By Cindy Wahler
Complacency can be the toxic undercurrent of your organization. If you are the top dog in your field you run the risk of being fat and lazy. You assume you have all the answers and you quickly take your eye off the ball. Don’t forget, your competitors who are in the number 2 and 3 spots remain hungry. They are out to knock you off your perch.
The risks are high. Employees become boastful. They bask in capital growth, increased shareholder value and big fat bonus checks. Sounds good? Not really. This is what I call moving from urgency to vacation mode.
Leaders start to transition from eager participants to observers After all they argue they worked hard to get here and it is now time to reap the rewards. We see this in sports all the time. Teams and individual athletes start to take their top seed positions for granted. They take a bit of a break from their ever so strict regime. Get a little soft around the belly, trading down for bad foods, letting up on their grueling workout, and worst of all change their headspace. Their superior technical skills are still there but their physical and psychological mindset has shifted. This will cost them every time.
A similar pattern emerges within employee ranks. Leaders bask in all the positive press. Before you know it, there is a paradigm shift. They transition psychologically from a sense of earning this position in the marketplace to one of arrogance. Employees forget that what it takes to sustain this position is not past achievements. That’s now history. Oh sure take a few pages from your last playbook. However, now you need a new playbook. If you don’t, you may become Kodak, RIM, Compaq. Remember all those great companies?
Leaders have a responsibility to continue to promote new talent. Rising stars have an appetite to make their mark. They see new opportunities. An organization must foster a culture that rewards and champions change and gives a platform for a new direction or a different kind of capital investment.
Companies must recognize that ongoing innovation is required. They must keep their ear to the ground and mine for competitive intelligence. Actively listening to consumers not by just understanding their needs but anticipating their future needs is an important hallmark of successful companies. It’s not only understanding your competitors, it is also watching where the world is going and positioning yourself to get there first. If you deny the reality of change your organization will be on a downward spiral even if it is slow and insidious.
Senior leaders must be rewarded for their ability to identify and groom their next stars. If they cannot create a culture of thought disruptors than it is incumbent on the organization to shuffle the deck. If you don’t, your playing cards sure look worn real fast. A sense of malaise occurs and your stars will cross the street. They will take their thought breaking ideas and innovate where a competitor will provide the infrastructure and appetite to execute on these ideas.
The right mix is essential. Companies must foster not just idea generation but the imperative to execute. All organizations should assess for urgency. This is a frustration and primary concern that many of my clients share.
After many years of consulting for top tier organizations I do not believe you can teach urgency. This is part of your DNA. The need to win and all the variables that include the ability to execute are either part of who you are, or not. Urgency cannot be taught.
If you beg to differ, think of all those frustrating conversations you have encountered with your teams. You know they have the technical capability. You remind them countless times of sensitive deadlines and high profile projects. They promise with earnest, and they are indeed intent. Yet as one of my clients stated, “Here we go again, he always needs a kick in the butt!”
Organizations must weed out their non-urgent players. A fresh transfusion is required to sustain momentum and be on the cutting edge. Formally assessing for urgency is imperative. This will differentiate those players who work hard from those who can position your organization to either maintain a stronghold on your top seat or pick up the pace to grab the number one spot.
Cindy Wahler, Ph.D. is a leadership consultant with expertise in helping organizations lead with influence and impact through executive coaching and facilitated workshops. She can be contacted at cwahler@cindywahler.com
