Interpreting Executive Behavior: Why Your Lens Matters
In a clear, steady voice Sarah, the COO of a healthcare start-up, described her new CEO: “She continually makes claims and promises to the board not backed up with data. She pings people on the team at all hours, on the weekends, instructing them to do work in direct conflict with our stated priorities. When…
MIND THE GAP: LEADING CHANGE WITH OPEN EYES Part Five: How to Avoid “Naked Emperor Syndrome”
Throughout this blog series we have examined the perception-reality gap between senior executives and middle managers regarding organizational change and that gap’s negative impact on people and business success. Wrapping up the series, let’s explore how impaired feedback loops perpetuate this perception-reality gap by manifesting “naked emperor syndrome”. Naked Emperor Syndrome and Organizational ChangeHans Christian…
MIND THE GAP: LEADING CHANGE WITH OPEN EYES Part Four: How Unintentional Scapegoating Hinders Change
Most of us can probably think of a time when we were blamed for something that was not our fault. Being intentionally made a scapegoat is unfair and it can cause real damage. Unintentional scapegoating is something I see frequently in organizations, and it is no less damaging. It’s a practice that can widen the…
MIND THE GAP: LEADING CHANGE WITH OPEN EYES Part Three: Where Role Demands Meet Unconscious Bias
In my last post we explored how the perception-reality gap between senior executives and middle managers shows up during organizational change and the negative impact the gap has on people and business success. But what causes this gap in the first place? In my experience, one driver is the interplay between the role demands of…
Mind The Gap: Leading Change With Open Eyes – Part Two: How the Gap Shows Up
“We’re good at change. It’s business as usual and not an issue here.” “We invest in resilience training because we know our people can use support in building this muscle.” “We just need to get through these next few phases (restructures, layoffs, etc.) and then the team will adjust.” We started this blog series by…
Mind The Gap: Leading Change With Open Eyes – Part 1
The Alternate Realities of Organizational Change Two decades ago, change was framed as an innovative and noble undertaking organizations intentionally created for success. Today, perpetual change is accepted as a natural state for all organizations. Unfortunately, familiarity does not always create successful change rollouts, and that can often be attributed to a gap in perception,…