A CEO of a high-tech company told me today his story of managing change. The company has doubled in size over the past three years. Alex decided to split the company into two business units, headed by two new senor vice presidents. From a structural perspective, it made sense.
Rather than promote from within, however, he brought in two people from the outside whom he felt would change the company's culture. He wanted more discipline and management expertise, he told me. The problem is that the people who used to report to Alex are chafing. They don't feel respected for the work they've done. They miss the direct access and the open culture. They feel the new structure isn't working.
"What can I do?" Alex asked me.
First, I said, think about managing change. That's your role. How are you communicating why the new structure is important and the value it will have for the company? What are you doing to make sure everyone understands?
"I know I'm not doing enough," he said.
I also talked about his leadership style. "In the old structure, you were comfortable directing people and telling them what to do." That won't work in this new structure, I told him.
He listened as I went on. "You're the one who has to change. Otherwise, you'll undercut your new senior vice presidents. You've got to be their coach.  As a coach, you can't tell them what to do. You have to ask them good questions, and get them to assume responsibility for making the change work successfully."
He thought about it for a while, asked a few questions, and then said: "It makes a lot of sense. How could you help us?"
"I could help the three of you develop a game plan for managing change. I think that would have enormous impact."
"Great!" he said. "When can we start?"

There are two conversations that leaders assume they can have once, and then be done with - at least or a while. Those are conversations about roles and goals. Many leaders assume they can talk about them once a year or so, and that's enough. Or so they assume.

It's my experience, however, that conversations about roles and goals need to occur all the time. As the leader, you may think you're repeating yourself. Yet the people hearing your views about roles and goals are gaining important new information and insights each time.  Why? First of all, roles and goals often change, so people are often operating on old information. Second, by emphasizing roles and goals, leaders provide people the confidence that someone has the big picture in mind and is managing it.

Third, and most important, most of the conflicts inside an organization are about roles and goals. Who's the final decision maker on this program or project? How are we measuring success? Talking about roles and goals gives people a forum to surface those conflicts and resolve them. Remember, communication breaks down because the appropriate conversations are not taking place. It's the leader's responsibility to know what conversations are essential - and to keep having them.

For management consultants, one of the basic credos is “know who your client is.” This is drilled into us as professionals.  If you don’t know who your client is, then you can’t determine how best to serve their interests. That can lead to all sorts of problems.

Yesterday, I discovered during the contracting process that who I thought was the client, isn’t the client, and who I thought was a stakeholder is the client – at least in their minds.  Sound confusing? It was. But I also realized that I could potentially use this contracting conflict as an opportunity to force the issue around roles and responsibilities and get it resolved. That would help both “clients” become much more productive in their relationship with each other. Assuming, of course, they are willing to go through that process. The question is: Are they both open to re-defining their relationship?

Stay tuned. This will be interesting!

At the heart of high performing organizations is clarity of decision-making roles. I have one client that illustrates this problem to a T. It is a partnership. Its mission is to educate people about important policy issues. There is no CEO. No one is clearly in charge. No one can define exactly what each person should do -- and, more importantly, not do. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the goals have changed over time, which naturally affects the work done by each partner.

For example, one partner wants to review and give feedback on the publications produced by another partner. But should it? Is that appropriate? No one can say. Given the lack of role clarity, each partner struggles to assert their particular agenda and to carve out a greater role in decision making. This ongoing tug of war consumes huge amounts of time and energy, sapping the resources of the organization.

 What can I do? First, I can name the problem and put the conversation about roles squarely on the table. I can facilitate agreements about ground rules and role definition. Second, I can help them evolve a clearer decision-making structure, naming the particular processes that get engaged for major decisions. Third, I can look at the gaps in capacity where these power struggles tend to occur, and motivate people to put more capacity in place to close the gaps.

 Will that make this a high performing organization? No, because role clarity is only one of the nine habits of high performing organizations. But with decision-making roles clarified, we can focus on defining outcomes, strategies and operating rules with the right group of people at the table.

 And that will be a big accomplishment!

 

The vice president of a large non-profit organization called me today: "Our management council is planning a retreat for a day and a half. It's eight people," Dave told me. "Can you come and facilitate it?"

I checked the dates. "I can make it," I said. "What's the most important decision you face?"

"Our president is retiring," Dave said. "We've begun to talk about leadership succession. He wants to accomplish all goals in the strategic plan before he leaves."

"What's the focus of the plan?"

"Well," he said, "We are about to launch a $200 million fund-raising campaign."
 
"Whew," I said. "That's four times what you've ever raised before."

"Yes, I know. We'll need 100% of our president's time devoted to fund-raising if we're to succeed."

"That's a big shift," I said. "Can he make the change?"

"He's acting as if he's going to find new time to do it," Dave said. "That's not going to happen. He needs to change how he operates."

"It sounds like the whole team might need to change their behavior," I said. Then I posed this question: "How can you make the highest and best use of all your leadership resources?"

"That's a good question," Dave said.

"What are the obstacles to making the best use of your leadership time? What are the structural obstacles and the fear obstacles? How can you overcome them?"

There was a pause.

"Can you catch a plane this afternoon?" Dave asked. "I think we need to start this conversation today!"