The Perils of “Easy” Consensus: Leaders, Do Your Job
Posted: January 24, 2012 Filed under: women, business, success, career | Tags: business, Success in the City, advice, career, leadership, professional development, cynthia de lorenzi, corporate culture Leave a comment »
Throughout my career I’ve had experiences with government, nonprofit and corporate cultures, and I’ve noticed a leadership pattern in all three that any leader can learn from.
Consensus means different things to different people. Be brave. Do Your Job.
Don’t take the ”easy” path.
The word consensus is based on the Latin word “consent,” which according to Dictionary.com means “to be in agreement.” Most people take this into the absolute realm and interpret consensus to mean, “everyone agrees with everything.”
Bad idea. Executive Coaching tip: people are designed at the molecular level NOT to agree on everything. So why set yourself up for the tyranny of the minority?
Leader, Do Your Job
If you’re a leader trying to get everyone to agree with you, you’ll end up optimizing for the squeakiest wheel instead of doing your job, which is to involve those who have a stake in the issue and then shoulder the burden, risk and opportunity of decision to move things forward. The inability to use consensus to manage conflict is particularly debilitating in change management initiatives.
There are three primary reasons leaders don’t do this and struggle (usually in vain) to get everyone to agree:
- They think the “easy way” is to avoid conflict by getting 100% agreement up front, but avoiding initial disagreement usually leads to “subversive agreement” and ensures conflict and confusion down the line when differences re-emerge and muck up your efforts to actually produce something.
- They’re afraid to take risks to achieve opportunity, falling prey to management-by-CYA.
- They never learned how to manage a workable definition of consensus to management conflict up front and thus become skilled at mitigating the risks of achieving opportunity.
A Workable Definition of Consensus
I learned the workable definition of consensus early on in my career when I was an international government affairs rep for big tech. The long and short of my job was to advocate my company and industry’s position to government regulators, policy makers, legislators and negotiators around the globe. Here’s what I noticed, the negotiators were masters of achieving workable consensus, and everyone else in government pretty much sucked at it.
Why? Because the negotiators were on the hook to produce something. They set deadlines to force agreement (or not) and to give their stakeholders a reason to reach workable consensus if it was reachable. I spent many a late night in a little room with other industry reps over cold pizza crusts waiting for the lead trade negotiator to come in with “the final” deal for us to weigh in on. At 11:35pm facing a 12am deadline, do you know what consensus looks like? It looks like what people can live with – most people, not all people – the most important people, not all people. [Sidenote: I didn’t work for “the most important people” so I learned this lesson too, if you want to win, align yourself (if you can) with the most important people.]
Does this make all leaders negotiators? Well, I’m not sure I’d go that far, but when your decision affects many stakeholders, fostering a negotiations mindset is a good idea because at the end of the day the decisions you make that have important-people-buy-in are going to be easier to implement. Implementation is messy enough; don’t increase your risks of disaster by sloppy consensus mismanagement up front.
Although I’ve seen this definition of consensus in action through the years many times, it wasn’t until I saw Chris McGoff’s CONSENSUS PRIME that the simplicity of it struck me. I think every leader should be schooled in CONSENSUS, which states:
- The process must be explicit, rational and fair.
- Participants must be treated well and their inputs must be heard.
- Participants can live with and commit to the outcome.
(Watch Chris explain this concept in his 2.5 minute video.)
Empower Your Team With Workable Consensus
Recently I’ve been reminded – not just of the power of workable consensus – but of the powerlessness that the “easy” Latin definition of 100% agreement can foster. Several government agencies recently brought me in to provide leadership development training to mid-level government management teams. I presented the CONSENSUS PRIME and shoulders slumped all over the room. This happened consistently across agencies. “Why the long faces?” I asked, sure that would have welcomed workable consensus to help them manage so many conflicting priorities. “That’s the answer to our problems,” everyone said. “But can you teach it to our bosses?” (And they meant bosses all the way to the top.)
With some work, these mid-level managers did come to understand how they could make workable consensus effective for them even in the face of CYA-happy superiors, but the implications were clear. Until leaders are willing to accept the challenge of achieving workable consensus – being brave, taking risks and believing they’re on the hook to actually produce something – the CYA Latin definition of consensus will rule our culture and we’ll just keep passing the implementation mess on to our future.
This post originally appeared on the Reclaiming Leadership blog. Check out my new self-service women’s leadership coaching website:InPowerCoaching.com.
Dana Theus
Prime Time Fashionable Photo Shoot
Posted: January 22, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Art, cynthia de lorenzi, fashion, Fashion Photo Shoot, Photography, Social Media, Social Media Head Shots, Success in the City, Violetta Markelou, Violetta Markelou Studio Leave a comment »Prime Time Fashion Photo Shoot
Remember school picture day? You were either in that goofy school uniform or your mom made you wear that awful blouse with the ruffles, you didn’t want to smile because of your braces and and that stupid bow you had in your hair.
