Traffic Rules...

In my book, The Conscientious Manager, the concluding chapter titled "True Power: Identity Vs Reputation", touches upon the power of executives to execute their strategy in a company. Most people of course work to live & thrive, for themselves and their families, but they would love to do so and walk the extra mile if they also perceive that their organization (their tribe really!) and the people in it have their best interests in their thoughts.

So what gets in the way? And what makes or breaks the deal?

Decisions of course, but more importantly, how they get translated in a company.

Decisions usually coming out as...

Policies, processes, strategies and frameworks.

Undoubtedly these get set up and evolve - with a lot of "thought & intent" from years of cumulative experience - or to move quickly with the need of the time. Several experts, strong personas and key stakeholders have to come together, potentially several times, for establishing a decision (a safeguard/policy/framework/compliance norm) with a great intent to bring in order, enable sustenance, and provide direction, especially when the organization experiences points of stress (ranging from ravishing enthusiasm - "I want to build something that has never been done before" - to a dire need - "we just cannot function without this feature, we are losing customers!" - and anything in between). And then there are external stress points too in terms of regulations which do permit exceptions.

But then, universally, policies & frameworks get misunderstood. Both by those that have been tasked with implementing & safeguarding them, as well as those that get impacted by them (the rest of the organization, depending on what hat one chooses to wear in a meeting). Leaving the ones that have rolled out these policies with great expectations, frustrated.

And here lies the gigantic purview of "organizational change management" that gets attended to on a need basis (usually, when someone escalates, people come together to explain why they are saying what they are saying and so on...). OCM of course, is a practice, and I have seen some excellent practitioners who are terrific at storytelling, and getting the most restless people to listen and empathize. Oh we certainly need them in bucketful in any organization, especially one that is powering forward in a path of transformation. For you cannot transform without bringing people behind you or "jump with you" (yet another chapter from my book :).

Until such pioneers become magically available, what should the rest of the well meaning implementors, the ones that get impacted by these "safeguards" and the ones measuring the success of these frameworks do?

I can share the following high level perspectives that I have learnt working with people that excelled in executing transformation journeys:

- Engage the community prior to rolling out a decision, make them feel involved

- Wear the right "hat" in a conversation

- Invite the others to do the same

- Jointly find ways to move forward or plan ahead

- Deal with exceptions with contextual awareness, rather than just numbers

Let me briefly expand on these:

1. Engage the community:

While I have seen that this is cultural as well as demographic, sharing the intent through the organization and securing a certain level of feedback (not to alter the decision perhaps, but to learn about how effectively to communicate it), helps. This may even make people feel involved and listened to. Identifying champions closer to the ground, and equipping them with the right messages is another way to clarify the thought process and increasing the reach.

2. Wear the right "hat" in a conversation:

Especially as someone tasked with implementing a policy/strategy, showing empathy in conversations is a good way to drive change. When someone approaches asking for support (or an exception!), instead of shooing them away with something like, "Nice try Henry! we can't help you, as we have been told to strictly implement this 'very important policy' by the CEO, and that is how it is! see you next year, if something changes", how about start by taking the time to listen to Henry, and make an attempt to first connect with the idea, appreciate the thought, and then explain the way forward. Or in other words, wear the hat of the person coming in with the need, and invite them to wear your hat as the guardian of the policy.

3. Inviting the other to exchange your hat:

By explaining what constraints you have to deal with for the larger good of the company, the intent & vision behind a policy (and not because someone told you so!). What does it mean to comply with a policy, and what does it mean to make an exception. And move towards...

4. Finding ways jointly or come up with a new plan:

Can there be creative ideas to adjust the need and be compliant without compromising value of the idea/need/situation? It is important that there is a sense of moving forward rather than concluding the conversations with thoughts such as - "yeah! I manage to push them back, but did I do the right thing?" or "why don't they understand why my stated need is critical, I have such regressive people in the company?"

And finally...

Dealing with exceptions contextually:

Any change takes time... ("well not in my company and not under my watch you may say!") ...for effective implementation. And dealing with exceptions becomes an all too common occurrence for the management/executives, until the change gets perfected! Looking beyond the aggregated data, to understand the context for tracking improvements and encouraging the teams to step up (as opposed to penalizing them for every miss) usually works! (with due regards to requirements from exception intolerant functions such as security, regulatory & sustainability...). Does this take more time which is usually scarce? of course it does. But in the long run, efficiencies add up too!

Is this easy to do? Well, most would say, setting up an environment to whip up AI based solutions with the most advanced programming languages & LLMs is easier to do than talk to people and getting them to concur. Oh! I agree :)

To conclude and end with narrating an incident that triggered this post:

Several years ago, I was taking driving lessons in Canada from an instructor. He was just awesome, and was known to tailor the instruction based on the person he was instructing. For e.g., instead of saying, "chin up, look far ahead...", he would say, "I see a red car coming in, do you see it too, and what's behind it..." or "...what a nice car has come behind us, I like that brand..." or "...I am going to tell you something I see and you should find it in 3 seconds..." and so on. Of course, I could see what he was trying to do :)

After getting my driving license, when I was coming back along with him, I asked, "you seem to be just about perfect in the way you teach and drive, did you ever break traffic rules and get caught by the police...". He didn't see that coming, but gave an honest reply, "Yes! I had to break the rules once, and several ones at that. My son took seriously ill and I was rushing him to the hospital at 2 am in the morning. I had to disregard the speed limit, while being cautious and also the traffic signals. As expected, the police sirens came by not too long after. But I had a very quick chat with them, my problem was real and guess what, they helped me to take my son to the hospital. I did break the rules, but the system supported me as soon as they realized what I was trying to do. I am thankful to them...".

A long shot analogy, I suppose, but it certainly inspires me often to think that the system should come together to move the individuals & the needs forward and deal with exceptions with context & empathy, and not just the lack of compliance.

Thank you for your time and reading through a long post. I hope it has triggered a few reflections in you on your current situation as well. Without dragging the topic further, I want to add that personal transformation also follows in the same paths - and here we become our own protagonist or antagonist with our internal narratives, depending on which hat we choose to wear, and how we deal with our own exceptions (lapses!).

I wish you good luck with your personal and organizational transformation journeys.