What our Senior Vice President found was that his reports had become even more conservative—and their departments had become even less productive. I was brought in (with a team) to help improve the situation. As part of our contract, my team conducted a series of interviews with all the Vice Presidents. Almost uniformly, they indicated that their new boss had been unsupportive and threatening. It was “either his way or the highway”. My team was faced with the prospect of reporting these findings to our client. He was surprisingly open to our feedback. He suggested that my team share these findings with his entire group of Vice Presidents, and we did so.
After completed our report, one of the Vice Presidents stood up and declared that our report was fraudulent: “the Senior Vice President is a fine man and is absolutely supportive of our work. Sir, you should fire these consultants – they had not told you the truth.” The room grew quite silent. We were preparing to leave very quickly and consider another line of work! Then suddenly one of the Vice Presidents (who we later found out was usually quiet in the group) spoke up. He indicated that the report we had delivered was quite accurate and that these criticisms of the Senior Vice President were often voiced in the backrooms (but never in front of the Senior Vice President).
Our courageous Vice President then said (we remember his words): “This is our one opportunity to make things better. If we can’t be honest in this setting, then when can we be honest. We are all hurting and none of us want things to stay the same.” At this point, several other VPs spoke up. They supported this very open statement. Now, the Senior Vice President spoke up. He indicated his appreciation of the courage shown by these members of his team. It is this kind of courage and honesty that he had been looking for when brought in to promote innovation. Work began on making this group of VPs become a team. Their progress over the following six months was very impressive – and this bank is now back in a much better position regarding market share. Miracles were not wrought, but important progress was made by this Senior Vice President and his executive group as the level of openness rose. Trust was on the rise. A Cycle of Trust (openness begetting Trust, etc.) was lingering on the sidelines—waiting to be ushered in.
There is one other story of openness that I wish to share. I was working with faculty members in an academic department located at a major American university located in the Pacific Northwest. We were in the midst of a three-day faculty development retreat held at a beautiful setting on a wooded lake. Members of the department were conveying some of their own narratives about why and how they got into the teaching business. The stories they were sharing seemed well-rehearsed. They had probably been heard by colleagues several times before. Nothing much was occurring, except some important reflections on how the world was changing. Therefore, the curriculum of their own department needed to be modified. Constructive dialogue was engaged–but pretty much standard academic stuff about the outside world. There was not much about the hopes, fears and aspirations of individual faculty members.
Download Article 1K Club
