These are just some of words you frequently hear buzzing around the business world.
There is some incredible work being done in these areas however so many people are all saying the same thing, yet they’re not really saying much at all. Even position descriptions are littered with these overused and sometimes ambiguous words.
When it comes to clients, staff or stakeholders, what do these words actually mean or look like, relevant to their needs? The understanding of the application is so important, even more so than the theory but yet the application is failing over and over again or sometimes not even getting to the point of execution.
Six months of hype in an organisation talking about ‘cultural’ change and new corporate behaviours or strategy, can lead to absolutely nowhere in practical terms. Employees can be inspired and motivated when you say the right things, but if you don’t follow through on your words in a timely manner, disenchantment will slowly creep in, sometimes quickly. The more time that passes with no action, the harder it will be to reenergise your employees.
So how do you recognise when you are falling into the trap of just ‘ticking the box’ so you can say you do the things mentioned above?
Here are five common examples:
- Having your corporate values printed on the walls of your office, mouse pads or tea room coffee mugs does not equate to cultural change. Nice to do? Sure.
- Adding an agenda item to your meeting called ‘Innovation and Change’ (yet nothing happens), does not mean you are being innovative. In fact, how often are these agenda items deferred until the next meeting because you run out of time?
- Enrolling a manager in an academic leadership course does not equate to that individual becoming a better leader. Will they learn? Maybe. Will they apply it? Possibly, perhaps for a couple of months until they get too busy and fall back to their natural behaviours.
- Performing an organisational restructure but hiring the same type of individual to fill positions is not an example of disruption or good leadership.
- Adopting a design thinking methodology without freeing up staff or budgets to work on projects will not lead to innovative outcomes.
Short Story #1
An executive position opens up at a popular company. From the outside looking in, this company appears to be nailing it. For the staff, however, it’s a different story and news of the vacancy has staff excited.
Engagement levels within this department have been particularly low, promised the world time and time again, but little to nothing actually delivered. There is talk of change and fresh approaches to an otherwise stagnant department. All the buzzwords are used, none more so than leadership. This is the turning point staff have been looking forward to.
Then the appointment is made [insert dejected deep breath outwards and eye roll]. The successful candidate is a carbon copy of exactly what has been appointed in the past. Despite the predictable appointment, engagement slightly lifts the first six months as staff continue to be optimistic. Post six months, however, engagement takes a battering and is lower than ever before.
Moral of the story: It starts from the top. The very top!
Don’t just talk about it, live it. Stop using the buzzwords and actually talk about real issues and real solutions. Mean what you say and say what you mean.
Lastly, if you require a change in leadership, hire for change. Don’t keep making the same mistakes over and over again.
