A workshop participant from Denmark who’d attended an international management development forum I facilitated contacted me because he was taking on a new assignment in South America. He wrote:
“Based on all the new managers that you have met and provided with guidance though the years, what are then the 5-10 most significant challenges these new managers face?”
It’s hard to isolate the most significant challenges a new manager faces because there are a lot of them. Here’s my quick stab at listing the key ones:
Knowing Thyself – it's natural for new managers ego's to become a bit inflated. After all, it's a big deal to get promoted. But it's important after coming down from that “high” to ask yourself “is this what I really wantand does it fit my strengths and passions?” Too many managers accept a promotion because there may be more money, or they covet a more power. Taking a hard look in the managerial mirror would result in many more happy offices.
Servant Leadership – highly effective managers serve and support the people on their team. Too many new managers see their role as command and control.
Navigating Change – it’s easy to be pulled “below the line” and feel victimized by major changes in an organization. Strong leaders make people hopeful. They help their teams navigate through tough times. It is the leader's mood that most impacts the team.
Coaching and Developing – I agree with Peter Drucker; the central role of a manager is developing people. This is where a new manager may have a real challenge because his or her natural strengths may be to do work and handle problems. Making the transition from solving problems to making sure people have the skills to solve problems is a big change.
Tame the E-mail Beast – technical tools are great for informing, staying in touch, and operational management. But we don’t lead through e-mail. Most people are overwhelmed with data, analysis, and the sheer volume of daily e-mails. New managers must counterbalance IT tools with verbal communications.
Deal with the Moose-on-the-Table – it’s often easier to avoid tough conversations or touchy topics. That’s like ignoring a moose standing on the middle of the meeting room table. Everyone knows it’s there and is annoyed by it. It takes courageous leadership to initiate those difficult conversations or to hear the team point out that leadership behaviors are doing more harm than good.
Upward Leadership – many new managers think their main role is leading people on their team and perhaps influencing peers. But strong managers also work hard to lead their own boss or influence the bigger organization. They refuse to be victims of weak direction from above.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Traveling with the Wind in Our Hair
We've all heard it's the journey and not the destination that is most important in life. But whether flying or driving, we're too often so intent on getting to our next destination that we miss the joy of the trip. Then it's a whirlwind of activity until we get back in the plane or car and race on to the next destination. We're so busy rushing toward tomorrow that we aren't living today. Life becomes an ever faster rush of blurry scenery speeding past our window.
One warm, sunny summer day I played "hooky" with a good friend. I appreciate many things about Carl Hiebert. The day we spent together was fun and relaxing. But most of all it was inspiring and energizing. I wrote about Carl in my book, Growing the Distance, in the chapter on Responsibility for Choices.
On that beautiful summer morning in July, we flew in Carl's new ultralight aircraft. It is an open-cockpit, fair weather flying machine, made up of welded metal tubs wrapped in a fiberglass skin. Two seats are squeezed together so tightly that I had to put both legs around Carl's front seat and keep my left leg away from rubbing on the throttle cable that ran through the open cockpit back to the small gasoline powered engine that pushed us along from behind. I had no desire to mess with that cable nor have it rub the skin off my bare legs (I was wearing shorts). No locked doors between passenger and pilot on this flight!
I arrived just after he and an engineer friend had removed the large glass bubble windshield and replaced it with a much smaller one so Carl could get better aerial photos. Carl has produced and sold a number of gorgeous coffee table books based on the tens of thousands of shots he's taken from the seats of the many ultra light planes he's flown (all the way across Canada on two occasions). As we took off from my uncle's farm near Elmira, Ontario where Carl stores his plane, we flew over the very familiar and beautiful rolling rural farmland of Waterloo County. I spent many years of my childhood in this area and have flown over this territory hundreds of times in commercial jets taking off from Toronto's international airport, 90 miles away. But that was flying at hundreds of miles per hour thousands of feet in the air tightly encased in an aluminum tube while I busily prepared for my next destination. The countryside below was an interesting and distant miniature world way down below us.
