Leading by Avoidance

Have you ever worked for a leader who just avoided you? Has this same leader then used the at-will clause or position elimination to finally have a conversation with you? I can honestly say that I have not...however, I have worked with these people as my peers. I have watched as they blamed their inefficiency on the many people they let go..the interesting thing is that these same people were still inefficient after the others were gone...but the blame game got them moved to another area or role so that they can start the process all over.

This style is called leadership through avoidance. While some say this is just how they are, think about the humanity behind it. Avoid your partner and employees and maybe they will just go away...That really isn't leadership...it is self-preservation...

A unique idea here would be that if you do not work well with others or have difficulty even having a conversation, let alone have a difficult conversation, you should either work on improving your skills or stop being a leader. There really are individual contribitor roles that meet your needs...please look for them...

This became more of a rant than a direction and insight, but right-fit roles are important in keeping everyone sane and your business thriving...

Good luck and lead well..

Executive ROI

As an executive, your focus is to get the most out of the least. Your goal is to succeed in every aspect of your business. Your key to achieving a positive return on investment is to communicate, communicate, communicate.

You are in and out of meetings every moment of every day. You barely have time to sit at your desk, let alone a training class. You are the strategy…You are the vision. The goals need to be set and refined. Since you are not the content expert, you need to trust your operators, your trainers, your teams to deliver on the expectations you set.

If you plan on being successful over the long-term, you need to be willing to refine your goals as you gain more knowledge. As plans are implemented that reinforce the strategy, you will need to offer your assistance. You also should be the first to initiate change, remembering to check in with all levels of staff as the process is rolled out and behaviors are impacted. By having a face in the organization, you will help the people travel along the varied change management paths they decide to follow. Paths, each of us follow every day, sometimes on our way home…

You are driving home from the office. You begin thinking about what will erupt when you announce the implementation of the new software that is being brought in “to make things “easier” in efforts to meet our financial goals while streamlining the processes for the operations”…at least that is what the IT report indicated…training will have two weeks after acceptance testing to develop and deliver training to your staff of 1500.

You are just about to pick up your cell phone to check your voicemail, when you see the taillights brighten on the car in front of you. You step on your brake pedal and slow down with the rest of traffic. You remember hearing sirens when you left the office and believe an accident is somewhere on this road.

You look around for a way out. The side streets here don’t cross any of the major streets that you need to get home, but they may get you further along this road and out of the traffic. You turn your wheel slightly to the right when traffic moves forward. You decide to forgo the side streets and move with traffic.

You move forward only halfway down the block when the traffic stops again. You will have to wait to take any other route…
Or, will you? You could turn around, head back to your office, and wait until the traffic subsides.

You turn your wheel slightly to the left. Traffic moves forward again. You decide to go a little further and flow with the others. You move to the next side street, but the traffic stops there. Your patience is wearing thin and you need to figure out a solution for communicating the implementation plan tomorrow. You turn right down the next side street, hoping to get ahead of these other cars and just keep moving.

As you complete your turn, you notice three other cars behind you. “Huh, copycats,” you think aloud. You travel about five blocks, the other cars are still in view. On the sixth street, you decide to make your way back to the main thoroughfare and turn left. As you complete your turn, you realize that many others had the same idea.

You decide to turn around and try another street. This time, only one car follows. At the end of each block, you slow down and check the streets before you turn. Finally, you find a path that has only two cars. You turn down that road. You check your rear-view mirror and realize the other car must have turned down another street.

You decide to turn on your radio to see if there is any information about the situation. As you get closer to the other cars, the babbling from the news station mentions a fire hydrant burst and flooding on the roadway…and under the two cars in front of you. You slowed down enough to hit the end of the quickly expanding pool at a stop.

You back and begin to turn around again. If only you had listened to the radio, if only you had stayed on the path you set, if only you had not left the office so early…if only…

These situations happen. Have they happened to you? Did you stay the path? Did you turn around? Did you just pull off on a side street and make some calls? We all seem to be rushing for a quicker way home, a quicker return on investment. However, we rarely receive the return we wish.

In fact, we may waste time by trying different paths. Others may follow. We may exhaust more money in labor or invest in one technology to “fix” another. It’s like turning down a side street with a larger back-up of cars then the one you tried to escape.
We may eventually need to revert to the original path because we reached a point of negative return so large that it overshadowed and even flooded the original investment.

Throughout the entire scenario, we rarely thought about getting home. However, we did think about the meeting the next day and the getting ahead of the other cars. If we can’t remind ourselves of the path or the vision, who will remind the organization?

As the executive, as the vision and strategy, you need to set and refine goals, offer assistance, and initiate change, especially as new projects are rolled out.

Vision is not always 20/20…
Sometimes, it is clouded by heights
no one intended to reach
since the beginning…

Improving on decisions is best for the company…

Leaders within an organization make decisions everyday, some good, some questionable. You are always told that if you do not support a decision once it is made, you are not a “team player.” If you are not considered a “team player,” your opportunities within the organization may decrease. It is OK to have an opinion, really. It is how you choose to share your opinion that becomes the challenge.

Deliver on the decision that has already been made, and do so to the best of your ability. Share your solution-oriented feedback. Increase awareness of the vision and importance of your organization with your teams and peers. Set the example. Understand that the solution you are supporting is just the first step in a successful business.

Executives or decision-makers in organizations may not have enough time or even enough information to plan the full implementation of a project. This is your opportunity to take ownership and improve on the decisions already made. This is your opportunity to demonstrate that you are there to deliver by reinforcing content, operating efficiently, and increasing awareness throughout your scope in the operation areas.


Solutions are just as liquid as the problems they are meant to dilute…