Category Archives: Flexibility

Change is organic and messy

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Most leaders say they adapt well to change and some even say they relish it. What can be maddening about the change process is that its basic nature is not something we are comfortable with. Some leaders want to believe that change can be a mechanical process if they do it properly. Mechanical change is linear and progresses on a timeline that is predictable. The components of the system are understood and innovation has a known cause and effect. Mechanical change is top down, monitored and controlled in a central hub. With mechanical change, the harder you work, the more results you achieve.

We see evidence of mechanical thinking when leaders give their people training and expect them to change the way they think and work. Unfortunately, you cannot hand employees a new tool (or idea) and expect them to change in any predictable way.

Put people into the equation and you can forget about mechanical change. Organizational change is organic, rather than mechanical. Think of your organization as a living, breathing entity. It is a complex system with many variables, some of which are not completely understood. What you do in one part of the “body” also impacts other areas. In this vital system, even too much of a good thing can be bad. Parts that look similar are not interchangeable, and often they react unpredictably to change. Making meaningful change in this organic system requires both inside out and bottom up action. Monitoring and control are dispersed and also coordinated to account for the high degree of interdependence among parts of this organizational “being.”

What derails many change efforts is an intolerance for bad results. The reality is that if you are making transformational change in your organization, your results will probably get worse before they get better. Change also takes much longer than people anticipate. Some change processes are discontinued because of a leadership turnover or an unwillingness to continue the hard and unsettling work that drives real change.

Organizational change starts with the right mindset. You need to be prepared for prolonged ambiguity, learning on the fly and adapting quickly to meet the needs of your changing organizational body. Speeches, plans and accountability charts don’t produce change. True change happens at the molecular level, where seemingly insignificant factors can make the difference between success and failure. Little things make big things happen (John Wooden).

Have a question about this topic or want some input from Humanergy? Contact us!

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Be disruptive

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Whitney Johnson wrote a blog post called How to Identify Your Disruptive Skills. She wasn’t instructing people on how to be rude or annoying. She wrote about how you can uncover their most unique strengths. As she said, “These may be capacities that are so innate you may not even consciously recognize them, or skills you have honed over years of practice. These are the skills that can help you carve out a disruptive niche — consequently upping your value in the marketplace.”

Being disruptive in this context means tapping what is already within you – and undergoing a metamorphosis. Your transformation may seem profound and surprising to others, yet it is based upon your truest self – your disruptive strengths.

The idea of being disruptive is appealing in a broader context of careers and performance. It allows you go move from floating through life to taking the helm. Being disruptive requires that you no longer let circumstances change you. You decide what you will do and how you will do it. How can being disruptive work for you?

Strategy. Charting a course for the organization requires courage, a depth of knowledge and judgment. When thinking strategically, you fast-forward to the future and imagine a new reality. Being disruptive when it comes to strategic thinking means that you widen your view and keep an open mind. Doing this allows you to identify unlikely and previously unrecognized options. So many “lucky breaks” are really the result of thinking more broadly and openly. In 1902, nobody thought that 3M would morph from being a mining company to a global technology innovations company. Someone(s) took a larger view of the possibilities, and if they hadn’t, it’s unlikely that the company would even be in business today.

Innovation. Rather than incremental change, think of innovation as jumping the tracks, shifting into a whole new way of working – a new tool or best practice that exponentially elevates the quality of work. Tweaking can be fine, but it can also be a symptom of the slow march to doom. As John Cage said, “I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I am frightened of old ones.”

How can you make sure that you are you bringing energy to the right stuff – your disruptive potential? Your most disruptive strength may not be obvious, so you’ll need to do some work to uncover it. Johnson gives some excellent advice in her blog, including increasing your self-awareness. One good way to do this is to courageously, regularly, emphatically seek feedback. Not, “Have any feedback?” but, “What is the one thing I should stop or start doing?”And then courageously, regularly, emphatically change.

Think you don’t have time? You do. Being disruptive requires that you study how you’re spending your time and re-allocate aggressively. As Carl Sandburg said, “Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.”

Have a question about this topic or want some input from Humanergy? Contact us!

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Most rules are unnecessary and some are really dumb

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Let’s just clear this up, for those of you who are rule followers: Yes, there are a few rules that organizations need in order to comply with the law and create necessary structure and standards. Other than a scant supply of dictates, what more do you really need? (Even Moses came back down the mountain with only 10 commandments!)

The whole question of rules was reinforced by a blog called “What Every Manager Should Know About Managing Gen Y.” It advised leaders to create ‘Gen Y-friendly rules.” In fact, the authors recommend that you review all rules that people seem to try to work around.

Better yet, put all rules on the chopping block. Start with these:

Rules you can’t or won’t enforce. If people are breaking a rule right and left, ditch it. Either it’s impossible to enforce or the organizational will isn’t there. Lack of enforcement promotes cynicism and apathy about rules in general, even the ones you really need.

