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Our featured article this month, written by Vince Eugenio, Chief Learning Officer at Randstad North America, explores barriers to being an informed leader. Gathering information is an aspect of leadership that most leaders think they do well; however we know from experience that reality frequently diverges from leaders' personal perceptions. While valid and complete information is critical to decision making and effective leadership, the reality is that a leadership position brings with it filters that weed out and skew valid information. In response, some leaders do things to disintegrate the filters; others do things that create even more filters. Still others are unaware that information filters exist. This article can heighten your awareness of those filters, and increase your access to valid and complete information- equipping you to make the best decisions for your organization.
| Are You Leading By Fiction? |
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It's June 6, 1944--the day immortalized in those
shocking first scenes of Saving Private Ryan. As the
tide of battle turns that day, the German
commanders call Berlin; they want Hitler brought up-
to-date and for Hitler to order the two Panzer
divisions, stationed nearby in Western France, to be
deployed immediately to quell the Allied advance. In
Berlin, Hitler sleeps. His trusted inner circle refuses to
wake him. No one wants to be 1) the individual to
wake this man who despises being roused or 2) the
individual who communicates the day's events to this
leader who often lashes out against the bearer of bad
news. You know the story. As Hitler sleeps,
unaware of the situation, the Allies gain an
undefeatable foothold, forever changing the course
of the war.
As a leader charged with growing other leaders, I am
acutely aware of the role real information plays in
success-success for the leader and for the
organization. I see leaders, brimming with leadership
potential, run into difficulty because they lead by
fiction-what they want to be true, rather than what
is. They lack a real knowledge of what's happening in
their organization and why it is happening. Obviously,
most of us don't deal with situations as dramatic as
the D-Day example or as extreme as Germany's WWII
leaders, but the same dynamic on a smaller scale
happens in many of our organizations.
In my experience there are two primary barriers to
information for leaders. The first primary barrier is
that the leader creates a Good News Only
environment where others are hesitant or unwilling to
communicate "what's real" to the leader. Though
their behaviors do not approach those of a deranged
dictator's extreme responses to bad news, many
leaders strongly convey their preference for good
news over unvarnished communications. Here are
some examples of leadership behaviors that result in
the Good News Only environment:
- Punishing the messenger: Most leaders think they
don't do this. Think, however, of your response to
good news versus bad news. When are you upbeat,
open and non-defensive? When are you upset,
defensive, scrutinizing details for mistakes and those
to blame? Chances are it's much easier for your
people to bring you good news than bad news.
- Demanding solutions: There's an old school of
thought that an effective way to curtail whining in an
organization is to require a solution every time a
problem is brought to the leader's attention....
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