How do leaders successfully deal with accelerated change, chronic uncertainty and rampant complexity? - part #1

Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down for dinner with three leaders from three different organizations from three different parts of the country. All of them were struggling with the same issues and problems. All of them were wanting to help their teams become much better. All of them were zooming in to fix things rather than zooming out to understand the bigger picture. So, I decided to open our dinner conversation about what each of these leaders were seeing as the big picture trends that were influencing their work and society at this time period. 

First, all of the leaders gathered talked about the huge retirement wave that is happening across the country. Many called it a silver tsunami with major implications, especially in the areas of loss of understanding, clarity and experience. 

Next, those gathered talked about the aging of society in general, healthcare challenges, and their intense worry about a possible recession in the midst of it all.

Third, many shared about how current political actions feel like we are perpetuating adversarial relationships more than building collaborative relationships focused on common goals.

Finally, all of them talked about the many challenges they are having with recruitment and retention of talent. Each acknowledged that If you don’t take care of your people, they will leave for better compensation. As I listened, I kept thinking of Packard’s Law which states that no company can consistently grow revenues faster than its ability to get enough of the right people to implement that growth with excellence.

The upshot of this big picture conversation was the recognition that leaders and organizations need to be more nimble - i.e. able to learn and understand things quickly and easily, agile - i.e. move quickly and easily, and flexible - i.e. willing to change and try new things.

Over the course of this wonderful dinner meeting, I had three thoughts and I will share two of them with you today. First, we are clearly operating within a VUCA environment which is a military meaning volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment within which we can rarely predict, influence or govern most events. We also are living through a “continuous series of not normal times”, referencing the work of Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen in their book, Great By Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck - Why Some Thrive Despite Them All, HarperCollins, 2011.

Second, all who were gathered that evening were worried about “knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns.” Former U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld made this famous phrase in 2002. As he explained” “there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And … it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.” 

In a market-driven economy where every one and every thing is in the danger of being commoditized, we as leaders need to do some serious and in-depth reflection to determine if we as individuals and our organization have the capacity to be nimble, agile, and flexible. Given the world we live in right now, this is no longer optional. Understanding the bigger picture always helps us make smarter choices over time. 

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

Building a Unified Whole - part #1

During our dinner discussion about the future of the company, the two of us positioned the salt shaker, ketchup bottle, sugar packets, etc. all over the table in order to form a new organizational chart. We agreed that within his industry, and for that matter many others, a successful company is going to have to be nimble, i.e. be able to learn and understand things quickly and easily, be agile, i.e. move quickly and easily when the time is right, and be flexible, i.e. be willing to change and try new things. This was going to be the new normal. 

In the midst of the discussion on how to reorganize the company, he pointed out that one team in particular was engaged in a “treadmill exercise,” namely working hard but going no where. Right now a lot of people are participating in a treadmill exercise. They are also working on treadmill teams and interacting with other treadmill people. And in the end, they are exhausted and frustrated.

Simultaneously a lot of people are struggling with issues related to language and performance. With accountability on the rise, people need better goals, objectives, performance metrics, and sound project management. Furthermore, this depth of clarity should be cascaded down into the organization in a timely and accurate manner. The difficulty is that a large percentage of people working right now do not have a common language. It feels like people are participating in a treadmill exercise within the Tower of Babel.

One solution at this time period is for leaders to teach Whole -> Parts -> Whole thinking. We know that in successful companies all the parts have to work together. Furthermore, it is the experience of all the parts working together that impacts the long term viability of the parts and the whole. In short, working at a company is a cumulative and inter-connected experience for those serving and those served.

As Rosabeth Moss Kanter in her January 2008, Harvard Business Review article called “Transforming Giants” explains: “In the most influential corporations today, a foundation of values and standards provides a well-understood, widely communicated guidance system that ensures effective operations while enabling people to make decisions appropriate to local situations.” This guidance system creates a “globally integrated enterprise” which is based on  standardized processes and widely shared values and standards. The combination has a mutually reinforcing effect and results in better and more consistent decisions.

The first step in teaching Whole -> Parts -> Whole thinking is to learn to “zoom out before zooming in,” referencing the work of Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen from their book, Great By Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck - Why Some Thrive Despite Them All, HarperCollins, 2011. The process of zooming out, then zooming in, begins by remaining hyper-vigilant to the changing conditions, internally and externally to the company, and to respond effectively once a change in noted.

As Collins and Hansen note, “10Xers understand that they cannot reliably and consistently predict future events, so they prepare obsessively - ahead of time, all the time - for what they cannot possibly predict. They assume that a series of bad events can wallop them in quick succession, unexpectedly and at any time…. 10Xers zoom out, then zoom in. They focus on their objectives and sense changes in their environment; they push for perfect execution and adjust to changing conditions. When they sense danger, they immediately zoom out to consider how quickly a threat is approaching and whether it calls for a change in plans. Then they zoom in, refocusing their energies into executing objectives.” 

In short, Whole -> Parts -> Whole thinking is based on rigorous decision making and superb execution.

This week practice zooming out before you zoom in on goals and objectives. It will be the first step in becoming nimble, agile and flexible. 

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