The concept is very simple. The embodiment of it is tough - especially in tough times! In my opinion, the real test of leadership is in how leaders act during hard times. My observation is that many are able to exude "presence" when times are good, but revert to defensive, self-protective if not narcissistic behaviors when times are tough.
So what are the behaviors that leaders can strive to exhibit during hard times? In my opinion, the leader who listens a greater percentage of the time than he or she talks demonstrates "being present not pretentious." The leader who communicates informally and invites people at every level of the organization to share their thoughts and concerns is "reaching out not looking down. " A leader who clearly communicates the good news and the bad with compassion and acknowledgment of his or her own feelings is "being expressive not impressive." The leader who takes time to assess, reflect and acknowledge his or her own strengths, weaknesses, hopes and fears and spends an equal amount of time considering how he or she can understand and respect the needs of others is "being self-knowing not self-absorbed."
While these qualities and behaviors are always important, during tough times they are pivotal to the morale as well as the productivity of the organization.
In that last blog I described an organization which seemed to resist (deny) any organizational health problems in their current culture. Just as I was about to post that blog I learned that this organization did, in fact, decide to accept the data in our assessment and to begin addressing the problems in their present culture wherever issues exist. We are now in the process of working with them to fulfill this need. Soon thereafter - - perhaps simultaneously - - we will begin the second phase, which is preparing them for a future culture of enormous growth. This company and its senior management are to be commended for their willingness to look at what no company ever really wants to see: Unhealthy situations in their corporate culture. - - And not only did they take off their rose-colored glasses for a clear, realistic look, they have now begun to address those issues. Wouldn’t it be great if all organizations could follow their lead?
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Why do organizations spend so much time and energy discrediting hard messages? We have just completed a culture assessment for an organization which is growing rapidly and needs to meet the challenge of change head-on. The growth they are experiencing requires them to move from a small family-like structure and culture to one that encourages innovation - - one that is ready and able to keep up with a quickly growing customer base exhibiting new demands and desires. Our plan was to work with them to assess the gap (if any) between their current culture and the future culture which inevitably will continue to show the additional demands and desires of their ever-expanding customer base.
Our first step was to assess the current culture. Prior to beginning, upper level managers had convinced us the current culture was healthy - - that employees were engaged in their work, respected one another, were familiar with and embraced the goals of the organization, communicated freely between departments, and operated with true "team spirit." The focus of our assessment was to be an analysis of the "big picture" of the changes needed to support their rapid growth, not an assessment of the health of the organization in its present stage.
However, when we analyzed the data from the assessment, we were almost as surprised as their managers were. The assessment indicated that senior leadership had a very different perception of the present culture from that of the rank and file employee! In fact, the data suggested that the company had some rather serious "organizational health problems" in certain areas. Some remedial action in those areas would be necessary in order to attain an accurate baseline of the company as a healthy organization. The remedies, of course, would precede any changes needed to support their growth plans.
As consultants, we aren’t exactly naïve. We didn't expect this to be good news to senior leaders. But we did believe they would want to address some of the problematic issues in the current culture just as soon as possible. We suggested that the assessment results could be - - should be - - viewed as valuable information, allowing them to address these issues before attempting change efforts which would be doomed by what they didn’t know. To our surprise, they simply defended against the information! They attempted to explain away the problems as "data collection errors."
Sad but true, this type of reaction is typical. Very often leaders would rather "not know," even though their success can be imperiled by lack of information about their vulnerable spots. When they do receive hard-to-hear feedback, they often ignore it until the problem becomes so great it can no longer be dismissed. And then, unfortunately, it may be too late.
So what can consultants do to "soften the blow" of hard messages? I’m still trying to figure that out! But I do know one thing for sure: Effective leadership means choosing to put aside defense mechanisms and accepting the information in hard messages for what it is - - a valuable piece of the picture. If they can do that, how much more likely they are to succeed!
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Myth: Soft skills aren't really as important in running a business, heading a department, or leading an organization as hard technical skills.