As the ground mist cleared on this morning, we flew up to a few hundred feet, 50 miles per hour, with the wind billowing through our hair (OK. It billowed through Carl's hair. It just rippled the skin of my ever expanding forehead). We "caught big air" as we circled ever higher in thermals (rising air currents) with majestic hawks playing in these same "magic staircases to heaven." More than once I spread my arms, felt the wind beneath my "wings" and soared with the birds as I yelled out a "yeehaw" or two.
We flew lower and waved to farm boys taking a break fishing in the Conestoga River. We waved to farmers cultivating their fields. We smelled the freshly mowed hay – and the freshly spread manure. As we flew, Carl's keen photographer's eye was constantly noticing colors, patterns in the fields, textures, and lighting. He would circle back around to click a few shots with his camera – showing me how to look at the scene with new eyes; how to appreciate what nature or a farmer had painted on the canvass laid out below us.
At a few hundred feet, we had a bigger perspective on the world. But we were in the picture, not just looking at it. We were flying strictly for the joy of soaring in the air and seeing the world from a new perspective. We had no destination. To some we were wasting time because we weren't getting anywhere. To others we were wandering aimlessly. To me we were living in the moment.
That afternoon, we cruised the same countryside in my new convertible car. We had the top down and the wind in our face. We turned up the music and yelled ourselves hoarse in conversation over the noise. We explored roads we'd never been on before. Roads that we may have noticed from the air, but now we had no idea where they went. So we found out. We discovered beautiful country homes on hilltops or nestled in the woods. We discovered new vistas. We stopped, backed up, and Carl framed and photographed the perfect country scene that I would have just sped by. We visited a few friends for a chat. We bought ice cream. We had no particular place to go. We had no agenda. We had a great time.
One warm, sunny summer day I played "hooky" with a good friend. I appreciate many things about Carl Hiebert. The day we spent together was fun and relaxing. But most of all it was inspiring and energizing. I wrote about Carl in my book, Growing the Distance, in the chapter on Responsibility for Choices.
On that beautiful summer morning in July, we flew in Carl's new ultralight aircraft. It is an open-cockpit, fair weather flying machine, made up of welded metal tubs wrapped in a fiberglass skin. Two seats are squeezed together so tightly that I had to put both legs around Carl's front seat and keep my left leg away from rubbing on the throttle cable that ran through the open cockpit back to the small gasoline powered engine that pushed us along from behind. I had no desire to mess with that cable nor have it rub the skin off my bare legs (I was wearing shorts). No locked doors between passenger and pilot on this flight!
I arrived just after he and an engineer friend had removed the large glass bubble windshield and replaced it with a much smaller one so Carl could get better aerial photos. Carl has produced and sold a number of gorgeous coffee table books based on the tens of thousands of shots he's taken from the seats of the many ultra light planes he's flown (all the way across Canada on two occasions). As we took off from my uncle's farm near Elmira, Ontario where Carl stores his plane, we flew over the very familiar and beautiful rolling rural farmland of Waterloo County. I spent many years of my childhood in this area and have flown over this territory hundreds of times in commercial jets taking off from Toronto's international airport, 90 miles away. But that was flying at hundreds of miles per hour thousands of feet in the air tightly encased in an aluminum tube while I busily prepared for my next destination. The countryside below was an interesting and distant miniature world way down below us.
As the ground mist cleared on this morning, we flew up to a few hundred feet, 50 miles per hour, with the wind billowing through our hair (OK. It billowed through Carl's hair. It just rippled the skin of my ever expanding forehead). We "caught big air" as we circled ever higher in thermals (rising air currents) with majestic hawks playing in these same "magic staircases to heaven." More than once I spread my arms, felt the wind beneath my "wings" and soared with the birds as I yelled out a "yeehaw" or two.
