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A Checklist for Changing Me to Change Them
By Jim Clemmer
"The cruelest lies are often told in silence." — Robert
Lewis Stevenson, 19th century Scottish poet, novelist, and essayist
We can't build a team or organization that's different from us.
We can't make them into something we're not. Failing to follow this principle
is the single biggest reason that so many team and organization change
and improvement efforts flounder or fail. The changes and improvements
we try to make to others must ring true to the changes and improvements
we're also trying to make to ourselves. The following is a checklist:
Are You Trying to Make Your Organization or Team Into Something
You're Not?
To What Extent am I:
| • |
Attempting to change my organization or team without
changing myself? |
| • |
Prodding my organization to be more people (customer/partner) focused
when I am a Technomanager (driven by management systems and technology)? |
| • |
Driving for industry or market leadership when I am afflicted with
the Pessimism Plague and/or Victimitis Virus? |
| • |
Striving to stimulate and energize others when I am not passionate
about my own role and life's work? |
| • |
Promoting organization or team vision, values, and mission when
my own picture of my preferred future, principles, and purpose aren't
clear and/or well aligned with where I am trying to lead others. |
| • |
Pushing for a customer-driven organization while controlling and
dominating, rather than serving (servant-leadership)? |
| • |
Aspiring to develop new markets and fill unmet needs while spending
limited time with customers, partners, or those serving them? |
| • |
Trying to build a learning organization when my own rate of personal
growth and development is low? |
| • |
Declaring the urgency of higher levels of innovation while I stick
to familiar personal methods and traditional command and control management
approaches? |
| • |
Aiming for disciplined organization or team goal and priority setting
when I am not well organized, a poor personal time manager, and fuzzy
about my own goals and priorities? |
| • |
Setting organization improvement plans without an improvement process
of my own? |
| • |
Promoting teamwork and a team-based organization without providing
a personal model of team leadership and team effectiveness in action? |
| • |
Supporting high levels of skill development — for everyone
else? |
| • |
Forcing accountability, performance appraisal, and measurement on
others while I defend, avoid, or half-heartedly gather personal feedback? |
| • |
Proclaiming empowerment and involvement while controlling and limiting
people with a centralized structure and systems that constrain rather
than support? |
| • |
Talking about the need for better communications without becoming
a strong and compelling communicator? |
| • |
Establishing formal reward and recognition programs when my personal
habits of giving sincere recognition and showing genuine appreciation
are weak? |
| • |
Espousing support for change champions while suppressing "off
the wall" behavior and pushing people to follow my plans and
stay within in my established system? |
| • |
Advocating reviews and assessments while doing little personal reflection
and contemplation? |
What do my answers tell me about my leadership? Does this exercise help
explain the positive, negative, or so-so results of the team and organization
improvement efforts I lead? My reflections are important, but an even
better source of feedback are the people on my team or those in my organization
who know my leadership behavior well enough to give me some feedback.
Ironically (and tragically), managers who need it most — the weakest
leaders — are the least likely to ask for this kind of feedback.
| Jim Clemmer is a bestselling author and internationally
acclaimed keynote speaker, workshop/retreat leader, and management
team developer on leadership, change, customer focus, culture, teams,
and personal growth. During the last 25 years he has delivered over
two thousand customized keynote presentations, workshops, and retreats.
Jim's five international bestselling books include The VIP Strategy,
Firing on All Cylinders, Pathways to Performance, Growing the Distance,
and The Leader's Digest. His web site is www.clemmer.net.
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