By now one would think this myth would have been completely debunked. However, virtually every week or two of the year I run into persons in the workforce who are not effective leaders because they do not recognize the importance of interpersonal skills, communications skills, and emotional intelligence.
Over the past few months we have been engaged in several leadership development initiatives. Very often the projects have involved some type of assessment of the leaders or prospective leaders, followed by resources and activities to help them address their developmental needs. Recently we completed an assessment and met with each leader individually to discuss his/her individual evaluation. I was struck by one manager (let's call him Joe), who told me he felt like writing a book entitled "How to be Right and Lose." He admitted he had learned - - the hard way - - some difficult lessons about the importance of interpersonal style and sensitivity in achieving goals. He recounted several examples of times when he had had the facts on his side but couldn’t persuade anyone else. He believes his success as a leader has suffered, and that career opportunities have passed him by as a result of his neglect of "soft skills."
Over the years I have coached many executives as they try to come to terms with factors that are holding them back from achieving the successes they desire for their organizations and for themselves. My coaching style is to assist them in sorting out the variables that may be affecting their performance. More often than not, they have been held back by undervaluing the importance of factors such as sensitivity to others' perspectives. Unless they are willing to face up to their own shortcomings, they will continue to believe they should have earned the trust of their colleagues merely by virtue of their position of power.
I wish that I could take Joe with me to talk with all those other managers and executives who continue to ignore the soft skills. As a result, they are sabotaging their own potential for truly successful careers.
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Few of us really welcome the experience of confronting our own weaknesses. Changing our perspectives or, even worse, our behavior is difficult for most of us. We like to think we are open to change until confronted with the real need to do so.
I remember the first time I was told that I needed to lose weight. My first reaction was to deny it. I kept telling myself that I was older and that of course I would gain weight with age. When I found that my jeans didn’t fit, I finally acknowledged that I might be overweight. However instead of changing my exercise and eating habits, I looked for a quick fix. I tried crash diets and herbal weight loss remedies. When that didn’t work, I merely went out and bought new jeans!
Although I was working hard to avoid the reality of my weight gain, I kept hoping that my actions would solve the problem without a real behavior change on my part. Of course I would have succeeded in looking and feeling better more quickly if I chosen to change without delay once I received the initial feedback about my weight gain. Instead I wasted my energy fighting the “messenger” and the personal changes that I needed to make. On the other hand, the “messenger” could have delivered the feedback more effectively. I felt pushed and, therefore, became resistant to the change that was implied. I focused more on discrediting the messenger than on considering the validity of the message.
So how do we consultants and coaches assist clients who don’t want to change? First, we must acknowledge that our clients may not be ready for change even if they have procured our services to help them. One of my colleagues is a therapist. Recently she said, “Kathy, just because a client comes to my office with a fistful of money and asks me to help her stop smoking doesn’t mean that she is really ready to give up cigarettes.” Second, even if clients are motivated to change, they are likely to experience ambivalence that will lead to fluctuations in commitment. If we push too hard when they are experiencing ambivalence, they may merely become more resistant. Thirdly, we must realize that we cannot make our clients change. The choices are theirs to make.
I believe that our role as consultants and coaches is to deliver the hard messages to our clients clearly yet unemotionally. Then we must step back and let them make their own choices. If we really believe that the client must change his/her behavior in order to achieve stated goals, we should say so. We can help them explore the ambivalence that they will feel when hearing these messages. We can help them envision the possible consequences of the various courses of action that they could take. However we must be dispassionate enough to allow them the latitude to make their own decisions.
If you are the recipient of the hard messages my advice is to watch for the resistance traps. Emotionally intelligent people have enough self-awareness to catch themselves before they ‘shoot the messenger’, deny, resist, or engage in thoughts or behaviors that will undermine their achieving their goals. Accept the natural ambivalence that will always accompany change. However, don’t allow yourself to get lost in it. Push through to a conclusion that will provide you with the results that you desire. Once you have chosen a path to follow, develop a personal action plan. I like to advise my coaching clients to list realistic steps that they will take each day or each week as they pursue the changes that will lead them to achieve their goals.
