Is Spade A Spade?
Some of the frequently used phrases in Corporate Circles are “Paradigm shift”, “Walk the Talk”, “out of the box”, “call a spade a spade” amongst others. Many of these phrases are understood to be Top Management jargons & doesn’t mean anything to the larger population as they don’t relate themselves while at their day to day work.
During my career span, I have come across one such person who would at least say twice daily that he prefers to call spade a spade, talk straight even if it is unpleasant to hear due to which he was popularly known as Spade-man, down the line. I once had an opportunity to accompany him for an important Management Committee Meeting. The Boss started to give his perspectives on various facets of Business and & when it came to individual Presentations, my colleague did not put forward straight an important issue that required a decision rather, merely agreed to the views expressed by the Boss!?I was a bit surprised as the entire purpose of the meeting was defeated but he also did not allow me to speak! When we came out of the meeting, I asked him as to why he did not state the facts straight & force a decision but to my horror he replied that the Boss would not like to hear contradictions or disagreements & hence he preferred to circumvent the issue by underplaying it rather than earning the ire of the Big B. Then I asked him as to why he kept saying to rest of the organization that he likes to call spade a spade and to my amusement he replied that he does it with his DR’s and the rest of the company which covers 90% of the population.
While the story goes on, in my opinion, there are a handful in the corporate world who could put their head up & claim that they talk straight when it matters to call spade a spade, so the intriguing question we ask; why doesn’t everyone call spade a spade? The answer is not simple & many would say it depends on the situation. But what’s equally disturbing is the fact that many Senior Leaders would encourage & agree with the Boss most of the times & say it’s a great idea even though they are fully convinced that the idea won’t work. I have observed even Top Management Consultants sometimes agree with what the Boss says even if the rest of the senior people think it isn’t worth a penny. Again the question is - who is to be blamed? The answer is obvious!
It’s very important that Senior Leaders a need to create an inclusive culture in an Organization and demonstrate clearly by examples that is visible & percolates down the line. I had the fortune of working with one such Leader who while taking strategic decisions would invite comments from the senior management Team. Whenever he found that no one was opening up, he would immediately pick one of us by reading our faces and would say “you seem to be having a different point of view”; This gave a great deal of opportunity for that person to open up & once this starts the others follow suit and what happens next is a healthy conversation focusing on Business.
Another way for the Leader to trigger a healthy discussion amongst the Group is to put forward an idea but inform the Team that the idea is given by one of the employees (even though it’s the Leader’s idea) that needs to be debated, agreed & implemented; be rest assured that many would freely air their views. When The Leader is able to create such inclusive culture, the people down the line in the Organization would find subsequent conversations easier to open up and they are no more afraid to voice their opinion when required!
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I am of the strong view that Organizations who are transparent, flexible and people centric are the ones who would make big strides in future, and this cannot merely remain as a mere “MISSION STATEMENT” nevertheless be demonstrated by Top Leaders on every given opportunity. Today’s Millennials would like to join an Enterprise not because they get a good package rather, they do a comprehensive research on companies with agencies like “Glassdoor” and ensure that they are entering a flexible, strong culture-driven, people-centric organization!
Hence, it’s important that Leaders feel the need to walk their Talk, make paradigm shift in their thinking & are willing to hear people talk straight, calling spade a spade- Isn’t this a big out of the box idea -- Did you hear me say that I am not fond of Top Management jargons?
Cheers & Best!
Business Leader | Operational Management | B2B and B2C sales | Account Management, Pipeline Management, Corporate Accounts Handling | Revenue Growth Strategist | Passionate | India lead - Corporate Accounts
1 年#todayscorporateworld
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3 年Yes! One must always call spade a spade, that way their integrity would never be in doubt and inner conscience of person will always be clear from all other loads. Further, there's always a decent way of expressing our opinions. Keeping silent at important times such as policy/ decision making wouldn't do justice to one's position in the system. Listeners should also take other's viewpoints in right spirits. ??
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3 年So very apt and explained very meticulously. Thanks Sir!!
ISB ll Strategist ll Leadership ll Operations Management II P&L Owner II Manufacturing Operations
3 年Well, I have a different view. It is a good idiom and talks about the honesty, which is an extreme leadership trait. But when you see it in Indian context, we lack leaders who can listen to it and act positively on it. We are a country which have lot of leaders who want 'yes men' around them and hence it is very difficult (and at times risky) to use it. I have been fortunate enough to work with a bunch of amazing MNCs but the mindset of some of the people at higher ranks in these organisations is still not the world leaders have. We need a change in MINDSET.
Chief Engineer - Organizational Effectiveness and Project Management Advisory for Process Industries - worldwide
3 年One of my senior colleagues told this story from Mahabharata some time back: King Dhuryodana when ruling his kingdom from Hastinapura, often involved all relevant people in discussion and decision making. Even before the great war with Padavas, he consulted everyone about strategies and other trivial matters. After the situations was explained and put forth in the courtroom by the ministers and other officials, Duryodhana usually asked his youngest brother (among his 99 brothers) to speak, and allowed all others to speak, in the order of reverse seniority, culminating in opinion by Dhushssana - the senior most after Dhuryodana. Once asked why he always wanted debates to start with youngest first, he said, if I allow Dhushasana to speak first, others will never speak what's on their mind, will only say "yes" to what was said. He wanted to create an environment of no-fear for the youngsters to speak. I think this is a good strategy helpful for developing youngsters in the team.