Let’s face it, with so many social media channels we now need to have our picture taken every year just to show how we are growing up in our own business and world. Well times and changed and you can call the “shots” and present your face just the way you want.
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The Better to Innovate You With – Why Leaders Keep Fools Nearby
Posted: January 17, 2012 Filed under: business, career, success, women | Tags: Change, corporate culture, cynthia de lorenzi, leadership, professional development, Success in the City Leave a comment »
In researching my eCourse on Speaking Truth to Power to help people use their own deep wisdom to advance their careers, I stumbled on this great article by James O’Toole (link). O’Toole gave several examples of corporate cultures that encourage people to challenge authority and who excelled because of it. A great example was 1980′s Motorola, led by CEO Robert Galvin. Galvin credited a deliberate culture of challenging ideas held by those in authority as the fuel that helped Motorola overcome Texas Instruments.
It seems pretty clear, from anecdotes like this and research conducted more recently, that a culture that encourages new ideas and open dialog breeds innovation, but human nature seems to work against us here. The research shows that due to “the boss effect” the higher up they go, the less bosses listen and (presumably because more messengers get shot), the more trepidation people have about speaking up.
Corporate cultures are so strong! What’s a leader to do?
Hire a fool.
While there are ways of shaping corporate culture intentionally, I loved O’Toole’s revival of an idea – again from the 80′s – he credited to a man named Verne Morland. Every King Lear needs a fool, “to challenge by jest and conundrum all that is sacred.”
Are Modern Change Agents Fools?
I’m skating on thin archetypal ice here, perhaps, but in the interests of levity and perspective maybe we can look at the ancient role of the fool for insight as to how leaders can insulate themselves from the “boss effect” and receive information they need, even when others are afraid to speak. The traditional fool was protected by the King, who forgave him his silliness and allowed him to live outside of court rules in order to see the things he could see that the King could not. The fool was tolerated as a useful ally, valued precisely because he spoke his truth.
In modern times I hope that we don’t have to ostracize those who play this role. After all, why would more people seek this role if the price was as high as the fool paid in ancient times? It seems barbaric to exact the price of personal pride and self-respect the old kings demanded of their fools.
Valuing the Modern Fool
There is a saying among change management consultants, “You can create change or take credit for it. Pick one.” Sadly this is many people’s experience for speaking up and helping those in power see meaningful alternatives. But as with all things, whether the change agent sacrifices credit is a choice by those in power. If you want advisors surrounding you who do not act like fools, best to reward them and give them credit when credit is due.
The question is, what kind of leader are you? The kind who values the fool or the kind that becomes one?
Dana Theus
This post originally appeared on the Reclaiming Leadership blog. Check out my new self-service women’s leadership coaching website: InPowerCoaching.com.
Sanity Challenge: Powerful Bosses Don’t Listen
Posted: January 10, 2012 Filed under: business, career, success, women | Tags: corporate culture, cynthia de lorenzi, executive coaching, innovation, InPower, leadership, speak truth, Success in the City Leave a comment »
And you thought it was just you.
New research confirms that the more power(*) a manager or leader has, the more likely they are to ignore advice.
To some extent this makes sense. I mean, being rewarded with powerful positions means you must be doing something right, right? And if you’re doing something right, why not trust yourself and your decisions?
We can all see the fallacy in this logic taken too far. While trusting yourself is a good leadership skill and facilitates decisiveness, it can also contribute to the ego-centric leader’s sense of infallibility. This leads to all kinds of bad stuff, including bully bosses and just plain jerks.
Why It’s Not Just About Them
Here’s why you should care.
The price paid for these powerful people who ignore advice shows up in shareholder value. The Corporate Executive Board analyzed data over a ten year period and input from over 300,000 employees while studying something similar to powerful bosses willful ignorance. Their study showed that bosses and companies that didn’t ignore input and actually stimulated an open communications environment performed 5.8% better on average than those that didn’t. Bosses who ignore input or actively run around shooting messengers just aren’t as innovative and don’t produce as much for their shareholders.
This finding is reinforced by my own study of people’s experiences in speaking up to bosses and other powerful people. Turns out almost 50% of the 155 people I surveyed withhold their input from bosses most of the time.
Think of all those good ideas dying unspoken. This is too bad for the company, but it’s also too bad for you if you’re one of the ones staying silent. 72% of the respondents in my survey reported getting career advancement opportunities when they did speak up and managed to get the boss to listen. I know from personal experience, research and client work that when you know how to speak up effectively, you can definitely be part of the 72% who get ahead (learn more).
Why Not Take The Ignorance Perk?
But why work so hard? Maybe ignoring people is a way to get ahead? Um… maybe. I mean, it does seem to work for some of them. But then again, think how the mighty are falling these days (Ed Whitacre/GM, Tony Hayward/BP, Jon Corzine/MF Global). I can guarantee you that all these individuals had some right-thinking people in their contingent trying to save them from themselves. Ignoring the good counsel of others – and your own voice of conscious – is a risky business and the higher you go the farther you have to fall.