We flew lower and waved to farm boys taking a break fishing in the Conestoga River. We waved to farmers cultivating their fields. We smelled the freshly mowed hay – and the freshly spread manure. As we flew, Carl's keen photographer's eye was constantly noticing colors, patterns in the fields, textures, and lighting. He would circle back around to click a few shots with his camera – showing me how to look at the scene with new eyes; how to appreciate what nature or a farmer had painted on the canvass laid out below us.
At a few hundred feet, we had a bigger perspective on the world. But we were in the picture, not just looking at it. We were flying strictly for the joy of soaring in the air and seeing the world from a new perspective. We had no destination. To some we were wasting time because we weren't getting anywhere. To others we were wandering aimlessly. To me we were living in the moment.
That afternoon, we cruised the same countryside in my new convertible car. We had the top down and the wind in our face. We turned up the music and yelled ourselves hoarse in conversation over the noise. We explored roads we'd never been on before. Roads that we may have noticed from the air, but now we had no idea where they went. So we found out. We discovered beautiful country homes on hilltops or nestled in the woods. We discovered new vistas. We stopped, backed up, and Carl framed and photographed the perfect country scene that I would have just sped by. We visited a few friends for a chat. We bought ice cream. We had no particular place to go. We had no agenda. We had a great time.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Why the Thumb Stands Alone
Below is a description and link to one of my favorite fables on resisting peer pressure and following what I feel is right. I once had a gymnasium of high school kids applaud this story after I told it (holding the attention of 300 grade nine kids was stretching the bounds of my professional speaking comfort zone!). They recognized the timeless wisdom it illustrated.
Ringing True to Me
It's often difficult to be true to ourselves - it generally means we don't follow the crowd. Standing up and standing firm for our beliefs can be lonely and unpopular. Find out why the thumb stands apart from the other four fingers in this excerpt: www.clemmer.net/articles/articles.aspx?article=293
Here are personal application ideas for ever deepening your authenticity:
Ringing True to Me
It's often difficult to be true to ourselves - it generally means we don't follow the crowd. Standing up and standing firm for our beliefs can be lonely and unpopular. Find out why the thumb stands apart from the other four fingers in this excerpt: www.clemmer.net/articles/articles.aspx?article=293
Here are personal application ideas for ever deepening your authenticity:
- Are your values truly your own beliefs or are they what other people or institutions have said you should care about? Are they your true, internal "bone deep" beliefs or an external "should" value? We often don't recognize a lifetime of conditioning that has left us with other people's belief systems. We need to replace any "should" values with our own.
- Spend twenty minutes per day writing out your deepest feelings and reflections on the day in a personal journal. This can be especially helpful if you're going through difficult changes or have suffered a serious setback or loss in your life.
- Learn how to be quiet and listen to your voice within. Follow where it leads.
Complete tests like the Kolbe Index, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Gallup's Strength Finder Profile, Social Styles, and the like to determine your personal style and how you can maximize your preferences and strengths while working with varying styles on your team.
- When giving or receiving feedback, keep it in balance. Point out the strengths or things going well. Use your own "blessings and brag list" to keep your perspective if you've been given some painful personal feedback.
- Contribute to authentic conversations in an authentic workplace. Speak the truth as you see it. Obviously the time and place needs to be appropriate. Diplomacy and tact are also critical. Help others (especially your peers and those above you) to see the Moose-on-the-Table. (Click here if you're not familiar with this term: http://www.mooseonthetable.com/moose_resources.aspx
Monday, June 2, 2008
Staying Above the Line When a Boss Plays Favorites
“I was intrigued by the Moose on the Table (my most recent Globe Mail article “When Silence Isn’t Golden”) and how much it applies to where I have been working for fifteen years this June.
We are now dealing with the fall-out of a disgruntled employee who left because I would no longer listen to her long sessions of the problems she has with her husband and daughters. My boss was of the mind that if he tells her to join his church group that all will be solved. This impacted our work environment like you would not believe. First she felt much more privileged because she had an in with the boss and his wife and played them like a violin. She started to snipe at me and others.
