- It turns out that parents and organizational leaders
have the same challenge.
They often don't want to believe that their behavior
is more important than what they say.
But if leaders want a strategically agile organization
they have to be as adaptive as the workers
that they're trying to encourage.
Now before my son was born, I believed that kids
learned all their basic lessons from their parents
by the age of ten.
Yet, when our son turned ten, I suddenly
wanted to change that rule.
I wanted more time to be a better parent
and to model that kind of behavior
that I thought was important.
Leaders trying to build strategically agile organizations
often go through the same kind of bargaining.
They want workers to follow a set of practices
that will make them more innovative.
But they often have a hard time actually performing
those activities themselves.
Take, for example, the process of pushing down
decision making, to the closest point of action
in the organization.
Leaders are used to being asked to be decisive
so when they're asked for a decision
shouldn't they simply give one?
Sure, there are circumstances where that's critical.
But if a leader wants to have an agile organization
it's essential to hold that natural response in check
as often as possible
and instead, to model the behavior
that they want to see from others.
Watch yourself in meetings and in conversations.
Are you open to new information?
Are you willing to give up previously established
positions in the face of a new reality?
Do you push decision making down as far as you possibly can?
Are you regularly encouraging others in the organization
to challenge orthodoxy
including your own decisions?
If you're asking your team to do these things
but you're not doing them yourself
then how can you possibly expect people
to actually exhibit those behaviors?
So, here are three tests for you.
Choose someone in the organization with whom you
regularly interact.
Ask them if they see you
regularly invite input that challenges
your thinking or decisions.
Next, in an upcoming meeting
do you're best to actually avoid making a decision.
Focus instead on the result you'd like to see
and let others decide how to generate that result.
And then, if the team isn't able to get that desired result
applaud their attempt
then help them understand why it didn't work
then ask them to try again
ensuring they don't make the same mistakes.
This kind of behavior needs to be followed by
every key leader in the organization.
Don't wait for others to do it.
You can start it yourself.