- Strategic Planning is easy: Executing is the real challenge
- Once personal barriers are resolved, organizational barriers are next
- Large and immutable, these barriers fall to nimble, committed solutions
“If you have been battling the cannon fire, gunfire won’t bother you.”
– Amit Kalantri
Overcoming The Barriers to Action – Organizational Barriers
Inventory backlogs plagued the company. A new system for tracking inventory has been deployed. The person responsible won’t use it, preferring to use an outdated approach.
As year-end approaches, a manager launches an unnecessary project to protect the budget for next year and her bonus – even though other departments are extremely short of resources.
The head of the department requires information presented in a particular format, even though the information is easily accessible in other formats. When it is converted and submitted, the department head then red-lines information with changes at the last minute, delaying completion and causing multiple overtime hours to correct before the deadline to present the report.
A customer calls to inquire about the arrival timing for an existing order. Although the information is readily available in the system, the sales representative is prohibited from releasing it. Frustrated, the customer cancels the order and takes her business elsewhere — permanently.
The high performer insists on going around the established processes in order to advance his projects. His behavior is tolerated because of the high output he produces. Everyone else sees what is happening but are helpless.
Any one of these examples could be seen in many organizations today. These are the kinds of anecdotes that drive people toward the Pepto-Bismol aisle in the drugstore. Rules and regulations, poor or inadequate communication, fear of loss of status, power plays, misalignment, and the unwillingness to deal with problem players clog the system, poison cultures, reduce nimbleness, and disturb the flow of the organization. These types of barriers can appear to be large and immutable.
There is a silver lining to identifying these issues. It is precisely because the organizational barriers are so large and seemingly immutable that they can be easily overcome. When leaders actively participate in the Compelling Journey™, confront their Personal Barriers and settle on their Compelling Knowledge to overcome them, it becomes much easier to engage in root cause analysis for the organizational barriers identified. The Personal Barriers exercise enables the leaders to become nimbler so that they can quickly act and effectively respond to the Call to Action.
During the Compelling Journey™, a leadership team takes the time to outline what they view as the key Organizational Barriers their company faces. Because the leaders have been willing to confront their own reluctance in responding to the call, it becomes clear to them what needs to occur to resolve those kinds of issues. The energy that they derive from this provides substantial role modeling capacity within the organization. This is especially true when the team is connected with the Call to Action.
When these barriers have been outlined and solution approaches identified, the process flows from the world the organization lives in today to the first steps of the World of Opportunity.
Next up: Tests, Allies and Enemies. This will set the boundaries for responding to the call.
Ready, Mindset, Grow!: Nuggets Mined from the Leadership Journeys
Business leadership books abound today. What makes this one worth the read? Actionable insights! Ready, Mindset, Grow, delivers to today’s leaders entertaining stories of the transformative power of culture. Backed by solid research, these brief tales, and the lessons they convey, can be put into practice for short-term wins and long-term growth. Entertaining and insightful, the author has filled the pages with cultural nuggets and jewels from his 30+ years of experience in leadership coaching and consulting. Smart leaders will appreciate the candor, catch glimpses into their own circumstances and gain the conviction needed to accomplish positive cultural change.
