Good to Great (II)

Last time we talked about what Collins calls Level 5 Leadership in his book Good to Great. This time I wanted to spend a little more time in disucssion about another important key to transforming an organization from Good to Great: Confronting the Brutal Facts.

Have you ever known someone who couldn't take any bad news? Whenever you had to tell them some "bad news" they would immediately just say "Oh, just don't tell me about it," or worse yet cover their ears and pretend to ignore you? What do you think about these kinds of people? You would think they were acting childish, right? Because, mature adults realize that the only way to fix a situation or to improve yourself is to realize where things are going wrong / where your shortcomings are.

This same rule goes for organizations, but it seems that many organizations today are acting "childish". You can't really blame the individuals in the organization though. Who really wants to go up to the boss and say, "Boss, you know this project that my team and I are working on? It really sucks. Not only don't we have the skillset to complete it, but also the project itself won't help us become more competitive."

Yeah, I didn't think so... So what can a Young Leader do to help his/her organization "Confront the Brutal Facts"? Well, it all comes down to creating an environment which has the goal of continuous organic improvement.

• Have "blameless autopsies" - After the fact, we need to find out "What went wrong" not "Who screwed up". If we develop a culture that focuses only on the facts and what we can do to improve, people will come out and tell you the truth. They will give genuine feedback about how they feel to YOU not just under their breath at the water cooler.
  
• Lead with questions - Until we get to this point where people will openly discuss the organization's and their own faults, you will have to lead with questions. I can't tell you exactly what to ask, but "What if..." questions are probably the best. "What if we did this... how would productivity improve? What if we did that... would people find it easier to do their work?"
  
• Have open debate and dialogue - This is one of those "obvious" things that nobody does. However, one thing to keep in mind is that a very powerful and charismatic personality can actually impede this. Think about it... people who are good at convincing might just convince the rest of the team that everything is fine, when they aren't.
  
• Create "red flag" mechanisms - These are a good start to getting towards the ultimate goal of culture of continuous improvement. You need to create a set of benchmarks... efficiency standards, quality standards, measures of morale, etc... and if any of these dip below a certain point you push the big red button and "Stop the presses!!" This is the important part. You need to find benchmarks that are critical enough that you will be committed to meet them or else have to spend the energy to ask the right questions, confront the brutal facts, and fix the problems.

Confronting the brutal facts can be tough. As Jack Nicholson said "You can't handle the truth!" For many people they can't. But hopefully all you Young Leaders out there will learn to be able to. Until next time.

-Jason