I was talking with a self-described “results-oriented” guy this week about his impatience with “process.” I think he was trying to tell me that zeroing in on results allowed him to move fast and not get bogged down in a lot of “soft” stuff.
That sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Just cut to the chase, take the magic results pill, and move on.
We’ll, when things seem to good to be true, they usually are. (Maybe I actually have FOUR little inconvenient truths to share today…).
Here are another three that my friend, and all of us, need to acknowledge a “deal with.”
1. “Every organization is perfectly designed to achieve the results it gets.” –W. Edwards Deming (father of the Total Quality movement)
If you want to change results, you have to change something in the vision/strategy/direction of the firm, or its structure, or its culture, to get a different result. Sorry. All you rootin’-tootin’, no-nonsense results types just have to face up to this fact. Go ahead. Try it some other way. Then blog us back about your results.
2. “Every leader gets exactly the team he or she deserves.” –Chester E. Scott (founder of BUILT TO LEAD)
Is your team stuck? Unstick yourself first. Is your team complacent? Get proactive yourself, first. Is your team distrustful? Work on your trustworthiness yourself, first. Don’t agree with me? Try “telling” your team they have the problem and they need to change. Then blog us back and tell us how that worked for ya’.
3. “Every person has precisely the power he or she really wants.” –Robert Quinn, five-time author and professor at The Michigan Business School.
Are you waiting for your next promotion to really change things in your organization? Are you currently stuck in a “powerless” position? Are you waiting for your boss to “empower” you?
Don’t hold your breath.
All of us have all the power we want. It comes from our CORE. That can be a strong, powerful, attractive CORE, headed forward on the Builder’s journey, or a vague, passive, uncertain CORE, uninspired to move anywhere.
The good news? You get to choose.
The bad news? (See immediately above).
Are you buying any of this?
Do these little truths seem inconvenient to you?
Why?
BUILT TO LEAD 