creating change and asking questions

horizon question

 

Framing the Right Questions

 

Persistent CEOs almost always get the information they request. It might not arrive as fast as they’d like, but eventually it gets there. Their bigger problem is getting information they haven’t demanded because they don’t know to ask for it. And unfortunately, it’s not just obscure corners of underperforming operations that CEOs are oblivious to. Often, it’s some brewing development that will redraw the lines of competition for the future.

One way to describe these unanticipated risks is “unknown unknowns”—a phrase former U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld made famous in 2002.

 

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“Before beginning a hunt, it is wise to ask someone what you are looking for before you begin looking for it.”

 

Winnie the Pooh

 

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“Chaos is what we’ve lost touch with. This is why it is given a bad name. It is feared by the dominant archetype of our world, which is Ego, which clenches because its existence is defined in terms of control.”

 

Terence McKenna

 

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Well.

if it is not working change the damn thingI have written extensive pieces on effectively managing change in business, probably been asked to speak about managing change in business a dozen times and, yet, I am not even close to being an expert and every time I return to the topic I learn something new.

 

This time I learned something new in a Harvard Business Review article called “Bursting the CEO Bubble” by Hal Gregersen and how  change leader can become “un-insulated” from the information they need to implement the most appropriate change.

 

Almost every new leader is new because the business they are assuming responsibility for wants some change <I struggle to think of a new leader being placed to ‘maintain the status quo’>.

So lets say, just to hedge y bets, 98.37% of new leaders are being asked to create some sort of change … the change can be big <transformation type change> or it can be small <fine tuning type change> … but suffice it to say … change is change and change is demanded.

 

And while many people will say all this effective change fashizzle we talk about is all about vision … I would argue it is more about insights. I say that because moment insightwe all know we want our car to go as fast as it can and do so successfully over whatever type of terrain we are aiming to traverse … but you gotta get under the hood to assess the engine to make it all happen.

I use the engine analogy because I am often asked about how leadership insights are revealed and I, personally, believe it is foolish to advocate anything like a linear process in uncovering them … because not only is there no real linear process to uncover them but … well … most things work like engines in which hundreds of parts need to work together to make shit happen well.

Yeah. That is not linear – do this and this will happen — stuff.

 

A change leader is demanded to bring some sanity to the horizon … not reckless chaos.

 

Insights spring from a multitude of sources that are often difficult to define or systemize and can often look quite chaotic. I say that to point out that trotting out some ‘tried & true process’ is no guarantee of any success … in fact … it may guarantee failure <because change is amorphous in nature and process is solid in nature>. What matters most are the qualities and the inherent skills one must possess to gain the necessary insights — seeing the possible and being the change, as a leader, we want to make in the business.

 

All of what I just wrote is important because change is not just change.

 

Huh?

 

Well.

Far too often we permit change to be defined as some nebulous idea. And in doing so we talk about change a shitload … but never really seem to get around better blobto doing everything that needs to be done <implementing it in an effective way>.

 

This doesn’t mean that these leaders are not truly trying hard to bring about change. It’s just that their attempts get trapped in the wretched hollow between ‘ideology’ <conceptual shit> and the practical <which is by no mean easy or simple>.

And it gets even more complicated if the leader can only envision what is <the current system> … which leads only to tweaks & improvements . The best change leaders not only see the system that exists but also envisions a system that … well … does not exist.

 

For it is within that understanding in which a good change leader can break what needs to be broken, keep what needs to be kept and tweak what needs to be tweaked.

 

Inevitably successful change is a reflection of several things … all embodied in a process incorporating information, education, dialogue, and ultimately, the insights generated from the process which will drive the choices.

 

Which leads me to ‘asking questions’ <because the only way you can gain insights is by actually asking questions>.

 

I don’t know why but it seems like there is a growing fear to ask questions these days … especially by leaders. And I really don’t know why.

McKinsey just did a whole study on how leaders should be better listeners and ask better questions.

 

Say what? A whole study? WTF. Why not just have an entire seminar called “common sense.”

 

That said.

Here is the most basic aspect of any good leader … information begets insights think breathe and reactwhich inform decisions. It sounds really basic … so basic I think we often overlook it.

 

We discuss instinctual decision-making.

 

We discuss effective decision-making.

 

But rarely do we discuss the fact this insight-to-decision relationship <or at least … not often enough>.  And because of that we sometimes ignore how we gather information, assess information, discern information and use the right information to ultimately make a decision.

