What leaders THINK they know...

Okay, I know. It's been awhile since I've posted and many of you probably thought I fell off the face of the Earth. Well, in a sense, I did. I've spent the last couple of weeks working quite hard on a variety of projects and, in all candor, I could not overcome my own sense of guilt about spending time posting to the blog (which I love to do) rather than doing work for my paying clients. But while I'm still busy today, I thought enough time had passed and I should really get back to the blog. So, I'm back!

Today, I'd like to offer a few thoughts on what leaders think they know. I'm always impressed with the self-assurance and self-confidence found in so many senior executives in today's associations. In the midst of great turbulence and complexity in the operating environment, I still encounter association CEOs and senior leaders who are quite convinced of the essential correctness of their point of view. Steadfastness is an admirable quality, and I'm glad that it works for them. My concern is for their organizations.

What leaders don't realize is that they have blind spots, things they don't or can't see because of the position they occupy in the organization. The experience of the association CEO in requesting and receiving information, for example, is quite different from the typical employee. In the associations in which I've worked, when the CEO wanted to know something, everything else was dropped until that information had been provided and any follow-up handled. But when anybody else on staff needed something, the response from colleagues was something like, "Yeah, okay, can I back to you next week?" The leader expects and receives an immediate response, while the rest of the hierarchy struggles along as best it can. These are two very different experiences, and the discrepancy between them is one that the leader often doesn't observe or perceive.

It's the same thing when I interact with leaders who still believe that top-down pronouncements about what the organization is or should become will sustain long-term change. The notion that the leaders can send out an e-mail to everyone reading, "Hey, guess what everybody, we're about innovation!" is fundamentally flawed and, quite frankly, absurd. Unfortunately, many leaders simply have a blind spot to the need for the hard work of meaningful organizational change and capacity building. All too often they do not, cannot or will not see the need for more fundamental and less glamorous change at the level of practice and process, especially when window dressing and igniting the burning platform will suffice. The toll of this myopia is taken on the long-term success of the organization and the depth of commitment among its people.

I recently had dinner with one of my favorite association community leaders and we debated the changing relationship between staff and members. I advanced the notion that in today's environment we need a new construct for thinking about that relationship that transcends the ubiquitous and often misapplied idea of "partnership." My colleague could not get beyond the partnership idea because that is the reality in which this person lives, an organizational reality this person has sought to cultivate. After a quick back-and-forth, I believe that my colleague concluded I was wrong because I've never been an association CEO. This person's comment to me: go out and get a CEO job and you'll understand this issue better. Well, possibly, but I don't think so.

I'm not saying that I'm right and my colleague is wrong. Nor am I trying to pick on my colleague, a wonderful person who is a friend. What I am saying is that my colleague had difficulty locating a blind spot that could have an effect on the organization, perhaps not in this instance but in others. In the case, the blind spot is a misplaced certainty about what is true and what is open for reconsideration. No matter how intuitively appealing it might be to operate otherwise, I caution association leaders today to approach what they think they know today with far less certainty, more humility and a genuine spirit of inquiry and learning. It's what your members, your staff and your organization as a whole really needs from you.

Comments

[Cecilia Sepp]

Hi, Jeff.
As usual, you have hit the nail right on the head, especially in regard to CEO level pronouncements. I once worked at a place where the CEO announced that we were now "a team" and then expected us to act like one simply because he spoke the word (rather like the book of Genesis in the Bible: "the CEO said you are a team and saw that it was GOOD").
I mentioned this to my father-in-law, who was still in a very high level position in a major corporation at the time. He said, "Did you organize teams? Did you appoint team leaders? Have you had team meetings? Did you take any teamwork classes? Were you given any materials on teamwork?" I answered NO to all the questions and he said, "Then how can you be a team?" Because the CEO SAID SO!
Regarding your comment on the changing idea of "partnership" between staff and members, can you go into more detail on this concept? I don't think partnership is the right word or concept anymore either, but what's next?
Thanks, Cecilia