And if the research is right, a whole bunch of powerful people are out there risking a lot right now. Just think about how competitive you’ll be if you succeed by listening to the wisdom of others, adding it to the power of your own wisdom. Getting ahead and staying there is risky enough without taking this kind of stupidity risk, isn’t it?
So you want pass up the ignorance perk and choose to get ahead? Here’s a little executive coaching on what you can do:
- work on yourself to remain open to new ideas while you move up the ranks;
- mentor those below you not to let success shut them off to others’ input; and
- speak your truth to your own bosses, even if they don’t want to listen.
*”Power” in the context of this article, I believe, refers to what I call “external power.” External power – the authority to manipulate external resources – if fundamentally different than the ability to manipulate internal resources (watch the video on this page).
Note: I’m getting ready to launch a new website/blog on women’s leadership in the new year. I plan to continue blogging here on corporate culture, change management and leadership but I’m scaling back here to a few posts a month. If you want to receive an announcement of the new site launch, sign up for a launch announcement here or follow InPower Women on Facebook or LinkedIn, orTheWomanEffect on Twitter.
This post originally appeared on the Reclaiming Leadership blog. Check out my new self-service women’s leadership coaching website:InPowerCoaching.com.
Dana Theus
Innovation Challenge: Humans Reject Creativity
Posted: January 3, 2012 Filed under: business, career, success, women | Tags: corporate culture, creativity, cynthia de lorenzi, innovation, leadership, Success in the City Leave a comment »
Breaking news for creative types: you’re not crazy. Your innovative ideas really are being ignored, downplayed, sidelined and squashed.
So says a study out of University of Pennsylvania Wharton, University of North Carolina and Cornell last year. Turns out that experiments turn up some disturbing findings for those of us hoping to spur innovation in our organizations: new ideas increase feelings of uncertainty and stimulate an anti-creativity bias. The anti-creativity bias causes people to unconsciously ignore the thing causing uncertainty – and your idea along with it.
Even more sadly, objective evidence in favor of your idea doesn’t really help it get through the anti-creative bias.
People just like to play it safe.
What To Do About It
Corporate culture is shaped by this safe-playing instinct. We know from experience that whining won’t help, but knowledge is power. So here are two strategies to use.
- Don’t go out of your way to poke them in the uncertainty. Now that you know it’s their uncertainty that makes them want you and your idea to go away, be sensitive and emphasize things that reinforce a feeling of safety. A good way to do this easily is by highlighting boundaries around the issue (e.g., timeframes, maximum/minimums, scope etc.). Boundaries make people feel safe.
- When you do poke them in the uncertainty, do it intentionally and strategically. Sometimes making them feel unsafe is precisely what you need to do to get their attention. But now that you know that doing so can work against you (remember when they guy in Jurassic Park succeeded in getting the T-Rex’s attention? – oops), plan to manage their uncertainty once you’ve got them listening. Use strategy #1 above, but also be ready to explicitly acknowledge the discomfort of uncertainty and move them into an explicit process as soon as they pay attention. Process makes people feel safe when they know what it is.
What this looks like
A skilled innovator can practice both of the above strategies in a single conversation. Here’s an example.
Don’t say: “Hey Bob, Sue’s got a great idea coming out of the innovation lab that will put the Division A’s main product line out to pasture!”
Do say: “Hey Bob, did you know that our 2012 numbers look pretty bad? Big problem in Division A’s projections. I know, (sympathetic) bonuses are looking shaky for another year, but Sue has an idea coming out of the innovation lab that we think can help. I’ll send you an invite to a meeting next Tuesday where we’ll start to vet it. We’ve got a meeting scheduled with the Board next month and this is on the fast track. Hope to see you there.”
The meeting on Tuesday can also be structured this way. Get their attention, create uncertainty and then use process and innovative ideas to move them back towards safety.
This is one of my favorite strategies for any meaningful strategic planning effort. Begin the strategic planning process with new information – new to most of the participants – that creates a sense of urgency to change. This gets their attention out of the gate, which is necessary because many people walk into the strategic planning process convinced nothing useful will happen. The first order of business with this new information is to knock them off their center (gently) so they have to open up to new information to get centered again. It also helps with teambuilding in the strategic context if you design the process to bring the group back to safety through team effort.
This is a process that has to be managed, but it will help you get innovations introduced in a meaningful context.
What’s your experience? Have you used this approach successfully? Run into challenges with it? Found other strategies that work as well or better? Would love to share strategies below in comments.~~~~~~~Announcements~~~~~~~~~~
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Update: I’m getting ready to launch a new website/blog on women’s leadership in the new year. I plan to continue blogging here on corporate culture, change management and leadership but I’m scaling back this blog to a few posts a month. If you want to receive an announcement of the new site launch, sign up for launch announcement or follow InPower Women on Facebook or LinkedIn, orTheWomanEffect on Twitter.
This post originally appeared on the Reclaiming Leadership blog. Check out my new self-service women’s leadership coaching website:InPowerCoaching.com.
Dana Theus
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