Encourage Courage
Encourage the courage to make the right discussions happen. Elephant in the room or something ugly that smells bad on the table. Call it what you will it is common for executive teams, departmental teams and project teams to have a dysfunction, risk or sacred cow that harms or threatens the business yet can't be talked about. People may be afraid to talk about it. Fearful of how someone on the team may react. Fearful there is no easy solution. The person who attempts to raise it is deemed not a team player, disruptive.
Steve Salerno1 in a recent WSJ article suggests that one of the primary causes of the current economic crisis was"unchecked magical thinking-the notion that positive thoughts yield positive results." In a 2003 HBR article2 authors Lovallo and Kahneman note that American companies "reward optimism and interpret pessimism as disloyalty. Frank discussions of risk at many companies are interpreted as evidence of negativity... delusional optimism is prized." As leaders we exist to make the business the best it can be. That includes an inherent expectation that we make our team and our people the best they can be. Don't let what needs to be challenged go on and on without being challenged. Others are seeing the same thing. Energy is wasted. Make the tough discussions happen. Learn to change direction when necessary.
Encourage the courage to stop collaborating and take action. Sure, multiple brains are better than one. Creativity and innovation emerge from smart people exploring options and possibilities. Ideas build on ideas. Divergent thinking creates a bucketful of options. I believe it and see it in action all the time. Consensus and complete alignment is the ideal. Dissenting opinion may be right- the majority opinion wrong. Teams and businesses can be paralyzed by a commitment to endless collaboration. No decision. No action.
As the accountable leader, it is your decision, so belly up to the bar. Get the best thinking of smart people. Accept ambiguity. Make a team decision, or make a leader decision but make a decision. You know when it has gone on too long. Make it, implement it, and be accountable for the results.
Encourage the courage to tell people the truth - risk hurting someone's feelings. A weird sociological characteristic has emerged in America in which many people seem to believe that being alive includes a special protection from having our feelings hurt. I don't condone injustice. I hate bullies and any form of harassment and I agree that the various "ism" protections in law are right. I believe in being kind. That said,expecting acceptable behavior of an employee, colleague or boss is not harassment. Holding people accountable to commitments is not necessarily abuse. A heated discussion is not necessarily bad. Say what needs to be said in a way that is clear,honest and does not confuse. If you expect someone to change behavior as a result of your discussion, too much positive spin clouds your intention. Remember, communication is the responsibility of the sender.
Some questions for looking in the mirror:
- Does my behavior show that I want the best unvarnished thinking of others or that I just want the best thinking that aligns with mine?
- What are others saying that I am not hearing?
- Where is the unacceptable being accepted (performance, behavior, results)?
- Where am I dead wrong and I don't know it yet but others do?
"Courageous leadership in this sense lies in cultivating the ability to act unnaturally (counter to our personalities, preferences, and training). Leading and living with courage isn't about doing what feels good;
it is the ability to do what is necessary, even when it feels awkward, unnatural, or downright awful."
Robert Earl ("Dusty") Staub II
1 Happy Talk by Steve Salerno Wall Street Journal October 3, 2008 page W11
2 Delusions of Success: How Optimism Undermines Executive Decisions by Dan Lovallo and Daniel Kahneman, Harvard Business Review July 2003 |
