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The naked emperor rides again
by Dave Anderson
You’re the last to know because no one wants to tell you. After all, you hold their future in your hands. Thus, you continue to stride through the workplace like the naked emperor in the fairytale, as onlookers nod in affirmation when they really want to scream:
You’re the problem! You’re out of touch! Stop saying you’re open to change when everyone knows you’re its natural assassin! Let me out of the box! Let me innovate! I want to make a difference! Shut up and listen for a change!
The fact is that no one cares more about his business than the boss, but it’s equally true that no one does more to hold it back, break momentum, undermine change and keep good people down. You’re too close to the problem to realize it’s you. Worse, no one wants to come out and say it, because they work for you.
So, I’ll be the one to tell you: your team has met the enemy and it is you. Perhaps you would make changes if you grasped you were the problem, but because most of your team gives your mandates the ‘kiss of yes,’ you figure you’re on the right track and they’re behind you. Not quite.
Remember when they did bring you feedback, only to have it fire-hosed, belittled, trivialized or done in by delay? Your team is frustrated and intimated more than they are motivated, and they don’t know what to do about it. They want to do better. They want to make progressive change. Here are a few reasons you unwittingly prevent them from doing so, and some potential remedies.
1. As a top leader you have the most emotional equity in the status quo, because you are the chief architect of the organization. Thus, you have the most to defend and be defensive about.
Remedy: Develop the discipline to detach yourself from current strategies and suspend judgment while others give input on what they believe needs to be done. Challenge what you assume made you successful in the past. Let everyone else challenge those assumptions as well. Remember, if everyone is thinking alike, no one is thinking.
2. Time and experience can work against tenured leaders, because business conditions constantly change and they have most to unlearn in changing times. Leaders who’ve been around the block a few times, tend to keep using an old map to find new lands.
Remedy: Know that time and experience can be helpful when optimizing, but can be a hindrance when innovating since tenure can lock the right side of your brain in a box. Be willing to forget much of what used to work, and embrace new strategies and tactics. Become as perfectly attuned to the timeless, as to the ever changing. It’s part of the growth process for you personally, as well as for your business.
3. You’re too close to the action to see the big picture. You’ve gotten so immersed in routine that you’re an unwitting prisoner of out-of-date beliefs and strategies.
Remedy: Question the relevancy of industry dogmas concerning standards, metrics and strategies that were accepted in the past. Become open to new thinking. Ditch tradition and sentimentalism whenever necessary to move forward. Clearly, not all accepted industry standards are omnipotent. There’s a difference between the dogma: the earth is flat; and the law of physics: what goes up must come down. Remember that most of what industry insiders claim is God-given, is actually man made.
4. If in the past you have fire-hosed ideas and viewed them in conflict with your own, it will take much more effort to encourage others to contribute.
Remedy: When debating an issue, reserve your opinion for last and others will feel more at ease to speak honestly. Start your meeting by saying, “Here is the issue we face. Here are the potential options to resolve it. What do you all think?” Remind everyone that every idea is a good idea until you find the best idea, and that good ideas become great ones when they are challenged. Then shut up and let them go at it.
Keep things on track, make sure everyone is heard, play devil’s advocate without taking a specific stance to ensure all sides of an issue are heard and examined. After you believe this has been accomplished, take the feedback you’ve heard, use it to refine your thinking and then speak your piece. Let them know that even at this stage you want people to shoot holes in your suggestions.
After the decision has been made, however, the debate is over. Everyone must get on the same page and support the final decision. During these discussions everyone has an equal voice, but not an equal vote. You still make the call, but with more input from others. As a result you’re perspective will improve and you’ll earn buy-in on your final decision.
5. Top leaders get to the point where they can learn little from one another. Think about it: the inner circle at your store has been talking at each other for years. Your positions are well known, and you can finish each other’s sentences. If you fail to include new people from different levels and departments in your strategic planning you will disenfranchise 99 percent of your employees.
Remedy: Include new voices when it comes to plotting strategy and innovation, or your chances of coming up with a breakthrough strategy or product are nil.
This is tough for many managers because they secretly long for a more compliant organization – as opposed to one that talks back. Some organizations boast about how diverse their workforce is when it comes to ethnicity and gender. But this sort of diversity misses the point. Diversity in thinking is what changes organizations. As strategist Gary Hamel says, “What do you gain by having an ethnic makeup that mimics the United Nations if no one thinks differently, or for themselves?”
It’s important to humble yourself as a leader and acknowledge that being boss doesn’t mean you have to do all the talking or have all the answers. Instead, your job is to surround yourself with people who do. If your people feel like they are working in a box with strict boundaries, and are there to simply carry out your orders, they will never come up with breakthrough ideas.
It’s popular for leaders to believe that change starts at the top and they are their organization’s No. 1 champion of change. But this is simply not true. I used to believe leaders liked change more than followers, but have found that this is only the case if the change is the result of their own ideas.
The lesson? Be more self-aware: Be aware of the stultifying effect your ego-driven beliefs can inflict on the enthusiasm of others. Be aware of your tendency to project ancient business models onto markets that have become infinitely more complex. Be aware that you use your autobiography to solve everyone’s problems and fire-hose new ideas as they are presented, and that it's only natural to want to defend what you’ve created. And be very aware of the cost to your business every time these offenses break momentum, sap morale or cause a shining star to leave for an opportunity to grow, be heard and have an impact – somewhere else.
Dave Anderson, author of the upcoming book Up Your Business: How to Fix, Build or Stretch Your Organization (John Wiley & Sons) is a speaker and trainer on sales, management and leadership, who works directly with company owners and employees. He earned his reputation in business by leading some of the top national automotive dealerships to record breaking sales. For more information go to: www.LearnToLead.com.
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