All tagged Bringing people along
I was having a conversation the other day about what it takes to drive change within a community and the person I was chatting with made an interesting point.
She said that people often think that, in order to shift behaviors, we need to focus on those who don’t believe and are diametrically opposed to our ideas.
Culture matters. They define whether an organization will be successful or not.
But, as I discuss this in episode of the podcast, cultures aren't created overnight - they take intention, strategy and work to build. I share several strategies to help build great cultures.
There’s a golden rule that applies in all aspects of our professional lives:
Look for agnostics, not atheists.*
An atheist is someone who is convinced that there is no God, while an agnostic is someone who neither believes nor disbelieves that God exists.
That’s a meaningful difference in perspective.
In the list of priorities of any organization, and specifically the management team, keeping everyone happy cannot be high up there. Any mission and its related strategy will - if done with concerted intent, structured focus and ability to execute in mind - polarize. That is, it will have its proponents and its detractors.
And if you, as a leader, have done your homework and have determined that that strategy is fit for purpose and the best path forward, then bringing everyone along cannot be a priority.
There’s a peculiar thing about the internet, and social media, in particular.
While it is this incredible and unparalleled form of communication, with a versatility and reach we’ve never seen before, it’s not without its issues (and material ones at that).
Central among these issues is that, while it’s ostensibly an objective and ‘fair’ medium, it also has the capacity - conceptually and practically - to set the world (or at least some relevant, targeted universe) on fire.
It’s amazing to me that the one subject that has had the most influence on our ability to get anything done in business (and, frankly, personal) life is also the one that is given the least attention (relatively) at Business School: working with people.
Don’t get me wrong - it’s not as if there isn’t any acknowledgement that it’s critical (there is) or that Professors don’t speak to its importance (they do).
Change doesn’t tend to come easily to most of us.
For the most part, we don’t typically choose to change. More often, change - or at the very least, the need for it - is thrust upon us due to some exterior event, shift or development. When profits are severely impacted, when a competitor introduces a revolutionary new product or when an external environmental shift occurs, shifting the steady state we’ve become so comfortable with.
"We don't lower our standards. We raise the bar and bring our people with us."
We have a couple of choices when it comes to dealing with performance problems within our team, in those times when we lack capability alignment, a consensus of will, or moral cohesion.