Rules that upper management folks break. If rules apply to some and not to others, get rid of them. Selective enforcement of the rules contributes to a toxic work environment.

Rules that don’t help you achieve your goals. We could insist that all of our staff maintain X hours of office time. We don’t because we realize that time in the office has little, if any, relationship to our goal – delighted clients. Keep your eyes on the prize and only create rules that are necessary for achieving it.

Rules that are micromanagement in disguise. Rules that tell people what to do and how to do it should raise alarm bells. Instead of dictating the “whats” and “hows,” only require that people orient towards the right goals and adhere to your ethical standards. Then let them exercise judgment and creativity in their work.

There are some pretty outrageous rules out there, if online postings are to be believed. Even if your policies don’t include a requirement that you give 2-weeks’ notice before dying, you may want to review your list. There may be some oppressive or just unnecessary rules that are doing your organization more harm than good.

Lots of rules may be an indicator that you’re spending way too much time on the activity of work – what you will DO. When your focus in on what you will ACHIEVE, you need fewer rules. Organizations can’t dictate their way into success – that requires an unrelenting focus on where you’re going and the crucial few non-negotiable rules that will help you get there.

Have a question about this topic or want some input from Humanergy? Contact us!

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You don’t know what you don’t know

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“Awareness requires a rupture with the world we take for granted.” Shoshana Zuboff

High performance leaders recognize the need to constantly improve their organization and its people, and above all, themselves. To become better leaders, they continually expand their self-awareness, even if this means confronting aspects of their personalities, habits and performance that they’d rather not see. Self-awareness requires a dedicated effort to uncover the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Here are some steps to get you started.

Accept that others may know you better than you know yourself. It is far easier to have wisdom about others than it is to truly know ourselves. Recognize that you have a biased perspective or that you don’t comprehend the whole picture of your behavior and its impact.

Examine your world view. There’s an old saying that a fish doesn’t know it’s swimming in water until it is thrown upon the riverbank. Up until that moment, that fish thinks that he understands all about the world and how it works. Your world view is a framework that allows you to understand individuals, groups and your “reality.” A world view is like a lens through which you see yourself and others. It is dangerous to assume that your world view is the right one or the same as other people.  To explore your world view, ask yourself, What are my beliefs? and What assumptions do I make about myself and others?

Find a new perspective. Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” To get a different perspective, look at an unrelated industry, ask for feedback from a new source or methodically toss out all of your assumptions and start fresh.

Explore the unknown unknowns. You’re probably pretty comfortable with not knowing every answer. What if you didn’t even know the right questions to be asking? According to an article by Errol Morris in the New York Times Opinionator, known unknowns are the problems you can list and prepare for. The unknown unknowns are problems about which you are completely unaware. Giant leaps in self-awareness and performance can be achieved by not only adding to your list of solutions, but uncovering previously unexplored questions.

You would never accept mediocre performance from yourself. Likewise, don’t accept that you have complete self-awareness, without a consistent and disciplined effort to uncover the real you.

Have a question or want some input from Humanergy about this topic? Contact us and we’ll get right back to you!


Embrace the unexpected

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surprisedDo you like surprises? Only the good ones, right? Plenty of leaders hate the unexpected, unless it involves windfall profits. (One was recently overheard joking, “I like surprises. I just want to know about them in advance.”)

Many leaders have a “no surprises” policy when it comes to hearing news from their direct reports. Two critical aspects of a “no surprises” policy:

Tell me right away. Leaders expect that they’ll get informed of vital stuff as soon as it happens.

Don’t filter essential information. No spinning, interpreting or otherwise sanitizing the facts. Leaders want their truth straight up.

You want open communication from your team. In order to get it, you must monitor your reaction to surprising information.  How do you as a leader respond to the unexpected?

Get used to it. Surprises are part of the new reality. You can’t allow every bolt from the blue to derail you. Denis Waitley said, “Expect the best, plan for the worst and prepare to be surprised.”

Don’t kill the messenger. Want to guarantee that you won’t know what’s really going on? Jump all over the person who brings you the bad news.

Gather facts dispassionately. Your first step must be gaining a full understanding of the magnitude and impact of the surprise. Ask questions to gauge what happened and how it affects key stakeholders.

Learn from surprises. After the crisis has passed, do a postmortem analysis of the root causes and what you should have anticipated. Take action to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

Big surprises are big opportunities to learn and grow. You can use the unanticipated as a springboard for deepening your understanding of your business reality. Or you can try in vain to control all aspects of your world (not a good choice).

You can’t avoid surprises. How you handle the unexpected says a lot about your leadership. Are you the rock for your team or do you allow the unexpected to throw you off your game?

Have a question or want some input from Humanergy about this topic? Contact us and we’ll get right back to you!