Living With On-going Cognitive Dissonance

I have been reflecting on the following quote by Marshall Goldsmith in his insightful book, Triggers: Creating Behavior That Lasts - Becoming the Person You Want to Be, (Crown Business, 2015):

“A changing environment changes us…. If we do not create and control our environment, our environment creates and controls us. And the result turns us into someone we do not recognize.”

Since March and the arrival of COVID-19, we have been living in a constantly changing environment. We know that we can not control the virus and to a degree we can not even influence the behavior or choices of others around us. Some days we aren’t even certain we are making the right choices or decisions. Routinely, the upshot of all this change in the environment around us and, to a large degree, inside of us is that we wonder if we are turning into someone we don’t recognize anymore.  

I believe that for a large part of this year we have been experiencing an on-going and deeply challenging level of cognitive dissonance. Marshall Goldsmith in his book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful (Hyperion, 2007), defines cognitive dissonance  as “the disconnect between what we believe in our minds and what we experience or see in reality.” In particular, I think this situation is common and difficult in the world of management and leadership right now. As a result, many managers and leaders are loosing their confidence about what to do and how to proceed given the endless number of unforeseen variables and known variables. The upshot of this situation is analysis paralysis or even worse the deployment of work avoidance behaviors, i.e. the choice to just not make a decision in the hopes that all of it will just go away over time.

In the same aforementioned book by Goldsmith, he reminds us that “the more we are committed to believing that something is true, the less likely we are to believe that the opposite is true, even in the face of clear evidence that shows we are wrong.” I see this happening left, right and center, using a very old set of terms. Clear empirical and scientific evidence about what is the current state of affairs is not changing peoples’ behaviors or organizations’ choices. 

Furthermore, many leaders are sharing with me the old phrase uttered by Admiral Farragut in 1864 at the Battle of Mobile Day during the American Civil War,: “damn the torpedos; full speed ahead!” While Farragut did win the battle, it also came with a high price. As a former history teacher, I get the reference, but have to point out that fighting a virus and fighting a civil war are not the same thing. One has concrete fortifications and known defenses while the other is constantly evolving. While humans were able to rapidly decode the genome of COVID-19, the cure is still elusive.

Still, I am not hopeless but I am very much challenged. Returning to Goldsmith’s work in the book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful, he writes: “people will do something - including changing their behaviors - only if it can be demonstrated that doing so is in their own best interests as defined by their own values.” This is a powerful insight and it deserves a great deal of reflection.

Over the course of this past spring and summer, I have observed people and companies change their behavior, and their strategic and operational choices. When listening carefully about how this happened successfully, I have figured out that the key to making this happen resides in the phrase, “as defined by their own values.”  

While I have talked about the importance of organizational culture and core values or principals as being the strategy and competitive advantage of successful companies for decades, I have relearned over the last six months that when the company’s core values are in alignment with employees’ own personal core values, then behavioral change happens successfully at the personal and organizational levels.

Now, for some, I could be stating the obvious, but the underlying insight given the magnitude of cognitive dissonance that is taking place right now at home and at work is that when we recruit and retain employees who are already pre-wired with the company’s core values, we generate the ability for the company as a whole to be successful. 

As I have noted at many From Vision to Action Leadership Trainings and Executive Roundtables, I have come to firmly believe that organizational change is the sum of individual change. And when individuals know that their work matters, that they are respected and supported personally and professionally, and that when they believe they are making progress at work which they consider to be meaningful and important, plus “their own values” are in alignment the mission and core values of the company, then they can handle an ever changing and non-controllable environment better than those who are not experiencing these fundamentals.

Thus, my challenge to you this week is the following:

- rediscover your own personal core values.

- unpack and get to know better the core values or principles of your company.

- find alignment between the two.

- remember that cognitive dissonance is normal and that there are days when we all get overwhelmed.

- sit down with your team and let them know you continue to support them as we all move through this constantly changing environment.

We will make it through this time. We just need to do it together.

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

How Successful Leaders Make Organizational Change Happen

There are many books written about how successful organizational change takes place. Some say that it begins with mutual trust, collective pride, and self-discipline. Others focus on transparent performance measures and the clear tracking of results. Whether it is based on mission vision and core values or process improvement and metrics, I have come to the conclusion that there are many pathways to the same destination, namely successful implementation of organizational change. 

After working side by side with leaders in large and small, for-profit and non-profit companies for over 30 years, I want to share three observations about how these leaders have achieved success. These insights are not bold, new or cutting edge. They are instead simple without being simplistic. They reflect the real and in-depth work that senior leaders do to create effective, long term change.

