Dealing With Status Quo

“More than anything,” wrote the late Warren Bennis in his book, Managing People is Like Herding Cats (Executive Excellence Publishing, 1997), “the difference between a leader and a manager rests on the status quo: Managers are willing to live with it, and leaders are not.” Truer words have not been written in quite some time.

Bennis in the same book builds on this insight. As he wrote, “Almost all organizations are presently caught between two paradigms in how they organize themselves and how they are led.” I think the challenge this coming fall is to determine if we have the courage to deal with status quo and then to change it. 

During the last three months, I have visited with many leaders and nearly all of them are fed up with the current status quo. They understand that “good is the enemy of great”, referencing an old Jim Collins phrase. They do not want to slip into a false sense of security and end up with mediocrity as being just fine.

Instead, they are eager to move themselves and their organization to the next level. The big question is “How do we do this?” In the aforementioned book, Bennis offers a unique first step. As he writes, “express the unspoken dreams of people.”

We know these unspoken dreams. People want to work at a company that respects and trusts them to do the right things for the right reasons at the right time. People want to do work that is meaningful and is making a difference in the world. People want a supervisor who knows them as a person rather than a position being filled. Finally, people want to be a part of a team that trusts each and works together.

These may seem like simplistic answers but they are not. Sometimes that which appears simple actually takes great effort, focus and attention over time. Simple is never easy. Quite a few of us have learned this from experience.

This week, as we all prepare for final quarter of 2021, reflect on whether or not you are willing to deal with status quo. If you are, then start figuring out what are the unspoken dreams of your people and how to turn them into reality.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257