https://swiy.co/go-get-out-of-the-way

Are you getting in the way of your team being more open, flexible, and innovative?

I was working with a group of about twenty senior leaders a few years ago, running my two-day “Future Scenarios” program. Everybody was fully immersed for the full two days, except for the CEO, who stepped in for a while at the start of day one and then returned partway through day two for another few hours.

It was interesting for me to see the dynamics of the group when he was in the room and when he wasn’t (Some of you are way ahead of me!) ...

When he was in the room, he was open, took part enthusiastically in the activities, didn’t talk over anybody else or try to push his opinion forcefully.

But ... other people subtly changed their behaviour because he was there.

If he said something, others made sure they didn’t contradict it, even in small ways.

They didn’t say things that might contradict organisational policy.

They didn’t criticise anything that had been imposed “from above”.

I had said at the start of the session,

“Think big, and even consider impossible things over these two days. It’s easier to think big now and walk it back later than to do it the other way around.”

But when the CEO was in the room, they had already mentally “walked it back”.

Like ducklings that stay close to their mother just after they’re born, they don’t want to stray too far from the CEO.

Now this wasn’t really the CEO’s fault – and he would have been horrified if he had known.

It was actually the fault of his title: “CEO”. Because of his status, others modified and tempered their behaviour. They changed what they said, what they did, and how they behaved – simply because somebody at that level was in the room.

Jeffrey Pruitt, the CEO of Telus Internationa, called this the “Jeff said” game.

He noticed that whenever he was in meetings, people would temper their conversations and their decisions. Even later, if someone questioned a decision, instead of explaining the reason for the decision, they would say things like:

“Jeff said it’s a good idea.”

“Jeff said we should do this.”

“Jeff said we shouldn’t do that.”

Even if he hadn’t exactly said those things, they abdicated their responsibility and decision-making to the CEO.

Pruitt was smart enough to realise the best way to solve that problem was not to attend those meetings.

He empowered his team and built their judgement so they could make good, well-informed decisions themselves. They would make a decision, and he would still accept accountability and responsibility for it.

Does the same thing happen in your team? You might not even realise people are playing the “Jeff said” game, but they are!

So what can you do?

The answer is simple – but not easy.

It’s simple because all you have to do is stay out of those meetings! Give others the space to discuss, debate, and decide without your influence. But you still take responsibility and accountability.

As a bonus, you also get more time for your other work (and who wouldn’t like a bit less time in meetings!).

But the reason it’s not easy is because you have to trust your people. And that means giving them the skills they need, and help them build good judgement so they can make well-informed decisions.

But it’s worth it.

This is just one of the things you can do to build a culture of change agents in your organisation. I’m talking about this in my next free, public online presentation “Keep The Change”. It’s for leaders and managers everywhere, at every level of the organisation. Register here, and please share it with others in your team and your network as well.

Register for the virtual masterclass:

https://swiy.co/go-get-out-of-the-way

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