First, these leader make time for reflection. They know that every day is going to be busy and every day will be filled with many meetings. They know their desk will be covered with reports that require a lot of time and attention. They also know that their e-mail in-box will always be full. And yet, they routinely make time to step away from the busy work to think deeply and holistically about the themselves, their team and the company.

From my vantage point, these leaders seek out and protect these times of stillness because they understand two powerful concepts. First, as John Paul Lederach writes in in his book, The Moral Imagination, these leaders understand that “stillness is not inactivity. It is the presence of disciplined activity without movement…. It is the platform that generates authenticity of engagement, for it is the stage that makes true listening and seeing possible.” As Lederach continues, “Stillness requires a commitment of patience and watchfulness. Its guideposts are these: Slow down. Stop. Watch what moves around you. Feel what moves in you.”

The best leaders I have met and the ones who have successfully implemented multiple change cycles over many years understand that by creating regular time for reflection, and the subsequent stillness that comes with this action, they are able to tap into their inner wisdom and inner dialogue. And from this place of quiet clarity, they can ask themselves three powerful and challenging questions: What am I observing externally? What am I feeling internally? And, - what is the story I am telling myself about what is happening externally and internally? By giving themselves permission to do this level of work and by recognizing the value of this inner process, they are able to discover new insights about themselves and others, see emerging patterns and trends, and to discover new and better questions that need to be explored and answered by themselves, their team and the company as a whole.

The second concept that comes with valuing time for reflection and stillness is based on an understanding of the difference between reward-centered leadership and responsibility-centered leadership. Some individuals who become a leader see it up as a reward for all their years of hard work and service to the company. As Patrick Lencioni in his book, The Motive, writes, “they see leadership as the prize of years of hard work and are drawn by its trappings: attention, status, power, money.” As he continues, “When leaders are motivated by personal reward. they will avoid the unpleasant situations and activities that leadership requires.” 

Responsibility-centered leaders, on the other hand notes Lencioni, “want to serve others, to do whatever is necessary to bring about something good for the people they serve.” Rather than being self-centered, these leaders lean into the challenges before them and are willing to hold difficult and uncomfortable conversations. They do not shy away from the hard work of creating clarity and focus, plus the difficult work of holding people and themselves accountable for outcomes. 

And for them, the first step to doing this important work is to create personal clarity before creating team and organizational clarity. They understand that being over scheduled is not a pathway to clarity. So, on a regular basis, they step away from the world of constant inputs and instead seek stillness in the midst of action, recognizing that it is the foundation for authenticity, humility and empathy, all of which are vital to being a good leader.

Second, these same leaders create a work environment that supports healthy change. Over the course of many decades, I have observed multiple forms of organizational change. Some have been driven by fear and others have been driven by purpose. Some have involved teamwork and others have resulted in bitter rivalries within the company. And finally some have resulted in deep distrust and cynicism while others have resulted in commitment, passion and unity. Each in their own way created organizational change. But in the end, healthy organizational change and the resulting impact on organizational culture is the critical difference between the winners and losers over multiple change cycles.

Healthy change is not a common term used within the context of organizational change. Many leaders use the words “strategic change” or “organizational transformation” but “healthy” is not part of their normal lexicon when talking about organizational change. Yet, when I observe change that works and lasts over time, the word healthy is the best word to described what happened and what continues to take place. Patrick Lencioni in his book, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business, writes that a healthy organization is one that has “minimal politics and confusion, high degree of morale and productivity, and very low turnover among good employees.” For all involved clarity of purpose, mutual trust and unconditional respect are foundational to their on-going efforts to continually improve and innovate in order to meet the ever changing needs of their customers.

In the midst of creating this healthy work environment, there is one small but significant thing that I have observed that for me differentiates the great organizations from the good ones, namely the ratio of advocacy to inquiry communication within meetings. As a consultant involved in strategic planning since the mid 1980’s, I have facilitated countless large and small meetings. What I have observed is that the best leaders regularly sit back and listen very carefully to what is being said and how it is being said. To them, the depth of strategic dialogue within a team meeting is critical to short and long-term success. 

And within these important meetings, these leaders focus on how many members of the team are making a point or stating their case for change, i.e. advocacy based communication, and how many are willing to ask questions to understand another person’s point of view or perspective, i.e. inquiry based communication. This ratio of healthy advocacy and inquiry is critical because a team who is successful is one that is collectively committed and responsible for the success of the whole team and the whole company.

