Page 235 - Fearless Leadership

222 FEARLESS LEADERSHIP

Stickability—making sure decisions stick and produce consistent
action—is the shared accountability of both the team leader and team
members. When you accept compliance from others, you are saying that
it is not necessary for people to commit fully. When people comply, they
are detached and disconnected from the decision and its implementation,
until it impacts their area. Unshackled by any emotional commitment,
compliance does not generate urgency. Although you may feel urgency,
leaders who comply are apathetic and move at a snail’s pace.
As a leader, you and your team must be able to identify the difference
between complying and aligning. Examine whether you comply with deci-
sions or tolerate compliance from others. Do you settle for “good enough”?
Do you look the other way when leaders go along with decisions just to
keep the agenda on track? When compliance is the behavioral norm, lead-
ers and teams get mediocre results.
You can make decisions stick by helping your team learn how to align.
First, do not blame others for their lack of alignment and follow-through.
Blame has no place in fearless leadership; it is an indulgence that does
not forward the action. Second, take personal accountability for where you
are accepting compliance from others. Third, help your team learn how
to achieve authentic alignment.

Complying and Withholding Emotional Commitment

Complying and withholding emotional commitment is the blind spot that
prevents groups from achieving authentic alignment. The word compli-
ance is defined as a concession, acquiescence, deference, and submission,
none of which advance the business objective. Complying is going along
with the “pull” of the group without emotionally committing.
With compliance, people conform to a decision for a number of
reasons:

• Protecting individual interests
• Making a “politically smart” choice
• Feeling group pressure to conform
• Avoiding conflict
• Feeling resigned or powerless
• Needing to belong and fit in