Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Leaders Transform, Mere Change Is Insufficient!

Q. As a new executive, I’m quite surprised at the arrogance of some of my management team. While we are a service organization, many long-time team members have formed an exclusive, dysfunctional clique that has caused high turnover. What’s the best and fastest way to dissolve this?

A. As the new leader, you will need to create a new environment with a new culture. Think about the vision you have for the organization and the values and behaviors you expect your team to have so that everyone can collaborate. Start with one-to-one conversations with your management team. Listen to their thoughts, concerns, mindset. Ask each one if they are willing to learn, improve and work together and help you move the whole organization forward? Of course, watch what they say and what they do over the next few weeks and months.

Once you assess the individuals, discuss with them as a team, the need to change their thinking and leadership. Share what works and doesn’t work. Communicate and discuss with them your vision. Be clear about your expectations. Ask them how it can be achieved. People will need to transform their thinking and actions, not merely change. Some will. Some won’t. All will need clarity and coaching from you. An outside coach can share an outside perspective for you, too.

Give them some time to shift their thinking and actions, but also don’t tolerate dysfunctional, arrogant behavior. Some people have been stuck for years with their control, power, and position. It won’t be easy to transform, but be clear that the company needs a healthier style of leadership.

Q. Our company can benefit from a more diverse workforce. I believe this but don’t have any first-hand experience. Where do we begin?

A. If your organization lacks virtually any diversity, educate yourself, your managers, and your workforce (there’s a lot of research and articles in this area now.) Begin to have conversations or town hall meetings to explore your employees’ thoughts. Explore with them the pros and cons of becoming more diverse. If your workplace welcomes more diversity, then it’s exciting for them together to explore how to onboard new people and make them feel welcome.

If there’s resistance to becoming more diverse, it’s important to learn what your culture thinks. Begin to educate your workforce about the benefits. Involve people in developing the plan to create diversity; define it; describe whereto recruit for it, and create a program so the new, diverse individuals can be successful as part of a team or buddy system.

Q. There are so many challenges in our companies, communities, and society. I hope for the best, but how will we survive this chaos?

A. There have been challenges throughout the generations globally. Society continues to continually transform and has good and bad times. Leaders in any enterprise, community, or society will have a vision that they can articulate to influence people and guide them out of their crisis. The leaders who can communicate, pursue opportunities for all, and continually experiment, learn, and adapt (pivot) are the ones will move us into the future. When leaders get stuck in their thinking and are stagnant, progress is not made.

Leaders create robust strategies and put them to work. Hope is not a strategy, so while we may hope, we need more powerful action for a vibrant future. Focus on these strategies: develop leaders; quality; continual improvement; and innovation.