Every Organization Needs a Hero.

A hero is someone who’s willing to speak up, talk to upper management and represent the views of the “people.”

Right now, we're working with three different companies where each organization is lucky enough to have a hero.

Everybody should go to the source. Where we have a lack of trust in the workplace is when people tell others about an issue, and they don't speak with the ones who are the most important. The people that they're complaining about are those whom they need to work with more effectively than with the source.

Heroes are willing to listen.

Heroes will take things on top of their own job duties. Heroes will do that for the betterment of the organization, not themselves.

Right now, I'm working with two heroes that have the trust of the executive team. They listen to these people. Every organization needs someone like this.

On the other hand, I have a friend who’s uncomfortable going to their CEO and CFO with issues. She claims no one there will do that, they’re in fear of their jobs. Which sadly, is the most common reaction we get.

Every company needs a hero, somebody the upper-management team will listen to.

Here’s a caveat. A hero shouldn’t always represent the people. The hero should be honest and encourage the person to have the conversation directly. Go to the source. Then, offer to help that person speak to the CFO or CEO. Be beside them as they approach the source. Be supportive with phrases like, “It’s important you represent these things because anyone else would take the information out of context. No one would represent them the way you would factually, objectively, and accurately.”

Every organization needs a hero, especially ones that have discord, where there's a lack of trust or maybe higher turnover. Upper management needs to hear this more than anybody.

Do you know what happens with organizational chatter when there's a layoff? When there's something people disagree with? It gets very quiet. Do you know why?

Fear.

Elon Musk just took over Twitter and was on a radio show with his Head of Compliance, and he appeared to fire her on the spot (later was confirmed to be not true). In front of everyone doing a radio show. It was very uncomfortable to watch. I'm not saying he's not justified, but I thought, “Wow, would I ever want to share my feelings in that organization?” Is he wrong or being unfair? Is he approachable? Are people approaching? Perceptions can be altered as Elon is a brilliant man through simple conversations.

When you have a yelling, telling, commanding, and demanding culture coming from the top down, and people fear not only just looking up, but even speaking upward, you have a severe organizational issue.

Heroes are people who can help you. They're the ones who can talk to the chatterers and say, “You need to have this conversation directly. You need to XYZ. I'll help you.”

A hero can't always represent the people, yet they can get the conversation going.

1)?????Does your organization have a hero? It's usually one person if you're lucky, rarely a group of people.

2)?????Do you have an executive team that's willing to listen?

I have the good fortune of working with the president of a publicly traded company; when I first started working with him, people wondered how it would go. That’s some of the best work I've ever done with anybody. Because there's absolute trust. He listens, especially to his hero. Just a few weeks ago, I reminded him to think about the time when he didn’t have that. When he didn’t have that person who represents the organization, where would he be? He admitted they wouldn’t be as well off as they are.

That position takes guts.

Here’s how we solve that problem on creating opportunities for heroes to arise:

1)?????Start with upper-level management calling people in for listening chats.

Have people come into your office and ask them to share what they're seeing. “What are you going through? What am I potentially not seeing? If you had two bits of advice, what would it be?”

Then after you hear it, only say thank you.

We get the next question all the time: What if I hear something I don't agree with?

Bite your tongue. Build the trust of communication.

The minute you say, “Yeah, but…” they’ll never want to come through your office again.

2)?????Teach people how to have conversations upward.

Coaching upward is not judging upper-level management. It’s providing visibility and protection such as Mr/Mrs CFO or CEO.

“I wanted your permission to share with you a perspective and give you some visibility, which you may or may not be aware of yet. I didn't want to make assumptions of what you knew for the betterment of the organization.”

If we teach people language like that, conversations become multi-directional. They're not just downward.

Every company should have a hero. Where there's a hero, there's an opportunity to increase communication. To increase trust.

There's an opportunity to increase coaching, mentoring, and talent development that leads to greater retention.

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