 

Yeah. What I am suggesting is that information may actually be more important than past experience <existing ‘answers’ you may have to offer>. Suffice it to say … the best change leaders almost slowdown in gathering information, and ask questions, to speed up <in the decision and its effectiveness>.

 

Maybe we don’t talk about this because if we did … and described it that way … it sounds … uhm … slow.

 

Questioning.

Listening .

Responding.

 

question wonder think

And, yet, to be effective a change leader has to ask different questions in order to get new answers to the problem sitting right in front of them <and, no, there is no secret handbook … or published book … or even some website article which  can give you all the different questions to ask – albeit you can find some of this false advice if you search>.

 

But it was this new HBR article, and MIT study, which reminded me that in order to be successful when dropping into a new company, and effectively survive, you have to be able to uncover the crucial information … the stuff you can get from a spreadsheet or in some board room.

 

 

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I think the default strategy and direction with any organization is towards efficiency. It’s all about the assumption that we already know what to do and we’re doing the right thing, so let’s just be more efficient with it. When that starts happening, people stop asking questions and it can easily turn into a situation where leaders don’t want to get questions coming at them. A number of the leaders I interviewed said that they got hired, and promoted up the ranks because they were able to give quick, smart, relevant answers to people. The problem is, when people move into that CEO role, they not only need to know how to do things that are currently being done, but they’re defining the future. That takes a completely different behavioral-set, mindset, and skill set. Many organizations don’t realize that, and when they get into that pure efficiency mode, solving and poking and challenging the status quo is not part of the mantra.

Those CEOs asking better questions and speaking out about what they don’t know are obsessive about client, customer, and user needs. When a leader takes that fundamental position of customers first, and they actually mean it, they’re simultaneously taking the position that problems are first, not politics.

 

Hal Gregerson

executive director of the MIT Leadership Center

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While I have often suggested that a good change leader is like an assassin … that implies “effectively killing the problem.” Upon reflection I think that diminishes the importance of the research & planning which leads to the ‘assassination.’

You have to hunt down the necessary information. So maybe I should suggest question faceit is a hunter assassin characteristic.

 

You have to come in and go on the hunt for new information … ask … and listen effectively.

 

I imagine I am pounding away on this point because most change leaders gain a new position to give answers … and they are used to not only talking but giving answers. And, most likely, because they did get the position there are a shitload of people in organizations more than willing to let the new change leader talk and give some marching orders <answers>. The current business environment seems to encourage action and less reflection <before acting>.

And a portion of that ‘environment’ pressure is correct. Many times we wait too long and act too slowly. But I would argue that fast movement or more considered movement … if you haven’t asked the questions you will not be successful.

 

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“No plan survives meeting the enemy.”

 

General von Moltke

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““On s’engage et puis … on voit.”

“First engage in a serious battle and then see what happens.”

 

Napoleon

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For if you are trying to build out a plan to stand the tests of implementation or commit to ‘adapting to implementation issues’ … you have to know the proper insights.

 

My personal attitude is that I assume I am wrong about many things. I say that as I share a quote I agree with 100%:

 

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“The difference between successful executives and unsuccessful ones is not the quality of their decision making. Each one probably makes good decisions 60% of the time and bad ones 40% of the time—and maybe it’s even 55% to 45%. The difference is, the successful executive is faster to recognize the bad decisions and adjust, whereas failing executives often dig in and try to convince people that they were right.”

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Anyway.

Change leadership is not just about a good plan nor is it just about effective adaptation … it is about having the flexibility to accommodate the unforeseen. You don’t know what you don’t know.

And leadership, in general, translates into a natural isolating bubble created by the position and the power that comes with it.

This bubble naturally creates a layer between what you know, and do not know, questions judgeand what you should know.

 

I can tell you one thing — unequivocally. If you are managing change and stumbling into what you didn’t know … and not having the insight to adapt to what you didn’t know … your survival, and the survival of what you are managing, is under significant threat. In other words … you will die <get fired> or the company will die <in reality>.

 

Change is complex.

The best of he best, and smartest, management thought leaders have created sophisticated frameworks all designed to help business leaders grapple with their own change strategies at an abstract level.

But the reality is that strategy succeeds or fails based on how well leaders at every level of an organization integrate real useful insights into day-to-day operations.

 

It is as complex, and as simple, as that. And it is by asking questions where you will find your insights.

 

It is as complex, and as simple, as that.

 

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Written by Bruce