.” When it is finally
introduced, they wonder why it is not welcomed or enthusiastically accepted.
They question why there is reluctance, resistance and negative thinking about
what is potentially a sound idea or new program. They feel a need to resort to
threats, intimidation or financial incentives to get everyone to “buy-in” and
promote the new concept. But what they fail to understand is that the problem
isn’t with the people, the problem is with their dysfunctional management
methods. By lacking basic leadership skills, they brought this reaction upon themselves and only have themselves to
blame!
Recently
at a weLEAD Leadership seminar in Orlando, Florida, Dr.
–
Decide a change is
needed
–
Make plans behind
closed doors
–
Draw up charts
–
Call a meeting
–
Surprise! I have come up with a grand new organizational plan
–
See where each of you
fit in my plan
–
Now get to work making
it happen
–
Tell those who resist
that they are not “team players”
–
Take all the credit for
any success
Does
this look familiar to your organization? Let’s analyze these steps and see
where many well-intended executives go wrong. As we examine these steps I will
make note of the distorted “mind-set” that far too many managers have because
they are not servant-leaders.
Decide a change is
needed. Serious change needed
to improve a department or organization and become more effective is a good thing. But change for the sake of change
is harmful. If you determine that change is really needed, here are some
essential questions to ponder or the entire change process will be fatally
flawed. What do the various stakeholders say are the genuine needs or your
organization? This is a critical early stage that will determine if people
later “buy-in” to the entire concept. For example, if you want to improve a
process or transaction with vendors, consult with those in your organization
who actually know and deal with your vendors… not with those
who simply manage the personnel who
deal with your vendors. If you want to improve customer service, consult with
those in your organization who actually know and deal with your customers… not
with those who simply manage the personnel who know your customers. This is the
opportunity to find out the real challenges and needs from those who are closest to the vendors or customers.
From the inception of the change process include those who know how your
business works, and not those who only manage those who know.
Make plans behind
closed doors. This is where the people who are closest to the actual vendors,
customers, etc. are purposely left out of the process. Why are these people
typically left out of the process? Arrogance and ignorance are the answers. The
ones making the plans behind closed doors have deluded themselves into thinking
they are smarter or superior to those who are closest to the action. This only
breeds contempt and disgust among those who are left out of the process, but
will be expected to make it work… or else.
Draw up charts. Make sure that if you are
going to make changes in the roles and responsibilities of people, that you
ignore their input as well. Draw up charts placing people in roles they are
ill-fitted for or place them in positions that you think best fits their talents. Rather than ask people what they
would enjoy doing, or where their talents lie… make sure you or someone else
with a personal agenda decides where
they best fit within the organization. If you don’t do this correctly the
overwhelming majority of people will immediately be unhappy about their new
roles.
Call a meeting. Of course while all of
this has been going on, rumors and innuendo have been rampant in your
organization. Why? Because the people are so negative? No… because everything
has been done in secret. The message has already been communicated to everyone
that “father knows best” for his little children and those with superior
intelligence have created a master plan
for everyone to follow. Now it is important with much fanfare and artificial
excitement to announce the new program that will take everything to the next
level!
Surprise! I have come up with a grand new organizational plan. Isn’t it wonderful… but
why are none of you excited? Now, remember that you were unwilling to take the
time to openly communicate the genuine need for change. You also didn’t solicit
the input of those who could have made this a far better or more effective plan. Make sure you express your
disappointment that others don’t get the vision
or potential of this new plan. It is important to act shocked that not everyone is embracing your idea. What is wrong
with them?
See where each of you
fit in my plan. Since you did not communicate with most of those who are changing
roles or responsibilities, expect a small percentage to be content and the
majority to be upset. Be sure to act defensive
when this grand organizational plan is presented and it is met with lukewarm
comments or open rebellion. Make sure you understand that some of your most
talented people will be looking for ways to leave your organization as soon as
they can find another job. If new people need to be hired to fill expanded
roles, make sure you do this slowly
and stall these new hires as long as possible. Don’t worry about those now
burdened with duel roles that are waiting for these new people to be hired. If
they or their families are stressed because they are doing more than one job,
it is not really your problem. If they complain, you probably believe they are
not team players anyway.
Now get to work making
it happen! Forget about all the unanticipated problems and new procedures
that will need to be resolved because you didn’t bother to include those who
actually do the work in your organization. Make sure you compound this
by having numerous unproductive “meetings” to get these issues resolved. By now
you probably believe all these meetings are natural
and necessary to manage a business today.
Tell those who resist
that they are not “team players.” Isn’t it interesting that being a team wasn’t important when this new
organizational plan was being created, but now it is very important! Just to be
sure you show everyone how important being a team is, don’t hesitate to put
people on probation or openly criticize those who question things. You may even
want to terminate a few workers just to set an example and let everyone know
how important this new plan is (and who is the boss).
Take all the credit for
any success. Since you were one of the chosen elite who were responsible for
this grand new organizational plan, look closely for something (anything) that
works… and immediately take credit for it. This is important to justify and validate
the mess you created. Expect people to pretend things are not as bad as they
really are because of the “successful results” you have falsely discovered and
exaggerated. Don’t even think about how much better things would have been with
a culture of open communication and by including those you will need to make
any plan a genuine success.
Does
this scenario or any of these steps look familiar to you? Sadly, this is a
typical process in an autocratic organization. The resulting loss of talent,
resources and effectiveness are enormous. The bad news is that everyday this
process is repeated over and over again and in some organizations from
generation to generation. The good news is that everyday a few souls are changing their attitude and embracing a servant-leader
approach. They are refusing to perpetuate a diseased process that works poorly
and encourages your most talented people to move on. What kind of a leader are
you?
For
weLEAD, this is Greg Thomas
reminding you that it was Edward Simmons who said, "The difference between
failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing a thing exactly
right.”