Page 236 - How Great Leaders Build Abundant Organizations That Win

THE WHY OF WORK

• • Have it my way. We insist things be done as we want,
not allowing other styles.
• • False positives. We hide behind nice-talk, even when
we disagree.
• • Authority ambiguity. We are not sure who is responsible
or accountable, so no one is.
• • Turfism. People defend their turf, sometimes to the
detriment of the overall organization.
• • Full sponge. We are overflowing with too many changes
going on at once; we are burned out and stressed out on
change.
• • Overmeasure. We measure everything, even to a fault;
our dashboards are way too complex.
• • Undermeasure. We don’t have indicators to track impor-
tant stuff; we measure what is easy, not what is right.
• • Going for the big win. We look for the mega-change
that will solve all problems instead of starting small with
low-hanging fruit to build momentum.

When leaders can identify, name, and discuss such
viruses openly, they can be cured. New employees often see
these viruses most readily, just as we see the clutter in some-
one else’s home more readily than in our own. Teams can
have fun naming, drawing, and mocking viruses lurking
in their organization. One team drew their most prevalent
viruses, then posted these drawings in their offices while
they worked to disable them.

Principle 2: Turn What We Know into What We Do. In managing
change in organizations, most leaders can accurately list
within two minutes 7 to 10 keys to successful change. In our

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