Many business information sources revolve around making your organization bulletproof. This concept implies that all destructive forces originate outside the company. After all, it’s a tough world out there, and your competitors and detractors would like nothing more than to attack you and sink your ship, right? Protecting yourself is certainly a sensible thing to do, but that’s only half the story. What about destructive forces that arise from within? The concept of foolproof has many meanings…
Individually foolproof
The major force that can interfere with growth and productivity is competing commitments. Most business owners and practitioners are dealing with this at some level throughout their careers. After all, who has but a single commitment? However this can become pernicious when a hidden competing commitment is in opposition to your primary goal. For example, initiating a treatment program for a patient may require you to be direct and tell that person what to do. Not ask not collaborate, but tell. This is also known as prescribing!
However, you may be committed to not appearing pushy or demanding, so the instructions can become fuzzy and watered-down. This competing commitment is well intentioned and honorable, but gets in the way of producing a favorable outcome. The strange part about this is that you may not be aware of this avoidance behavior and value.
These types of avoidance commitments are usually rooted in assumptions about the road to ruin that the behavior will lead to. If I’m pushy or obnoxious, my customers will come to dislike me, will take their business elsewhere, and I will fail, suffer humiliations, become bankrupt, etc. While this is remotely possible, it ignores the fact that you have ample opportunity to amend or control your actions along the way.
The key to working with this interference mechanism is to understand the exact nature of the competing commitments and the underlying assumptions. Once you have awareness of the system, you can make conscious choices to test the assumptions in a safe environment. Robert Kegan has written extensively on this subject and is an excellent resource.{{alert-links}}
Collectively foolproof
This is such a common condition among business groups that it can be thought of as the norm, unfortunately. Ask yourself this question: “When the last time I received a service from a large group, where every individual I encountered was in good harmony and alignment with everyone else?” It’s a rare thing indeed, and is memorable when it actually happens.
Why are you doing this?
A common reason for this condition is a confusion, vagueness and lack of cohesion at the “head” of the company. The head can be an individual or a group. This is rooted in the fundamental understanding of two areas: the “why” of the company and the core, unchanging values.
If the “why” of a company is not clearly articulated and agreed upon by the head, there will by definition be different understandings about direction and execution. This will lead to differing agendas and priorities. This is quite common in governmental organizations, non-profits, and medium to large-scale companies. Some modern companies have directly addressed this issue, and usually are richly rewarded in their markets.
The simple test for this is to ask your employees why your company does what it does. You may get blank stares, or, “Is this a trick question?” It’s very common for people to confuse what they do and how they do it with why they do it. If you’re a trash-hauling company, of course you drive around to different neighborhoods and pick up trash. But the reason for doing it is to make the environment safe, clean, and to improve the quality of living for our community. If we forget the “why” (or never knew it in the first place), there is no inspiration to our actions and the entire enterprise can seem like exercises in drudgery and compliance.
What are your values?
The financial world has seen gigantic scandals and failures over the past several years on an unprecedented scale. Most financial services companies value, safety, security and reasonable returns on investments. These are (or should be) core, unchanging values that everyone in the company understands and lives by. However, when we see enormous hidden speculation, mis-appropriation of funds, or trading on illegally obtained information, the actors are not living by the core values or the company. This is a gaudy example, but tiny examples are common in ordinary business transactions. You may value making your customers feel welcome, but how often is the phone answered unintelligibly or your customer placed on hold?
The key to getting everyone on the same page is to define a few core values, and the observe how often the are being honored or violated. Sometimes these violations can be through an individual’s actions, but many times there are conflicts in policy and values. It’s an effective exercise in getting everyone in your company thinking and acting along the same lines.
Kegan’s most recent work on overcoming the immunity to change.