We are just a staff of five which includes the boss and this makes it a very uncomfortable place to work. When I brought some very important issues to his attention he told me I was making it up and she was a ‘very good person’ Everything went downhill from there. She not only quit (she worked only two years and four months with us) but told me I was to blame because I wouldn't listen to her personal problems any more and she had found a group at the church who would. My boss not only paid her (which was fair) but rewarded her with a bonus!
C. ChvustThanks for writing.
Many of the characters and scenarios in my book Moose on the Table come from people and situations I’ve encountered in my work. Truth often is stranger than fiction.
Since you’ve decided to stay, you really need to work at “navigating above the line” and not riding the Bitter Bus to Pity City. You can get ideas for doing that from “Choosing to be a Navigator, Survivor, or Victim” in the April 2008 issue). Martin Seligman’s research and practical tips around “authentic happiness” could be quite useful to you as well – especially his suggestions for increasing your focus on gratitude and your strengths. Go to www.authentichappiness.com to check it out.
Keep navigating and leading!
JimTuesday, May 27, 2008
I-Lands in the Stream: Lack of Awareness Creates a Moose Mess
A print journalist asked me if there was any one incident that led me to write Moose on the Table: A Novel Approach to Communications @ Work. It was a great question that caused me to step back and reflect on how my experiences came together to weave the book’s storyline and core themes.
Moose on the Table was a convergence of three streams. One was the way the metaphor was resonating with audiences and helping to open up difficult conversations by using a playful or humorous approach that created a bit of a safer environment to raise issues or problems.
Another stream was the number of managers I encountered who didn’t seem to have much of a clue on how their aggressive or domineering style was limiting the effectiveness of people on their team. A particularly bad example of that happened during a workshop of about fifty supervisors and managers in a large company. I asked the General Manager of this group whether he’d like to do some “moose hunting” to identify and remove barriers to the organization working more effectively together. He agreed that this would be useful. After we went through an exercise to provide anonymous input and voting on the top issues to be addressed, the GM was very surprised by the very clear and strong feedback he got from participants – that his management group was not behaving as a team.
According to the feedback, management contradicted each other, waged petty turf battles, and reinforced departmental silos. At the end of the workshop exercise, his response to the group was fairly defensive and even a bit hostile.
I was getting a bad feeling.
I met with the GM a week later to review the day's learnings and put implementation plans in place. As we looked at the list of moose issues and other action ideas generated at the meeting he told me he’d already taken care of the number one ranked problem of his own team not working together effectively. The day after our large group meeting he told me he got them together and “read them the riot act.” He reported that he told them they’d better start working together as a team or he’d replace them with managers who could! Things went downhill from there. We weren’t able to do more work with that GM, as his style was to deny input that didn’t agree with his perceptions and try to push people into seeing things his way. He was eventually moved aside (a clear sign of their avoidance culture is that he’s still there today).
A third stream that led to the book and its story line are the number of supervisors and middle managers who disempower themselves. The scenarios described throughout Moose on the Table (and especially in Chapters Two and Three) are based on numerous experiences I’ve had with supervisors or managers who agree that people in their organization should take more initiative, be more positive, and focus on what they can do to improve their situations. Mostly these are people who are frustrated with what they see as victim behavior by others in their teams/organizations. Often you'll hear these same folks bitterly complain about their own bosses, denounce the bureaucracy, and make cynical comments that they are powerless to do anything about their team or organization’s major problems or issues. Just like the POETS Society – Pee-On-Everything-Til-Sunrise – did at Rocky and Bullwinkle’s bar in Chapter Three.
I had a vivid example of this very scenario play out recently with a large energy company, as I had lunch with three supervisors who’d all but given up trying to deal with moose issues. Yet many of their peers in that same session were pressing forward with making changes and addressing issues in a much more positive way. The more effective supervisors recognized that they could focus on what they could control or influence, or focus on what was out of their control and bitterly complain about that. The difference between being a Navigator/Leader or a Victim is as simple as choosing to concentrate on what can be done as opposed to what can't.
