The Big Rollback

The big rollback...not really poor leadership, but could have been.

Morale is at an all time low I am told, due to the economy. This leader is beside themselves trying to figure out how to fix it. They want surveys, 360degree surveys, benchmarks for the industry, roundtable discussions with other industry leaders to see if they are experiencing the same thing. It's sheer madness he says, they cannot get out of the funk.


So, here comes the coach. My first question is....what is your mood? What is your attitude? Are you perpetuating the ' poor me' or are you pushing past it and asking...why not me? What can I do about it? What can I change?

The leader paused for a moment...well, longer than a moment, for which I give him great credit....and then he said..no one has ever asked me that before. No one has challenged me to change my perspective instead of finding excuses for the perspective I have.

I could not tell at the moment if he was happy or grateful for the challenge or not. Time will tell if he picks it up and moves forward with it. By the end of our session he was willing to consider that he could be the game changer by moving forward instead of looking for excuses for everyone.

What could have turned into a complete business debacle ( a poor leadership adventure spiralling out of control) turned into a good coaching session, where my client learned a skill to take back to his team.

Changing perspectives is not easy, sometimes you need the prompt.

Worry or Stifle

It often happens that leaders get caught up in the worry and start to stifle the ideas that flow around them.

Worry can cause leaders to refuse to open their eyes (or their mind) and see around or over roadblocks, consider other perspectives or even alternative solutions....their worry leads back in a circle to themselves.

They are concerned more with how they will look by taking a new path, they worry about how they will be perceived by their peers if they take the advice or draw on the perspective of others.  They worry what the consequences will be if they take an alternative route to a solution.

What to do?  Help the leader see that they can spend a few minutes sorting out all the 'what ifs ' of the worry?  What if exercises can be both in positive or negative voice.
What if the project fails?
What if the alternative solution makes us more profitable?
What if my peers see me taking the advice of the team?


This helps guide the leader to understand -what's the worst that could happen but also what's the best that could happen, while at the same time taking time to learn along the way.