Finally, these leaders understand the differences between clock time, operational time, and strategic time. Clock time is what each of us have every day, namely the same 24 hours. We manage it the best we can, but the clock keeps moving forward. Operational time refers to the amount of time it takes to implement change. Depending on the size of the change being implemented, this can take 90 days to 18 months. Still, it has a finite beginning, middle and end. The real challenge for many leaders is to comprehend the pace and magnitude of strategic time. Here we commit to goals and objectives which may take from 5 to 7 years. In some cases, if we are setting big goals related to changing an entire business model or organizational culture, it may take 10 years to implement this level of change. 

Good leaders focus on clock time and operational time. Each day, they try to be as productive as possible and attempt to improve the implementation of new processes and systems as efficiently as possible. Great leaders do these two things too, but the difference is that they comprehend strategic time. Here they play the long game and recognize that in order to be successful through out multiple change cycles over time, they need to build healthy teams and a healthy work culture. By doing this consistently over time, they are creating a shared mindset where all involved understand that every day we do the best we can, i.e. clock time, and that every day we implement the current strategic plan, i.e. operational time. But all of this is influenced and modified by strategic time, i.e. our commitment to meet the ever-evolving needs of our customers, our employees and the communities in which we serve.

Every year, from my vantage point, great leaders are successful in the world of organizational change, because they are committed to creating regular time for reflection and inner clarity. Next, they are deeply committed to developing a healthy work environment based on trust, respect and a commitment to purpose. Finally, they have the capacity to recognize the difference between clock time, operational time and strategic time. When these three skill sets come together in a single person, their team and then within the organization, they can create successful, long term organizational change, and be resilient in the face of instability, disruption and chaos. 

Real change is hard work. It takes time, commitment and effort. Understanding the above three keys to success is one step in that journey. The challenge now is to translate it into disciplined action. And then to be willing to do it, day after day, quarter after quarter, year after year. As John Maxwell wrote many years ago, “Leadership develops daily, not in a day.”The same is true for organizational change. It is a daily commitment to action that will not be completed in a single day. 

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

Never Underestimate The Power Of Support

Recently, I have been thinking about something that Rodd Wagner and James K. Harter wrote in their book, 12: The Elements of Great Managing. As they note, “Before a person can deliver what he should as a manager, he must first receive what he needs as an employee.”

As the worries and uncertainties pile up about the on-going global pandemic, we often forget that a great manager needs a great manager in order to be a great manager. On one level, this feels like I am stating the obvious. On the other hand, because it is so basic and fundamental to good leadership, I think many people forget to recognize how important and powerful the above short sentence by Wagner and Harter is to the success of any action within the company.

When I grasp the power of this concept, I also need to link it to a second and equally powerful insight that Marshall Goldsmith noted in a chapter called “Recruiting Supportive Coaches: A Key to Achieving Positive Behavioral Change" from the book, The Many Facets of Leadership (Prentice Hall, 2003) by Marshall Goldsmith, Vijay Govindarajan, Beverly Kaye, Albert A. Vicere. In this chapter, Goldsmith wrote, “Another clear finding of our literature search is that positive behavioral change is much more likely to last if the individual who is trying to change has a "support group" (or at least "support person") who is assisting in the change process.”

When an employee has a good manager who is supporting people to work on highly functional teams and giving the same employee support on the one to one level, then an employee will move in the right direction and activate their talents to achieve desirable outcomes. As Goldsmith points out, "Your best coaches may often be people whom you respect and who impact your life on a daily basis.” And right now, one of the people who is impacting your life at work, and to a degree at home, is your supervisor. If they are choosing to be supportive and clarifying expectations, priorities and goals, then all involved will be engaged and effective as they rise to the on-going challenges of this time period.

This week, be the leader people need you to be, namely one who is supportive and is a catalyst between the goals of the company and the talents of all involved. Then, even in the midst of COVID-19, we will see continual positive and effective progress from everyone.

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

An Important Strategic Choice As We Head Into The Fall

“The health of an organization”, writes Patrick Lencioni in his book, The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business (Jossey-Bass, 2012), “provides the context for strategy, finance, marketing, technology, and everything else that happens within it, which is why it is the single greatest factor determining an organization’s success.” As Lencioni explains, there are two fundamental strategic choices, being smart or being healthy. Being smart is about strategy, marketing, finances, and technology, and, to a degree, it is something of a commodity. Many other organizations can have what your company has.

