Andrea Belk Olson What leaders say, is not always what they do
We’ve all been in an organization that’s been on the cusp of implementing change. There were some internal rumblings about addressing some challenges which were hanging around for a long time. Leadership conducted a few discussions on the issues. A study, review, or evaluation was conducted. Fantastic! We have momentum! These challenges will FINALLY get addressed!
However, in the coming weeks, things seem to slow down.
There’s some disagreement amongst leadership on how “urgent” or “critical” the issues are. There are discussions about the costs of implementing changes. Leadership has concerns about the ROI and the rollout timeline. The initiative list starts to narrow, and now those things that “really needed changing” boil down to a fraction of projects that are easy to implement and assuage the team’s frustrations. All is well, right?
Leaders are reluctant to make changes in their organizations.
Research has found that, while employers recognize challenges within their businesses, few felt they were able to take action through investing in new ideas, instead choosing cost-cutting, risk-averse approaches. Furthermore, many leaders felt too overwhelmed by day-to-day challenges to prioritize long-term change.
Company leaders are telling employees two conflicting messages. They’re being told to go out there and innovate, but they’re also being told that they should do so without taking any risks – that’s when you see the energy start to plateau.
This sets the expectation that nothing really changes.
It becomes a pattern of all talk and no action. Veteran employees start to accept that “this is the way things work around here” and new employees start getting frustrated and head towards the door. Recruitment and retention challenges start to surface. Competitors start to rollout new innovations and initiatives, while your organization remains in “safe mode”. Even though things aren’t crashing and burning, revenue starts to diminish in modest percentages year over year. The organization is on auto-pilot.
Why does this happen?
It comes down to leadership mindset. If your leadership is risk-averse, the talk of change will never manifest into reality without a catastrophic or massive change, often happening from the outside. (think of industries who have been recently disrupted) This risk aversion is not uncommon – everyone wants to make decisions that lead to success. Individuals want to minimize perceived mistakes, so they can ensure job security. But inaction can actually create worse outcomes, albeit much slower. The cycle of creating hope for progress followed by a lack of true follow-through also undermines organizational culture.
A CEO we worked with was leading a massive overhaul of his company while he personally struggled deeply with indecisiveness. Historically, the organization’s culture had been slow and unresponsive because decision making resided largely at the top. He redesigned the organization to create a culture where decision rights were more appropriately distributed to those lower in the organization who were better equipped to solve problems and direct resources. That left the most-strategic decisions with him and his team. Yet he struggled to get closure on critical decisions with his team, decisions the rest of the organization depended on to execute the subsequent decisions they were now empowered to make. The CEO was perpetuating the very problem he sought to fix.
In short, leaders need to not simply empower others, or delegate down, but have the courage to be decisive and take risks, whether right or wrong. People in your organization want to be led. They forgive mistakes, especially if they are recognized and corrected early. Your actions need to align with your words. Otherwise, you’re simply full of hot air.
About the Author:
Andrea’s 22-year, field-tested background provides unique, applicable approaches to creating more customer-centric organizations. A 4-time ADDY® award-winner, she began her career at a tech start-up and led the strategic marketing efforts at two global industrial manufacturers.
In addition to writing, consulting and coaching, Andrea speaks to leaders and industry organizations around the world on how to craft effective customer-facing operational strategies to discover new sources of revenues and savings.
Connect with Andrea to access information on her book, workshops, keynote speeches, training or consulting. More information is also available on www.pragmadik.com and www.thecustomermission.com.
