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How to eliminate denial in your organization
By John Carroll
Carroll on Work
Last issue, this column considered the occurrence and damage done by the practice of denial in an organization. Now let’s consider some ways to reduce and eliminate denial where you work.
If you see denial in any form invading or pervading your organization, you would be well-advised to take action immediately to eliminate it. Here are some ways to rid your team, department or company of this silent destroyer:
Measure, measure, measure. Denial often accompanies the practice of intuitive management. This is not to say that using one’s intuition to innovate, act on observed conditions or begin to research a new product or service is bad. But when decisions are based entirely on gut reaction to whatever the issue may be, decision-making often suffers.
When there are accurate, reliable measurements handy, such key information can often overcome the inclination to deny and ignore. Get good at measuring, even to the extent of creating scoreboards throughout your business to measure indicators that keep all associates in the game of your business.
Ask questions and listen closely. You have golden opportunities each and every day that you’re in the presence of your associates, suppliers and clients to learn more about your operation. “So, how are you doing today?” can be a good start, but don’t end it there. Don’t be in a hurry. Ask and listen to the answers. Find out what’s on someone’s mind and ask follow-up questions until you’re able to discern how those responses can shed light on a potential improvement somewhere in your systems.
Your willingness to be curious and learn, to be open and improvement-ready, will serve you well. Dan Cathy, president and CEO of Chick-Fil-A Restaurants, spends three days each week in stores, week after week, year after year, always observing and learning how he and his team can improve the customers’ experience and enhance customer loyalty.
Identify and engage a trusted, objective third party. For some, this may be a mentor or family member outside of the business. For others it can be a business consultant. Regardless, you should actively seek out the advice and guidance of a trusted confidant who can listen to your concerns, reflect them back to you in such a way that they become clearer and provide you with alternatives to address the matter at hand.
Ask the tough questions, such as, “What am I missing in what I see here?” Put yourself out for regular inspection by someone you trust and who is willing to tell you that you may be off base or in denial of some particular challenge you should be facing directly.
Build your own. While ideas from other places are often close to what you need, they rarely have the same positive impact until you’ve grown their seeds into blossoming plants in your own garden. Even if there’s nothing new under the sun, customize whatever you bring in, a little or considerably, until it looks, feels and tastes like your own.
Practice patience. When you bring a new initiative, gain buy-in across the team and implementation. Be sure to accept and communicate that it will take time and focused, repeated effort to improve what may have taken years to deteriorate. Don’t fall for the snake oil sales gimmick that promises weight loss, hair growth and teenage energy, all in a single pill. It just doesn’t happen.
Go and get some courage. Wherever you need to find it, collect the intestinal fortitude required to enforce the rules, even when it may cause a family rift. While family businesses have their own set of interesting dynamics, the spoiled child operating freely and without consequence in the business environment often poisons all aspects of an owner’s life, doing no favors to work or personal relationships.
Lead by example. This is the single most difficult challenge for many executives: practice what you preach. Check your own habits, behaviors and approaches. Determine which are helping you move closer to your organizational goals and which are creating obstacles for you or others. Replace the ineffective with new, practical approaches. When you’re dealing with bad habits, choose one to focus on at a time. Wear a rubber band on your wrist and snap it each time you find yourself doing what you’re trying to change. That lingering, stinging sensation will remind you to adopt a different approach.
Find denial where it lives, root it out of your current approach to business and take some or all of these steps now to eliminate it from your organization. You’ll find a high return on your investment in facing reality head on.
John Carroll is a business consultant, speaker, author and president of Unlimited Performance Inc. in Mount Pleasant. E-mail him at jcarroll@uperform.com.
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