How Executives Create Organizational Craziness
Leaders cause more problems than they solve
The reality no one seems to want to talk about
I recall a conversation with someone in a branch office many years ago. We were discussing a new change program and I was asking for his help. Then, he pointed to the stack of brochures, letters, and reports on his desk. They were all from the Corporate offices (yes, that plural is intentional). He looked at me and said, “I have to decide which of these people are going to be frustrated that I did not work on their program.” (He used different words which are not appropriate for this book, but use your imagination.) He was trying to balance the incredible demands of a disconnected corporate engine that manufactured programs he was required to implement. In short, corporate was making him crazy.
The Strange Truth: Leadership is the driving force of Organizational Craziness
When people are hired into leadership roles, they have to make their mark. That means they will enlist every ounce of creative energy, available financial resources, and organizational focus to realize their own accomplishments. So far, so good. One major program sent to the field provides focus and allows people to dig in and make it happen.
Now, multiply that program times ten, and you get the picture. HR, Finance, Legal, Operations, Sales, Engineering and Product Development, Marketing, Communications, Public Relations—they all develop programs. But we’re not finished yet. Flying high above these groups are teams developing Lean Processes that cover entire Divisions, and above all that are the recurring organizational reorganizations. Every one of the leaders driving these programs wants to make their mark. Then it’s time to install a new ERP system. Get the picture? I know you do.
Each of the initiatives and programs (though not all) likely has great merit and value to the corporation. It is the aggregate that makes organizations crazy.
New Kid on the Block
Then there’s a change of guard and everything gets flipped upside down! Here’s what I mean: The new leader comes in to replace all the ostensibly bad policies of the former leader, throwing the organization into yet more chaos.
When this happens, and the organization is turned upside down, employees get agitated, and their progress begins to slow. People seek predictability, not chaos.
Here’s what happens at the Ground Level
• Silos: great for farms, but not for corporations. Organizations often become siloed for the reasons I listed above. Departments focus on their own needs to the exclusion of the success of others, because there are resource constraints of even the most powerful and financially successful companies. Siloing behavior has a direct and significant negative impact on organizational output.
• Too much stuff makes people defocused. Even the best managers become defocused because of excessive (and sometimes conflicting) initiatives. Too much at one time drives people crazy and makes them ineffective.
• Too much stuff causes directional uncertainty. People are sometimes uncertain about how their work fits into organizational success, exacerbating ineffectiveness and causing employee anxiety, employee concern, wait-and-see attitudes, and social loafing. The very programs leaders implement actually stall the success they hope to achieve!
• The reality of “Breathing Dinosaurs” One of the worst side effects of all these programs is that ineffective projects and programs are left in place, draining precious organizational time and energy. One executive I talked with said, “All these processes create organizational sediment and sludge—it slows things down.” These programs remain in place because they are the fair-haired children of executives and leaders who want to make a mark.
• Everything is priority #1 This can only happen in parallel universes. Something must take second priority.
• “You can’t handle the truth!” People will default to what makes them successful. One branch manager told me, “You know what I think about? I think about my bonus at the end of the year, and I ignore everything that doesn’t help me make my numbers.” This is the hard reality about excessive programs.
• Where is the Air Traffic Controller? Great leaders know when they are creating organizational craziness, and they reassess priorities. They take time for a “clean up in aisle seven.” Call it housekeeping, call it rebooting—whatever you call it, great leaders know when it’s time to stop some things and focus on the critical few.
Leadership craziness leads to Organizational Attention Deficit Disorder
Researchers say this about ADD: “The core symptoms...are developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.” In other words, a person is not paying attention, is overactive in their behavior, and acting impulsively. Sound familiar? Bohn’s definition of Organizational Attention Deficit Disorder: An organization’s unwillingness and inability to focus on the critical few; accepting any and all projects as worthy of first-priority effort, resulting in employee burnout and organizational ineffectiveness.
What leaders can do: Sometimes, for the sake of the organization, leaders just need to say “No.” The most important thing leaders can do to alleviate this challenge is the very thing they expect of their people: Work together with others as a team. I realize that’s a tall order, but the challenges I listed will not go away when disconnected programs continue to pile up on those who do the work. Disciplined management provides maximum goal clarity, manages priorities, maintains focus for the team, and stays the course to ensure the right things get done.
The accelerated pace of organizational change is unlikely to slow anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean everything needs to change at one time.
Lead well, my friends.
Dr. Jim