Moose on the Table was a convergence of three streams. One was the way the metaphor was resonating with audiences and helping to open up difficult conversations by using a playful or humorous approach that created a bit of a safer environment to raise issues or problems.
Another stream was the number of managers I encountered who didn’t seem to have much of a clue on how their aggressive or domineering style was limiting the effectiveness of people on their team. A particularly bad example of that happened during a workshop of about fifty supervisors and managers in a large company. I asked the General Manager of this group whether he’d like to do some “moose hunting” to identify and remove barriers to the organization working more effectively together. He agreed that this would be useful. After we went through an exercise to provide anonymous input and voting on the top issues to be addressed, the GM was very surprised by the very clear and strong feedback he got from participants – that his management group was not behaving as a team.
According to the feedback, management contradicted each other, waged petty turf battles, and reinforced departmental silos. At the end of the workshop exercise, his response to the group was fairly defensive and even a bit hostile.
I was getting a bad feeling.
I met with the GM a week later to review the day's learnings and put implementation plans in place. As we looked at the list of moose issues and other action ideas generated at the meeting he told me he’d already taken care of the number one ranked problem of his own team not working together effectively. The day after our large group meeting he told me he got them together and “read them the riot act.” He reported that he told them they’d better start working together as a team or he’d replace them with managers who could! Things went downhill from there. We weren’t able to do more work with that GM, as his style was to deny input that didn’t agree with his perceptions and try to push people into seeing things his way. He was eventually moved aside (a clear sign of their avoidance culture is that he’s still there today).
A third stream that led to the book and its story line are the number of supervisors and middle managers who disempower themselves. The scenarios described throughout Moose on the Table (and especially in Chapters Two and Three) are based on numerous experiences I’ve had with supervisors or managers who agree that people in their organization should take more initiative, be more positive, and focus on what they can do to improve their situations. Mostly these are people who are frustrated with what they see as victim behavior by others in their teams/organizations. Often you'll hear these same folks bitterly complain about their own bosses, denounce the bureaucracy, and make cynical comments that they are powerless to do anything about their team or organization’s major problems or issues. Just like the POETS Society – Pee-On-Everything-Til-Sunrise – did at Rocky and Bullwinkle’s bar in Chapter Three.
I had a vivid example of this very scenario play out recently with a large energy company, as I had lunch with three supervisors who’d all but given up trying to deal with moose issues. Yet many of their peers in that same session were pressing forward with making changes and addressing issues in a much more positive way. The more effective supervisors recognized that they could focus on what they could control or influence, or focus on what was out of their control and bitterly complain about that. The difference between being a Navigator/Leader or a Victim is as simple as choosing to concentrate on what can be done as opposed to what can't.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
When Senior Management Doesn’t Set Clear Strategy and Goals
Greetings Jim,
I am responding to your call to share my experience in putting up with the moose (see “When Personal Candor Doesn’t Fit the Culture” from May 2008).
Recently, my CEO found the time of his convenience to summon us all for a management retreat. Heads of business units from different parts of the world had to scramble in on one week notice.
The first day was meant to learn about teamwork. Two people were flown all the way from Australia to show us how we can become better leaders by learning about HORSE psychology and how to get the horse to follow us without offering any extrinsic rewards. I am not sure about how the others felt, but I am still puzzling over how it correlates to our work environment.
The real moose-on- the-table problem was on the second day. We got to hear about historical performance and what business units and the company went through in 2007. Sad to say, none of the business unit heads found the candor to ask for a glimpse of the future direction and commitment to an action plan. I didn't know what to make of the entire episode.
I guess it happens around the world. Top management is not comfortable talking of strategy and providing focused implementation. I just read an article by Robert Kaplan, who authored Strategy Focused Organization where he said less than 50 percent of companies have a strategic plan in place. So we shouldn’t be surprised that operational and individual performances are not aligned.
As a publicly listed company I wonder how does this not come under the scrutiny of external auditors and statutory regulations of good corporate governance? How can a business or any organization operate without a blueprint for action? Are we progressing or regressing in this age of abundance with performance management tools? What are the key performance indicators for corporate leaders? Coming form a military background, I am really puzzled with how organizations continue to operate without connecting the people with purpose and direction of where they are heading.