However, Lencioni points out that being healthy, i.e. having “minimal politics and confusion, high degree of morale and productivity, and very low turnover among good employees”, is not something every other organization can have. “An organization that is healthy,” writes Lencioni, “will inevitably get smarter over time….  In contrast, smart organizations don’t seem to have any greater chance of getting healthier by virtue of their intelligence. In fact, the reverse may actually be true because leaders who pride themselves on expertise and intelligence often struggle to acknowledge their flaws and learn from peers.”

One important strategic choice we need to make as we head into fall is to make sure our teams are getting healthier. As Lencioni notes, “If an organization is led by a team that is not behaviorally unified, there is no chance that it will become healthy…. Becoming a real team requires an intentional decision on the part of its members…. teamwork is not a virtue. It is a choice - and a strategic one.”

When we look at the important strategic choices we need to make this late summer into fall so we can survive the rest of 2020 and be well positioned to thrive in 2021 and 2022, we all need teams that have a solid foundation of trust, the capacity to engage in unfiltered conflict around ideas, and the ability to commit to decisions and plans of action.

With the ongoing complex and complicated problems that we need to solve during the next six to eight weeks, we also must have members on our team who can advocate well for their ideas and ask respectful questions to seek clarity about another person’s statement of advocacy. It is the combination of advocacy and inquiry that will generate effective and resilient solutions.

If you have the time and energy, I encourage you to read or re-read the aforementioned book. It will help you to build a healthy and ultimately a smart organization.

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

Feelings Are As Powerful As Facts

When leaders look over the horizon and see the end of the third quarter fast approaching, they are worried. Privately, they acknowledge that it is highly unlikely that they will hit their growth or profitability targets. They struggle to figure out what is the best path forward. 

Furthermore, the data they have collected presents mixed signals about what to do strategically and operationally. Some interpret the numbers and believe they need to completely abandon their core business model for an all digital engagement platform. Others parse the numbers and still believe that adapting the current model is a sustainable choice given the global and national pandemic projections before them. Finally, some are just overwhelmed by too many options and choices. They are stuck in analysis paralysis, hoping for a definitive answer to all their questions.

Often, this is when they call me, their executive coach. They want to think out loud and to explore their options in a safe and productive manner. Through our time together, insights and choices become clear.

During such visits, I often ask the following question which makes many leaders pause and think deeply: “What does your gut tell you to do in this situation?” I know we will explore facts and figures, data points and trend lines. We may touch on a SWOT analysis, a PEST analysis, or even internal engagement scores, but most leaders get so busy that they forget to check their gut. They don’t draw on their own intuition.

When they do pause and reflect deeply, many have shared with me that they do not believe the data is valid or paints a holistic picture. Sometimes, they share with me that they think people are only telling them what they think they want to hear and not the whole truth of what is going on.

At times like this, I remind good leaders that measuring something does not always need to be numerical in nature. I recognize that the party line in many companies revolves around the following two phrases, namely, “We inspect what we expect” and “If we can not measure it, it can not be improved.” Both of which are true to a point.

However, I have witnessed companies make profound and successful strategic choices on more than data and facts. As I remind good leaders, if people remember something over time, then it has made a difference. A qualitative measure, i.e. the memory and the feelings around a choice or event, can be as important as the quantitative measures, e.g. KPIs. For example, I have learned over time that the telling of stories related to key strategic choices and events is important. These stories and choices bond people together, and they make them feel like they are making a difference. They inspire people to take risks and to do the right thing, some times in spite of the data.

Danny Meyer in his book, Setting The Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business (HarperCollins, 2006) writes: “Service is the technical delivery of a product. Hospitality is how that delivery of that product makes the recipient feel. Service is a monologue - we decide how we want to do things and set our own standards for service. Hospitality, on the other hand, is a dialogue.” As he continues, it is “most meaningful to create positive, uplifting outcomes for human experiences and human relationships. Business, like life, is all about how you make people feel.” 

When I help leaders check their gut, we are engaging in “a dialogue between what already exists and what could be”, referencing Meyer in the above book. And during this internal dialogue, we are referencing past experiences, insights, feelings and lessons learned. This history often yields a more holistic and comprehensive understanding of what to do next in the short and the long term.

This week, work with the data in a thoughtful and productive manner. And remember that feelings are as powerful as facts. It is the combination of the two that will yield productive choices and outcomes. If visiting with an executive coach would be helpful, do not hesitate to contact me. I would be glad to support you as you engage in that in-depth period of reflection and internal dialogue.

