Leadersmithing by Eve Poole

Author:Eve Poole
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2017-04-06T04:00:00+00:00

Figure 5 The resistance wheel

1Understanding

A sense that you are not understood is theoretically an easy problem to solve. If people are not responding to you in the way you intend, perhaps they genuinely do not see what you see. And, writ large, this is why so much time is spent in organizations on internal communications initiatives. So can you slow down, rewind and listen? Can you figure out what it is in your head that makes this a no-brainer for you that they cannot see yet? What else could you do to improve their understanding about this issue?

2Skills

Immortalized in the Star Trek movie The Undiscovered Country, there is a story about the origins of the word ‘sabotage’. Valeris tells Uhura and Chekov that ‘400 years ago’ on planet Earth, when the workers felt threatened by industrialization, they threw their wooden clogs – sabots – into the machines to stop them working. This is exactly why so many cups of coffee were accidentally spilled on keyboards to disable them, when secretaries were miraculously supposed to transfer their skills from typewriters to computers with no training and feared for their jobs if their lack of ability to do so was discovered. So before you react to distracting behaviour, check it is not actually a cry for help. If there is a skills gap, it is relatively straightforward to address it through coaching, mentoring, training or transitioning.

3Motivation

While there are ready-made strategies to address gaps in understanding and skill through communication and training, motivation is a tougher nut to crack. It certainly helps to start by acknowledging this gap and by finding ways for people to participate. But if you have managed your Gallup 12 scores up and there is still a problem, what do you do? If I had a silver bullet, I would give it to you. Actually, I do. It is called love. Everyone is supremely motivated to do the things they love, for the people they love. The bare truth is that in many organizations we ask people to do pretty rubbish things, for no good reason and we are not all that nice to them about it. So before you bust a gut coming up with cunning wheezes, ask them why they work and why they do this job in particular. If you are feeling brave, ask them what they love. Then ask them where they want to go next. Finally, be honest. Explain why this change will ultimately help them meet their goals. And if it will not, say so and explain why you are asking them to do it anyway. And if they say no, you have to respect that and work on plan B. Not everyone feels like you do about their job and we all have different ways of making meaning about our occupation. Brilliant leaders do seem to be able to find some up-side for even the most die-hard refusenik, so do not be afraid to take advice from wiser heads when you are up against it.

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