Musings at Altitude

I spend lots of time studying other leaders and coaches.  Some I get to know through books and others I get to watch (a few I get to know) through direct interaction or dealing with folks in their companies or organizations.  The leaders I’ve been up close to include chief executive officers of large telecom companies, senior military officers, distinguished legislators, and even the President of our nation.

I’ve seen both very good and very bad leadership from these very distinguished and successful individuals.  I’ve seen actions and choices that resulted in wonderful things happening, and then I’ve seen actions and choices that make you wonder how some of them made it to the important positions that they have filled.

Each of the leaders I have studied or known were people of action.  They wanted to be the decision makers, and they expected quick action as a result of those decisions.  The path to those decisions were varied – some got limited information and then quickly decided.  Others wanted enormous amounts of staff work and background information, and then they decided.  But when the decisions were made, all expected a sense of urgency in executing against those decisions.

As I talk with business leaders today, I see a paralysis setting in as those very talented leaders try to collect and then assess all the different sensory inputs that they are receiving today.  They are getting conflicting data as they sense changes in the market that don’t then occur or they expect stability in other markets and those markets quickly crater.  The executive teams and staffs for these leaders are doing them no favors, because they are floundering in the waves of economic collapse and uncertain about what to recommend because their ideas and opinions from before aren’t playing out in this time of business crisis.  The data doesn’t make sense anymore…in fact, the data is wrong more often than right today.  Unfortunately, in times of unfettered growth, just about anyone can look like a genius, and business leaders today are suffering as those seemingly smart senior team members now provide no comfort and no credible solutions for the path forward.

In many ways, during times of great distress in a business, the team members directly touching customers within an organization become so much smarter than those in senior leadership positions.  Those team members are closer to the data.  Those team members are experiencing first hand the changes occurring in the market place.  Those team members are understanding what is and isn’t working in the style and substance of what is being delivered to the customers.

So maybe, just maybe, during these times of great business distress, business leaders should spend most of their time out in the field talking to those who have that real time understanding of what works and doesn’t work.  And maybe we should be humble enough to admit that we don’t have all the answers right now and even the answers we do have are suspect because those action plans were developed by those not in any way in tune with the reality of business operations today.

Since paralysis is the worst possible scenario for a business organization, it seems appropriate to flip any struggling organization upside down right now and let the mission leaders drive the action plans, not the staffs.  My action minded senses tell me that if business leaders did that today, there would be a narrower focus, there would be an intimate connection to the customers, there would be real time and accurate information flowing to the business leader, and there would be a priority of spending tied directly to the things that make money for the business.

Maybe we should do this all the time!