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

Watch Out For Pandemic Fatigue

Since the middle of March, we have been riding an unprecedented wave of changes and adaptations related to COVID-19. Each week, there have been big and little issues surface, all of which are disrupting systems and work plans. Internal communications has become mission critical. And now, as we move into late summer, people are just physically, emotional and mentally exhausted by it all. We all would love some normalcy, order, and predictability.

Dan Cohen in his book, The Heart of Change Field Guide: Tools and Tactics for Leading Change in Your Organization (Harvard Business School Press, 2005), writes that there are five reasons why change Initiatives slow down. They are as follows: exhaustion on the part of the leaders, failure to see progress, turnover of key change agents, flagging team morale, and things taking too long. When you add a global pandemic to the mix, you can understand why folks are so exhausted and fed up with it all. 

So, what are leaders to do when everyone is running on empty?

My answer to this question is for all of us to remember two small but significant concepts.

First, “Be a lighthouse not a weathervane”, writes Robert Cooper in his book, The Other 90%: How to Unlock Your Vast Untapped Potential For Leadership & Life (Crown Business, 2001). We, as leaders, can choose to be beacons of integrity, clarity and discipline, or we can be weathervanes pivoting this way and that way at every shift in the weather. Given all that has taken place during the last five months, I believe that being a beacon is an important choice that sends a message that we can and we will weather the pounding seas and battering storms around us.

Second, we need to remember that “People won't put their hearts into something they don't believe in” which is another important point from the above book. We have focused so much on maintaining effective daily operations during the last couple of months that we have sometimes forgotten to talk about the importance of the mission, i.e. the why behind the work. When we are worn to the quick, we need to hear from our leaders, managers and supervisors that our job matters and that it makes a difference. 

Some people may think that role modeling and communicating about mission are minor actions in a time period when systems and strategy need to be carefully redesigned. But after decades of helping people and organizations through the world of large and small changes, I have learned that small actions can have huge impact. As Patrick Lencioni in his book, The Truth About Employee Engagement: A Fable About Addressing the Three Root Causes of Job Misery, formerly called The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (and their employees) (Jossey-Bass 2007), wrote: “... if a manager has any responsibility in the world, it’s to help people understand why their work matters.”

And right now, as pandemic fatigue sets in, we want to know that our efforts have made a difference. When someone notices how hard we have been working and appreciates all the time and energy we have put in to adapting to the relentless onslaught of big and little changes, then we do not feel alone in the midst of it all. We feel like we are part of a team. Our confidence and capacity to move forward is renewed. 

This week, I encourage you to be a lighthouse rather than a weathervane and to tell people the following message: I see you; I value you; I appreciate you. Your work matters and it is making a difference in the lives of so many people.

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

Prepare For The Future

As we enter into the new month of August, companies all across this country are focused on cash management. They grasp the notion of “no money, no mission” and want to make sure they have enough resources in the bank to deal with whatever might come next. 

Others are rethinking their growth targets and focused on maintaining their core business. They want their well established brand identity to not be damaged during these turbulent times. They want to survive this global pandemic but also have the company well positioned to thrive in the aftermath.

But a few hardy souls in the world of leadership are now willing to flex their intellectual muscles and engage in some in-depth scenario based planning. They want to grapple with a few possible scenarios and explore how the company will move through them. By doing this work in advance, they are better prepared if this possible reality happenings.

Here is one scenario more and more senior leadership teams are exploring right now.

First, starting in the middle to late September through to December, health officials all across the country advise people to get their annual flu shots. They remind the general public that the annual flu is a serious, and at times life-threatening illness. By getting vaccinated they are preventing the transmission of the flu to others and reducing the impact in their own lives.

Simultaneously, many infectious disease experts point out that there is a very high probability that a second round of COVID-19 will occur through out the globe this coming winter. They encourage us to be better prepared and to not ignore this second round.

If this coming flu season is especially virulent and COVID-19 returns or continues with a vengeance before there are adequate testing options and a vaccine, how should your company prepare and respond to this situation?

A tabletop exercise like the above tests the organization’s ability to be resilient in the face of a crisis. It also will determine if the lessons learned from this past spring and summer have been captured and effectively integrated into the systems, culture and strategy of the company. Finally, it is an opportunity to determine if there is a failure in one part of the company, whether or not it will metastasize and threaten the whole of the company. By proactively addressing realistic probabilities, we create the capacity for better preparedness, response and recovery activities.

Given what we know this month, now is the time to be prepared. Let’s not be surprised anymore by unforeseen possibilities.

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