NOVEMBER 7, 2024 - WHY GREAT PLANS FADE AWAY
TOUCHSTONE LEADERSHIP COACHING
WHY GREAT PLANS FADE AWAY - NOVEMBER 7, 2024
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HAVE YOU SEEN GREAT PLANS BUILT, THEN MONTHS LATER FADE AWAY?
THIS IS INTERPERSONAL MUSH AT WORK.
Looking at the role communication and culture play in the success of organizations and teams I came across a great term that describes what can happen when communication and culture are failing. Gervase Bushe uses the term Interpersonal Mush to describe the environment that is created.
As you prepare for any kind of important plan rollout you think a lot about what you need to bring to it as a communicator, a strong message, a clear voice, a confident tone, a persuasive argument. Common thoughts for a leader. What you are not able to prepare for is what the listener brings. The thoughts, experiences, biases and a variety of other things that the listeners bring that can greatly affect what they take away. What they feel is important to them. The things they feel they should act on, the things they feel they don’t need to. Their overall impression of what was said about the direction of the organization. All important things if an organizations wants to move forward.
Without organizational clarity the communication and culture needed to move strategic planning forward doesn’t get the attention it needs. At best it gets watered down, at worst it slowly disappears.
Trust
In relationships outside of work where trust has broken down, how is communications and shared culture? Why should work relationships be any different. When trust breaks down the organizational patterns needed for change and progress will get bogged down. If people in an organization don’t fully trust their leaders, their peers or even their direct reports how are they going properly hear and act on those things needed to move the business forward?
Uncertainty
If people are uncertain about something we will often be hesitant to ask for clarification because we don’t want to offend, appear stupid or simply can’t be bothered. This creates gaps in our understanding of potentially important company direction. We are sense making beings. We are wired to make sense of what is going on around us, particularly making sense of what people important to us say. If there are gaps we will fill them in with our own perspectives. Humans are also wired to assume the worst as a safety mechanism. And, when we look at things in a negative way we also become more self focused rather having an organizational focus.
Historical Interpersonal Relationships
People will hear what is being said based on a filter from their experience with previous communication from somebody. If they haven’t like what has come from this person or the plans haven’t worked they will assume it will be bad again.
Results
If we work in an environment that relies on the quality of relationships to get things done then this interpersonal mush can become toxic. The partnerships between individuals and teams will break down. And, leaders will get less of the information they need to make effective decisions. For an organization to change and grow there needs to be interpersonal communication. If groups/individuals are not communicating effectively they are not able to change their patterns of interaction. Without changes in how people interact, organizational change can flounder.
Interesting Articles
More on Interpersonal Mush
Cutting through the "interpersonal mush"
Are Your Workplace Relationships Turning to Mush? | Psychology Today
Overcoming Interpersonal Mush | USC Gould School of Law
Gervase Bushe:
Strategies for building partnerships and fostering improvement in relationships, teams, and organizations.
Fundamentally, you need a leader who is a learner. The question is: “Is the leader willing to accept disconfirming information publicly?” The capacity of the system to be able to learn from collective experience depends on a leader’s willingness to be seen learning publicly; their ability to describe their experience without expecting anyone else to be having the same experience, and their ability to be curious about other people’s experience without getting defensive.
You also need a leader who operates out of an “appreciate mindset”. In this mindset the leader assumes that people are the heroes of their own stories, and that they are operating out of positive intent no matter how negative their impact might be.
There are a lot of techniques for bringing together large groups to learn together collectively and to imagine alternative solutions but it is easier for people to be real with each other if they are not trying to figure out who’s to blame.
Coaching works. It will make you or someone you know a better leader.
Contact me
Phone: (778) 938-1003
Email: rob.murray@shaw.ca
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Touchstone Leadership Coaching, 507-990 LAGOON DRIVE, Vancouver, Canada
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