Regards, “Joe”
Hi “Joe”
Thanks very much for sharing your experience. It’s a familiar story.
The horse psychology exercise is a great example of highly questionable approaches to leadership development. Way too many trainers and consultants use approaches like you’ve described that may be entertaining, but are often pointless and impractical. Maybe yours was a case of horse-on-the-table!
The problem you’ve outlined with senior management not planning effectively and/or clearly communicating their plans is way too common. Stock analysts and organization effectiveness experts are paying more attention to the impact of senior leaders pivotal role in organizational performance. For example, Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood have linked “leadership brand” with a company’s results. Find about some of their work and new Leadership Brand book at www.rbl.net.
Recently a Breaking Through the Bull workshop participant blurted out, “shouldn’t senior management be addressing the moose issues and providing the leadership you’ve been discussing.” My answer was of course they should. But many don’t.
So that leaves everyone else with three choices; 1. Live with the status quo (too often while criticizing, condemning, and complaining); 2. Quit; or 3. Provide strong leadership within your own team or area while practicing upward leadership. Way too many managers and professionals working under ineffective senior managers stay in their unhappy situations, don’t strengthen their own leadership, and choose to become a victim of ineffective senior leaders. You can read my article on upward leadership or managing your boss at http://www.clemmer.net/articles/Learn_How_to_Manage_Your_Manager.aspx.
Jim
I am responding to your call to share my experience in putting up with the moose (see “When Personal Candor Doesn’t Fit the Culture” from May 2008).
Recently, my CEO found the time of his convenience to summon us all for a management retreat. Heads of business units from different parts of the world had to scramble in on one week notice.
The first day was meant to learn about teamwork. Two people were flown all the way from Australia to show us how we can become better leaders by learning about HORSE psychology and how to get the horse to follow us without offering any extrinsic rewards. I am not sure about how the others felt, but I am still puzzling over how it correlates to our work environment.
The real moose-on- the-table problem was on the second day. We got to hear about historical performance and what business units and the company went through in 2007. Sad to say, none of the business unit heads found the candor to ask for a glimpse of the future direction and commitment to an action plan. I didn't know what to make of the entire episode.
I guess it happens around the world. Top management is not comfortable talking of strategy and providing focused implementation. I just read an article by Robert Kaplan, who authored Strategy Focused Organization where he said less than 50 percent of companies have a strategic plan in place. So we shouldn’t be surprised that operational and individual performances are not aligned.
As a publicly listed company I wonder how does this not come under the scrutiny of external auditors and statutory regulations of good corporate governance? How can a business or any organization operate without a blueprint for action? Are we progressing or regressing in this age of abundance with performance management tools? What are the key performance indicators for corporate leaders? Coming form a military background, I am really puzzled with how organizations continue to operate without connecting the people with purpose and direction of where they are heading.
Regards, “Joe”
Hi “Joe”
Thanks very much for sharing your experience. It’s a familiar story.
The horse psychology exercise is a great example of highly questionable approaches to leadership development. Way too many trainers and consultants use approaches like you’ve described that may be entertaining, but are often pointless and impractical. Maybe yours was a case of horse-on-the-table!
The problem you’ve outlined with senior management not planning effectively and/or clearly communicating their plans is way too common. Stock analysts and organization effectiveness experts are paying more attention to the impact of senior leaders pivotal role in organizational performance. For example, Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood have linked “leadership brand” with a company’s results. Find about some of their work and new Leadership Brand book at www.rbl.net.
Recently a Breaking Through the Bull workshop participant blurted out, “shouldn’t senior management be addressing the moose issues and providing the leadership you’ve been discussing.” My answer was of course they should. But many don’t.
