What a Tiny Wrench Taught
Me About Leading Others

It’s nearly impossible to open LinkedIn or listen to a podcast without someone talking about leading organizational change. If you talk to leaders, you will find it’s unanimous that a culture of change is required in order to be competitive in today’s business climate. There are so many improvement methodologies, and a plethora of information and processes built around helping leaders implement positive change within their organization. No excuse for not knowing much about the subject.

As a consultant, virtually every organization I engage with seeks my help in solving some sort of systemic issue that has plagued them for a long time, sometime years. I find that in spite of the capabilities that exist within their organizations, for some reason they have not addressed it. I see companies that have built workarounds and hired additional staff just to cope with the impact. Why is that? I mean, these are smart people, and they must have recognized that something was amiss, yet they haven’t addressed the root cause.

What I am about to say is just my opinion, but one that I have formed after engaging with many organizations, some of which I have been responsible for myself. Through both observation and first-hand experience, I feel confident in the points to follow.

Let’s take a look at the things that get in the way, legitimate or self-imposed:

• Capital Constraints – This is probably the one reason I buy into. Sometimes you know the solution, but you just don’t have the cash to make it happen right now. It can be a problematic machine or a system you have outgrown which requires you to spend money to resolve. Budget constraints put the solution on a timeline in the future, meanwhile requiring you to find a way to deal with it. But ask yourself, is there an interim solution to lessen the impact until that time?
• Bandwidth – I understand that organizational resources are finite. There is only so much you can expect people to accomplish, and business must go on. In cases like this it’s easy to accept that there isn’t sufficient time left in people’s day to make a change effort happen. In that case you need to look hard at what people are spending their time doing and perhaps re-prioritize their activities. Is time being spent moving the organization forward and solving problems or only maintaining the status quo? If you don’t have the bandwidth, get creative and find it. If indeed there “isn’t time,” then consider bringing on an outside resource such as myself to implement a solution with you
• Bad Timing – I get this one a lot and it tracks with the last point. “Oh, this is just a bad time because we have all these other things going on, we’ll get to it later.” I got news for you, there is ALWAYS going to be stuff going on! I hear this one repeatedly and find it rooted once again in priority setting. Just because it’s a busy time for you doesn’t mean that you just put it off to another day. You need to consider the consequences and lost opportunity of waiting. I can almost guarantee you that it will NEVER be a suitable time.
• Challenged Staff – Let us be honest, not everyone in the organization is a superstar. Sometimes we have people in positions that are barely able to hang on, and subsequently we do not assign them anything beyond their current responsibilities because we know it will not get done. It is a real thing, and I see this a lot, particularly in growing entrepreneurial companies where the person was able to do the job when they were smaller, but the scope of their current role has outgrown them. It is a tough situation because there is a lot of loyalty involved (not a terrible thing). It can be hard to accept and often I see organizations sub-optimize because a key person has become a limiting factor. This one requires a different sort of action, but you cannot have this be the reason you do not take action to improve.
• So, this last one may be harder to hear, and you may not agree with me, but I see it in many organizations I work with, and that is Complacency. Let’s be brutally honest here, change requires effort. It requires leaders to commit THEIR time and resources to making it happen. It requires prioritization and mobilization of staff that may have become accustomed to “this is just the way it works around here.” It requires leaders to communicate a case for change, set expectations, and build organizational excitement for making it happen. It takes personal commitment and a lot of energy, focus and time. Perhaps more than you want to take on. It might just be easier to not deal with it and continue on as usual. For me, the word lethargic comes to mind and unfortunately I sometimes see leaders that fit the description. It might be easier to point toward other things (all the points above) and defend excuses than it is to act. Even though there may be a measurable benefit to solving the problem, I see leaders hesitate because it’s going to place a higher demand on themselves.

Okay, by this time I’ve probably polarized a few of you, and that’s okay. You’ve either said that’s a bunch of BS and this guy’s a nutcase, or you think I might be spot on. No room to be somewhere in the middle! As a consultant you might look at me and say, “he doesn’t know how busy I am, and all the demands placed on me.” That’s true, but I spent decades in leadership roles just like you and have worked next to a lot of others and yep, we were all busy, REALLY busy. We have to be honest with ourselves and ask, am I truly too busy to drive organizational improvement? Am I too busy to relieve others of the burden of dealing with the same old problem day after day? Am I too busy to make improvement an everyday expectation in my organization? If you answered yes to any of those questions you and I should have a heart-to-heart talk, because frankly that’s your job. That’s leadership.

So, what do we do about this? Well, that’s up to you. But I hope the next time a broken process, a staffing gap, or whatever comes along, you will reflect on the excuses you might use to avoid acting on it right away. Instead, ask yourself what you can do now with the resources you have and rally them around a resolution. It doesn’t have to be a big deal, but it has to be something. Doing nothing shouldn’t be an option.

So, what’s your response going to be next time you’re faced with an issue in your organization? I’ve provided you with a list of excuses above, so pick one …. or demonstrate actionable leadership and engage your team.

Wishing you the best of all outcomes!