Exorcising The Details

There is much that has been said about the need for "vision" in the leadership for any size or type organization.  We seem, by publishing and online post standards, to be very focused on this one aspect of leadership. As much as a company needs a vision, the leader needs a person or persons who can help implement the vision. Too many good "visions" have never got off the ground for lack of good strategic detail planning.

We are not talking about the super-unique visionary with big picture agenda and a playbook to match. These types are out there but are few and far between. So most companies are "stuck" with an "ordinary" leaders. These are folks who need some help getting their big picture into practice.

More often by accident rather than design, the visionary leaders of the successful companies I have been associated with, have what I call detail translators.  These people are a gifted lot, who have the uncanny ability to only catch the vision, but also see the steps to reach the vision. While the visionary may see the mile-markers in route to the fulfillment of the vision, the "detailers" see most of the individual steps between the mile markers.

The president of a company I know has a saying, "The devil is in the details. So, sweat the details." His company had a great deal of success given their small size. The reason? Great vision coupled with a focus on details. The real work of vision implementation comes in mapping out the details. Detail translators exorcise most of the demons of the details in the conference room before the vision is implemented.

Another company I worked with wanted to implement a new safety protocol within the organization. The vision was not only a good one but a necessary addition. The vision was given to the departmental managers with appropriate mile stones for implementation. The "go live" date had been given with percentage of compliance assigned. In this case, 70% in the first ninety days. (I have often wondered how one assigns a percentage of compliance less than 100 in a safety related matter.)

To make a long story short, more than a year later compliance was 80% with significant increase in frustration throughout the organization. All it would have taken was a few more hours of "detail translation" or "demon exorcising" in the conference room (rather than the daily work space) to reach higher compliance levels in a shorter time frame.

My advice to our visionary leaders; find, your detail translators. They are important to your vision. Cherish them, They are a valuable part of your organization. Release them upon your vision. Let them work their magic on the demons in your vision. Send time with them making sure they see what you see. They will then be better able to bring your vision to a successful reality, sooner.

Gauging the Flow

Water, in all of its various forms, has always fascinated me. Rivers and larger bodies of water attract 

me like metal shavings to a magnet.  So, I am fortunate to live in the midst of the Great Lakes. The state of Michigan is almost entirely surround by the lakes; Superior, Michigan, Huron, St. Clair, and Erie, comprising the western, northern, and eastern borders. All of these lakes flow through one another relentlessly toward the St. Lawrence Seaway and empty into the Atlantic ocean.

One of the incredible things about water is how it moves. But, water only moves when acted on by another force; like wind or gravity. In lakes and oceans, winds can pile up massive amounts of water in waves. Roof top puddles will ripple with the slightest breeze. Streams and rivers are at the mercy of gravity and topography.

One of the things I liked to do as a kid, was release captured water. Digging trenches with sticks or other more sophisticated tools to release the water from its earthen captivity.  An activity I still like to do. When I walk to work in the rain, I watch with great interest how the water has to fight its way through the leaves next to the curb. More times than I can count, I have stopped, found a stick and moved just enough leaves so that the water can pick up a nice head of steam.

Maybe I’m a “water-whisperer”, seeking to release the “inner flow” of the water. I also imagine I look a lot like Robert Redford too. (The snickering you may be hearing in the background is my wife.)

When I get to work after my curbside water therapy, I am equally fascinated, negatively so, with the lack of movement in the organization I work for and other companies like it. I don't care what type of business your in, there is a dynamic present just below the surface.  This "life force" or "potential" that a business possesses comes from the magnificent collection of people who work as a part of the company. Many brilliant writers of business books have said in various ways "your people are your greatest asset". Well if this is true, why do we work so hard to keep them boxed up?

Some years ago, I worked for a company that every year leadership bemoaned the fact the organization had such great potential.  By my estimation, the statement was true.  However, not one ounce of thought or energy went into ways to release that untapped potential. It was like the story of Moses, if you tap the rock a certain number of times with the right stick, water comes out. Sadly, like the rock containing the unseen water, it just sat there in the dirt surrounded by ruminating managers. What if that organization had said, "How can we release our people into greater engagement or productivity?  What is hindering our people from becoming more than they are at this moment?"

I recently heard from a friend of mine who works for a good size company that was setting a new course for it's future.  The presentation was well thought out and compelling.  There was a clear sense in the room of readiness to grab the concept and run into the future. Until the fateful statement regarding employee engagement, "get engaged or get out". Even if this wasn't the only attempt at employee engagement, it was an epic fail! The already "engaged" associates in the room disengaged slightly.

There is such potential in people. The best companies see it and seek to release it. While at the same time, I see and hear, time and time again, of departments, divisions, whole companies, working overtime to quash creativity, out of the box thinking, deeper engagement and/or personal growth from it's most valuable asset. If the CFO treated the finances in the same manner many companies treated their associates, they would be fired within a year. But that fact in itself reveals money is the true asset for most organizations.

A small church near my home has done an amazing thing.  There are about 30 congregants mostly retired and over sixty. The roof leaks and the parking lot has weeds poking up through the disintegrating blacktop. Clearly, at first glance, this is not one of those wildly successful mega churches. But these 30 people give 100 homeless folks a week a hot meal. They receive no grants or outside monies.  They supply, cook, and serve all the meals. I wonder what a company of 100 or 500 or 1000 could do if so motivated.

What if the management team of a company decided together to send a gale force wind across the sea of their associates? Could the waves break over the heavy fortified seawalls and reach new areas?  What if a company's leadership made it their goal to remove the log jambs from the stream of their employees?  Could the released river current carry the organizational raft to new places as yet unexplored?

How are things flowing in you company? What would happen if...