There are so many reasons to resist change. However, when largescale change is foisted upon organizations and cannot be resisted, the culture can dramatically shift. We see how this has happened for many organizations forced to work remotely throughout this pandemic. Their habits, practices and beliefs about how work can get done and how to succeed and fail have been transformed.
But what about when the cultural transformation you are leading means holding yourself and your peers accountable? How can you align the behavior of other managers like yourself with the vision and values stated on your company’s website?
In a recent example, a very solid and very large organization declares its intention to be inclusive and value diverse perspectives. Sound familiar?
For this organization, its leaders declare their intention to have its senior ranks include more women. Research shows women overwhelmingly influence or make over 80% of financial decisions. It’s not simply the right thing to do, it’s immensely practical. Failure to understand and relate to customers can create false choices. Product and service offerings, and customer-facing attitudes may negate the experience of clients.
Armed with this reality – and the encouragement of federal regulators to better represent those the company serves – decision-makers create aspirational targets, scour policies and procedures to better recruit, develop and advance women into executive ranks. Not only customer-facing sales representatives but its top leadership ranks would be populated by more women, including women of color.
The top executive of this region declared this target will persist even in extreme market disruption, amidst leadership change, restructuring, retrenchment.
What might be required to lead this transformation?
A mentor once told me that one’s values are illustrated by the difficulty encountered when having to live that value. What sacrifice might living a value like inclusion entail? How can you communicate that the danger of keeping things as they are far outweighs the challenges they will face? How can you bolster personal beliefs that this transformation is possible? How can you increase willingness to say it and show it over and over and over again?
Like any good advertising or marketing plan, this value demands reinforcement. And if the team at the top behaves in ways that contradict the values no amount of words will mean a thing.
Imagine this scenario. At an all-hands, year-end awards ceremony the top executive recognizes the outstanding performance of its top earner – a woman. In the next breath he praises her willingness to clean up the shared kitchen area. There is a collective cringe in the audience. This story flies around the company like wildfire. But no one tells this executive how his words might be construed, even though everyone in the room has been part of gender bias training.
The long-term repercussions of leaving this executive’s words on the floor are profound. Pessimism is fueled if this executive’s awards speech goes unchecked and becomes part of the “floor lore” as another living example of deep-rooted gender bias.
Who has the managerial courage to tell him? Is it on the women in the group to school this executive? No. How onerous is it for a life-long non-dominant group member (a women) to shoulder the responsibility of telling the dominant group member (a man) they’ve just stepped in it?
How powerful might it be if this executive is made aware of his words and their impact by another man? What if one or more of his male direct reports say what they heard and felt personally – even at the risk of some initial resistance?
To say what needs to be said directly, quickly, completely and with empathy by someone who is facing the same challenges can be potent. With some empathetic coaching, the executive can gain the wherewithal to call himself out. Imagine the reverberation across the organization. The grapevine buzzing with hope. This value, these aspirational goals may well be attained.
Leading change during periods of intense uncertainty – like now – can stir up many faces of resistance. One test of your values is the level of discomfort and sacrifice you are willing to endure when living in them. This is the perfect time to step out of your comfort zone, find and use your voice to speak and act decisively with wisdom and empathy?