Leadership & Management - Start Making Sense
Leaders and managers must create the conditions for employees to feel empowered and prepared to take action, but they often give employees whiplash instead. Muddled vision, competing priorities, scattered game plans, and limited accountability are all contributing to a culture of inaction. So if you are a government leader who wants to see more action from the team, then it’s time to start making sense.
Why Are Leaders and Managers Setting Conditions for Inaction?
There is no clear vision. Leading an organization without a clear vision of the destination is like getting the whole family in the car for a road trip to . . . anywhere. It sounds fun at first, but problems soon ensue.
Why? Visionless governments are often the byproduct of continuous leadership transitions. Political cycles exacerbate this problem by periodically sweeping out one person’s vision in exchange for another. Since continuous change is the only constant, new leaders should take quick steps to describe the destination.
- What can you do about it? The US Army thinks a lot about leadership transitions and publishes a time-based guide for new leaders. The advice is applicable to many organizations. Spend the first 30 days listening more than talking, but establish a clear vision before the 60-day mark. Any longer without a clear vision, and leaders risk disrupting team cohesion. Once a clear vision exists, leaders and managers should share it with a broad audience to get support and continuously use it like a compass to guide the work.
In Jackson, Mississippi, Mayor Tony Yarber repeatedly highlights the importance of data and evidence in his vision for the city, making it clear the city makes “judgments based on the science and not art . . . on an assessment of the facts and not on our feelings. It means that at all levels; we will make decisions to fund things that are relative to our city's sustainability and its ability to function properly.”
There is no focused plan. A leader can have a very clear vision but no clue how to get there, and that difference is frustrating to employees who have to make choices at every turn. Having a clear plan can help everyone be clear what to do first, second, and third. A focused plan also helps clarify what not to do.
Why? Some leadership and management teams can’t make up their minds about which courses of actions to take. They change direction often and it’s hard for employees to keep track of how the organization is progressing and how they should contribute.
- What can you do about it? Make a plan, write it down, communicate it, and stick to it. Setting out a clear vision isn’t enough. Leaders and managers must articulate how the organization is going to get there, assigning actions, timelines, and measures of progress.
Fort Lauderdale, FL, and Raleigh, NC, both have strong examples of vision documents and strategic plans, which make it clear what the city intends to achieve, and when.
There is no accountability. If leaders and managers don’t hold each other accountable for taking action, inaction will continue throughout the organization.
Why? Tough conversations are uncomfortable and most people avoid them. Too often, leaders and managers avoid them by not assigning specific owners and not enforcing consequences for inaction or underperformance. They assume the problem will resolve itself if they simply express disappointment during a staff meeting.
- What can you do about it? Take the emotion out of it. If leaders and managers have written down a vision, a plan, owners, and metrics for progress, then it’s a simple conversation about what has and hasn’t been accomplished. Questions from leadership should be respectful but persistent, so everyone knows accountability isn’t about embarrassing each other, it’s about making progress together.