Face it, unintentionally we do some dumb things as leaders. We move fast. We make decisions and move on to the next thing. Our quick solutions are not always the best approach. Sometimes we’re only thinking out loud but it sounds like marching orders.

Likely we can avoid all the trouble for our dumb approaches. If only someone would catch them early enough before the approach becomes the path we’re taking. The spill clean-up is so much cheaper the earlier it’s discovered. Guess what? Someone does see it. Someone does catch it early. BUT, for some reason they didn’t stand up. They didn’t tell you. Why not?

Well, it’s our fault as leaders. As a leader you don’t have a safe environment that allows people to be heard. You need to turn this around. People get trained, maybe by your predecessors, that positional power is a big thing. It starts in kindergarten and is reinforced our whole lives. Your managers default to, “well I guess the boss knows what they’re doing.” And of course, if someone the manager knew, or heard of got chewed out for calling a time out to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of an approach, there is little chance that they will speak up for you. Notice that language choice? Speak up FOR you, not TO you. Your team is your back up, your safety net. You’re all in it together, with the same goals, right?

A sense of fear in your culture is the kiss of death. Do you see yourself as a leader of a high-performing group with shared goals or do you view yourself as a warden of a prisoner of war camp? Do I really need to expand on why the latter is a problem? Stop for a minute and think about this question. How do you really feel as a leader? How may you be perceived based on your actions regardless of your intentions?

We have developed one tool designed specifically to set the precedent for the feedback loop you need to be successful while at the same time helping people reconcile the decision. It’s called Change Breakthrough Analysis. This is a formal process used during an organizational change but is flexible enough to be used on the fly. Click the link to learn more about the process but here is a quick recap.

Change Breakthrough Analysis works with the psychological process that goes on when someone hears of a change in their world. This could be a massive organizational change or a quick and dirty new process to handle a work related transaction. Emotionally we tend to swing broadly to either the negative or the positive. These extreme positions are dangerous. We’re looking at moving more toward the middle. Application of Change Breakthrough Analysis is quite simple while having a profound effect on the individuals and your culture.

We do this with a few simple questions: “What are the benefits of the change?” and “What are the drawbacks of the change?” We ask these questions from a couple perspectives, starting as far away from the staff member and getting progressively closer to home. What are the benefits and drawbacks for our clients/customers? How about our company? Next, what are the benefits and drawbacks from an employee perspective? And finally, what are the benefits and drawbacks of you personally supporting or fighting the change? For each of these questions there should be an equal number of benefits and drawbacks.

Change Breakthrough Analysis is a way to ‘think through’ a problem. You get to see all of the perspectives, not just yours. It helps clarify the message and avoid misunderstandings and perhaps stop you from implementing something that won’t work well. And the bonus is that your team sees and experiences a situation where they have a say in how things are done and are provided an opportunity to use their experience and abilities. This atmosphere also prepares future leaders by being involved in the development of decisions within the organization.

Many leaders we work with have incorporated these types of questions in all of their interactions. Learn more about Change Breakthrough Analysis and give it a try.

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Photo Credit: Jeff Henshaw

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