Page 21 - Fearless Leadership

8 FEARLESS LEADERSHIP

The Futile Endeavor of Trying to Manage People Issues
with Business Solutions

Karl was comfortable troubleshooting business problems but
uncomfortable managing people issues. Instead of dealing with
behavioral issues head on, he focused on structural and organiza-
tional changes.

What Happened. After two years of infighting and undermining
between business units, Karl asked his senior group what the Board
had asked him: “What are you going to do about this?” Karl and his
team argued and blamed each other, and they finally decided that
the problem between business units could be fixed by restructuring
a major division and replacing two managing directors. Not once did
they examine, “How is our behavior as the senior team contributing
to this problem?”

The Impact. A costly restructuring effort missed the point entirely;
the real issue was the lack of leadership alignment and partnership.
Leaders throughout the organization were discouraged and resigned;
they felt that their input was not heard, valued, or considered.
In the end, senior leaders focused on organizational change but
neglected to alter their behavior and transform how leaders worked
together. Twelve months later, employee engagement scores hit an all
time low and identified the lack of trust in leadership as the primary
reason for the pessimistic and negative work environment. Top talent
left the company for brighter prospects while Karl and his team
remained mired in the same behavioral issues between business units.

Lesson Learned. Business solutions do not solve behavioral issues.
Lack of leadership alignment and the absence of collaboration can
be resolved only by confronting the underlying behavioral issues that
perpetuate the problem.

You cannot transform an organization without transforming leadership
behavior. Lasting behavioral change does not occur with traditional orga-
nizational change efforts. But change how leaders behave and you alter
what the organization can achieve.