Recently, I read John Kotter’s new book Our Iceberg Is Melting and found myself thinking about how resistant most companies and people are to change. One of the major roles of leadership today is preparation; too many are too busy staring at the bottom line to really pay attention to what is emotionally happening inside their company. This is so apparent with how they treat people as a disposable item; they use them and then, rather than face the real issue to the loss of profitability, they blame the internal people for the lack of leadership and throw them away.
Change should always be about improvement, not a reaction that is based in fear. If a company disposes of its people and doesn’t address the real internal issue, they will be the same, just minus a few good people.
• Listen to them; they actually know more of what is really going on than most who call themselves a leader.
• Investigate to find the real issues; don’t just react to the loss of profit. When profit is down and the Iceberg is melting, it is time to research, not react.
• Stay calm! This is critical; when leadership loses their calmness, they become a bigger issue; without calmness they just feed the confusion that is stealing the clarity needed to make the right decision.
• Take actions that resolve, not avoid. Throwing people away is a sign that leadership isn’t really paying attention to the internal happenings in the company. Resolving anything takes collective genius and that means respecting the insights of the people.
• Educate everyone on where there is a need for improvement; when you react, you are disregarding the real issue. Slow down and look, listen and respond.
• Never leap before you know what is down there. Growth demands adjustment; what most leaders call adjustments are actually a behavior designed to protect their lack of leadership, not a response to what is really going on.
The role of leadership is to LEAD; too bad many have forgotten that.
