The ONE Question Most Leaders Won't Ask

"Stop wearing your wishbone where your backbone ought to be."

Elizabeth Gilbert

Admiration of individual and organizational accomplishments are to be expected and can be motivating for leaders and staff to continue to press forward, but not at the expense of reality. This means that while we have an eye on our achievements, we must also have an eye on those things that threaten our culture and the viability of our business. 

In addition to examining what we do well, we should also ensure staff and leaders are armed with the tools and information to cover our blind spots. To ask tough questions and to push back when a real or perceived threat appears. To what extent do leaders feel empowered to say,

"I believe we may have vulnerable, exposed areas in our business"?

While it is a fantastic feat to succeed in spite of a pandemic and the economic challenges it presents, we must remain relevant and thriving in the wake of global shifts in the way we do business. Now is the time to ask the tough questions, and one of the toughest is:

If you were the enemy, how would you destroy us?

This question has the power to expose systemic failures. Systemic failures occur from the inside out - from things the organization failed to control. Systematic failures, on the other hand, are external influences that arise outside an organization's control - for example, inflation, climate change, and natural disasters. When organizational systems see themselves as untouchable, you'll hear statements such as "we're too big to fail," or "we have too many members who support us to fail," or "that's not likely to ever happen," and my favorite "we're far too advanced to..." Such overconfidence leads to out-of-control spending, poor decision management, diminished employee engagement, and lackluster strategic planning, among other things - and, eventually, systemic failures.

Behaviors that can lead to systemic breakdowns include:

• Lack of scenario planning.
• Refusal to properly address both systemic and systematic risks.
• Relying too heavily on a current way of existing.
• Ignoring decision-making biases such as information, overconfidence, confirmation, and curse of knowledge biases and the like.
• Having money reserves which allow some leaders to feel overly secure that the organization could "ride out" any type of threat.
• Not properly investing in talent development and demanding that new skills and insights be examined for proper absorption into the fabric of the culture.
• Leaders afraid of disagreeing with the CEO, Board, and other senior leaders.
• Failure to identify situational roadblocks.

And the list goes on. Think on your feet, seek clarity, ask the tough questions, and embrace the discomfort. Productivity and sustainability lie on the other side of this important work.

Want to learn more about systemic risks? Here's an excellent read: https://www.process.st/systemic-risk/

What are your thoughts? Would you dare ask this question?

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As a Leadership Accelerator, Pamela excels at equipping executives, their leaders, and their organizations with strategies to transform cultures that strengthen employee alignment and activate innovation and creativity:

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