So that leaves everyone else with three choices; 1. Live with the status quo (too often while criticizing, condemning, and complaining); 2. Quit; or 3. Provide strong leadership within your own team or area while practicing upward leadership. Way too many managers and professionals working under ineffective senior managers stay in their unhappy situations, don’t strengthen their own leadership, and choose to become a victim of ineffective senior leaders. You can read my article on upward leadership or managing your boss at http://www.clemmer.net/articles/Learn_How_to_Manage_Your_Manager.aspx.
Jim
Monday, May 5, 2008
When Personal Candor Doesn’t Fit the Culture
Right after my article “When Silence Isn’t Golden” appeared in The Globe &Mail, I received this e-mail from a reader:
“Hello Jim,
I just wanted to send you a note to let you know how much your article today resonated with me ... you hit it bang-on and helped me resolve something in my professional life.
After a very successful nine years leading a large marketing division in a very large organization, a new vice president came in and within three months showed me the door. I have struggled to come up with a solid and simple reason for why this happened. But I finally realized what really happened when I read your article.
When I was hired, there was a ‘no moose on the table’ culture -- over the past number of years, with a revamp of the organization's leadership structure (starting with the president and the vice presidents) there had been a huge cultural shift. No longer was candor valued or welcomed. Everyone clammed up talking about the tough issues in fear of their jobs and what might happen to them -- the moose was there, everyone knew, but no one did anything about it. Outside of ‘official meetings’ where people all agreed with the boss, people openly expressed their confusion and frustrations about not being heard and not agreeing with where we were headed. The pendulum had shifted and there was a lack of candor.
As this shift happened, I realize that I did not adapt well to it and I could not change the direction of this Titanic organization alone. I continued to be myself, provide candor and ask tough questions. But this was no longer the organization's culture. So I was no longer a fit. Exemplary performance in the past didn't matter. Stifling opinions and agreeing with all the top bosses was the only way to survive.
Reading your article, I was reminded of Jack Welch's (retired GE CEO) emphasis on candor as well. As I'm sure you've read in his books, this is something that he lives by and values almost above all else in any organization.
I can't tell you how satisfying it is to finally realize this and how it will help in my search for new opportunities.
Thank you.”
Joel
What are your experiences dealing with bosses, senior executives, or a culture that shuts down frank conversation and kills candor? How have you dealt with this problem? I’d love to get your thoughts and experiences at Jim.Clemmer@Clemmer.net.
“Hello Jim,
I just wanted to send you a note to let you know how much your article today resonated with me ... you hit it bang-on and helped me resolve something in my professional life.
After a very successful nine years leading a large marketing division in a very large organization, a new vice president came in and within three months showed me the door. I have struggled to come up with a solid and simple reason for why this happened. But I finally realized what really happened when I read your article.
When I was hired, there was a ‘no moose on the table’ culture -- over the past number of years, with a revamp of the organization's leadership structure (starting with the president and the vice presidents) there had been a huge cultural shift. No longer was candor valued or welcomed. Everyone clammed up talking about the tough issues in fear of their jobs and what might happen to them -- the moose was there, everyone knew, but no one did anything about it. Outside of ‘official meetings’ where people all agreed with the boss, people openly expressed their confusion and frustrations about not being heard and not agreeing with where we were headed. The pendulum had shifted and there was a lack of candor.
As this shift happened, I realize that I did not adapt well to it and I could not change the direction of this Titanic organization alone. I continued to be myself, provide candor and ask tough questions. But this was no longer the organization's culture. So I was no longer a fit. Exemplary performance in the past didn't matter. Stifling opinions and agreeing with all the top bosses was the only way to survive.
Reading your article, I was reminded of Jack Welch's (retired GE CEO) emphasis on candor as well. As I'm sure you've read in his books, this is something that he lives by and values almost above all else in any organization.
I can't tell you how satisfying it is to finally realize this and how it will help in my search for new opportunities.
Thank you.”
Joel
What are your experiences dealing with bosses, senior executives, or a culture that shuts down frank conversation and kills candor? How have you dealt with this problem? I’d love to get your thoughts and experiences at Jim.Clemmer@Clemmer.net.
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