Last week Challenger, Gray and Christmas issued their annual warning about the huge losses in worker productivity that result from idle chatter and party planning at Super Bowl time. An AP article on Super Bowl Slackers, indicated that the Challenger firm estimated a loss of $820 million during the week before the game.
In spite of my alarm over such a hit on productivity this week, I can't help but think about the more serious, long-term issues at stake in the work place. The productivity loss occurring the week before the Super Bowl surely cannot compare with the hammering productivity takes every week when people dread to come to work because of company culture or a bad boss.
My recommendation to leaders is to worry less about the short-term Super Bowl disruptions and more about the steady erosion of performance due to dysfunction in the company culture. If leaders really want to improve productivity or keep it from deteriorating, first they should assess the culture of their work places. Does it promote worker dedication, commitment and loyalty, or does it thwart employee initiative and engagement? Leaders hold the cards for creating a culture that supports high performance and productivity. Never mind the Super Bowl!
Corporate cultures do not have to be dysfunctional. Over the years, I have seen what appeared to be intractable problems turn out to be opportunities for creating strong and affirming organizational cultures. When an organization is ineffective due to its culture, turnarounds are in the best interest of all. The leaders must decide to make it happen. They examine the psychological contracts that exist and either reestablish the elements that have been violated or work to change the contracts. They visualize the culture that they desire and put together plans to realize the vision. They communicate their vision to the entire organization and demonstrate their commitments through changes in their own behavior.
For example, recently I worked with an organization fractured by conflict. The relationships among various factions were so adversarial that productivity suffered as did the mental health of almost everyone. The destructive cycle was so entrenched that at first I concluded that nothing could be done to break it. Management had done great damage to their relationships with employees by violating the psychological contracts repeatedly. On the other hand, some of the employees had engaged in improper if not unethical behavior. The psychological contracts that they carried in their minds were unsupportable.
Just as I was about to give up and exit this client organization, the leader called me. He told me that he couldn't tolerate the stress any longer. Either the culture had to change or he had to leave the company for the sake of his own emotional well-being.
He and I spent the next few hours talking about what it would take to really make a difference in that organization. We talked openly about how his own behavior contributed to the problems and what he would have to do differently to create the changes he desired in the company culture. Through our long discussion, he grappled with his own ambivalence about change. He recognized that his first challenge was to come to terms with the emotional blocks that prevented him from changing.
Over the next few weeks, he and I met several times to discuss his hopes, fears and plans for change. He decided to do whatever it took to turn the culture around. He committed to taking the first steps himself. I encouraged him to put together a concrete plan that included actions that he could take every day to live the changes that he envisioned.
Of course culture change cannot be accomplished by one man alone. Not even the top-level executive is powerful enough to do it if by himself. However he realized that his commitment is a necessary, if not sufficient, step towards success. He believed that by demonstrating his own change, he could begin to establish the trust that he needed in order to ask others to change as well. Stay tuned!
A few basic steps for turning around a negative culture:
These ten steps could go a long way in getting you started on your journey to turn around a stressful and possibly dysfunctional work culture.
]]>The article was released by the Associated Press and described the results of a survey on employees’ perceptions of their bosses. The results of the study were alarming if not surprising. People report that their bosses don’t keep their promises, fail to give appropriate credit, make negative comments about their employees to others, give employees the silent treatment, etc. Of course perceptions are just that – perceptions! Yet the study corroborates some of my own more subjective observations that discontent among corporate employees is widespread. I have witnessed the erosion of trust in the work place for the past few years. Of course the causes are many and the issues are complex.
In some cases, the discontent and distrust stems from managers who are either not equipped or unwilling to communicate directly with their employees. In other cases, the problems seem to stem from the perception that the company and the boss that represents it have violated the unspoken and unwritten, yet powerful psychological contract. Trust can dissolve quickly – sometimes literally overnight. And reestablishing trust is a long, arduous process.
I would challenge all of us who wish to be strong and effective leaders to focus on reestablishing trust in our own work places. I realize that this is a lofty goal. Yet I can think of no better New Year's resolution for managers in the year 2007.
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