The big question as we end the first month of 2021 is the following: How do we help our people connect with the path forward when the path forward is not clear? The key word in the question is “connect”. The dictionary defines this word as the ability “to establish a relationship” and “to create an understanding.” I think the combination of the two is critical to answering this question.
As leaders, we want our people to feel connected to our strategy, strategic intent and the strategic direction of the company. We also want them to feel connected to our 2021operational goals, operational priorities and the idea of operational excellence. Finally, we want them to feel connected to their supervisor, their team, their department and the company as a whole. This is a lot of relationships and a lot of understanding when we look at it holistically. What we have to understand as leaders is that clarity, connection and communication create commitment. It is all interconnected. And to make all those connections, we must engage in bridge building activities.
The concept of bridge building first showed up in the book by Herminia Ibarra called Act Like A Leader, Think Like A Leader (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015). Ibarra defines two roles for leaders, namely being a hub or a bridge/bridge builder. She defines a hub leader as one who sets goals for the team, assign roles to their people and assign tasks. They also monitor progress toward goals, manage team member performance and conduct performance evaluations. Finally, they hold meetings to coordinate work and to create a good climate inside the team.
A bridge leader aligns team goals with organizational priorities, funnels critical information and resources into the team to ensure progress toward goals, and gets the support of key allies outside the team. They also enhance the external visibility and reputation of the team, and give recognition for good performances and place team members in great next assignments
For us to act like leaders, we will have to devote much more of our time to building bridges between diverse people and groups. The first step to doing this is to not exhibit or tolerate silo based team behaviors or hunkering down, i.e. only thinking of me behaviors. As we do this, we as leaders need to not get caught in a narcissistic pattern of relationship formation, namely to prefer interacting only with people who are similar to ourselves and who think like us.
One way to successfully achieve the above is to go to the places where the mission is alive and well, and go to the places where it is not. In both locations, we must listen carefully to both groups of people and learn what motivates and de-motivates people. I suspect we will discover in this bridge building action that the former feels like they are making progress, and the latter feels like no one cares about what they are doing. Thus, their definition of success is maintaining a past definition and model of success.
Second, we need to envision new possibilities. Currently, we are in an on-going adaptive period which could last another 12 - 18 months. During such periods, these adaptive challenges requires new perspectives, expertise and solutions. Most of the time defining the problem may require learning and it will call into question fundamental assumptions and beliefs. To build a bridge during an adaptive period, we have to recognize that it will only happen when new ways of thinking are created which include a change in people’s priorities, beliefs, habits and loyalties.
As we do this level of work, let us remember one small, but very important point shared by Ron Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky in their excellent book, The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World (Harvard Business Press, 2009). As they write,“... the common factor for generating adaptive failure is resistance to loss…. A key to leadership, then, is the diagnostic capacity to find out the kinds of losses at stake in a changing situation from life and loved ones to jobs, wealth, status, relevance, community, loyalty, identity and competence.” We need to remember that every new beginning in an adaptive period starts with an ending.
One way to build bridges is to get together with people via a digital platform or a socially distanced conference room set up and discuss the following question: “If we had the kind of culture we aspired to, in pursuit of the strategy we have chosen, what kind of new behaviors would be common? And what ingrained behaviors would be gone?” This excellent question comes from the following article: Katzenbach, Jon R. and, Ilona Steffen and Caroline Kronley,“Cultural Change That Sticks,” Harvard Business Review, July-August 2012. The question starts with cultural change and yields possibilities in changing systems, structure, and desired new, better or different outcomes in customer service and/or product creation and delivery.
This week, start building and maintaining bridges within your organization. It will help people connect with the path forward.
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