January 10, 2007	Volume 7, Issue 2
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When Fear Takes Hold

by Rick Brenner

Leading an organization through a rough patch, we sometimes devise solutions that are elegant, but counterintuitive or difficult to explain. Even when they would almost certainly work, a simpler fix might be more effective.

hen an organization faces a difficult problem, its leaders face two challenges. First, they must devise a solution, and then they must communicate it to the people they lead. Sometimes, leaders focus too narrowly on the original problem, and view the communication as a secondary annoyance. Too bad for them, because a solution is a solution only if you can communicate it to the people you lead. I learned this one day from a German Shepherd named Harry.

It's a prematurely cool late August morning, and I'm doing my daily circuit around Fresh Pond. The pond is warmer than the air, and its mirrored surface steams. I come around a turn in the path and spy a lone German Shepherd — probably a mix — on the path up ahead. He's looking across the meadow anxiously, listening.

I hear a female voice from across the meadow calling, "Harry…Harry…" Harry freezes, ears up. He takes a step toward the voice, but the meadow is fenced here, and he's stumped. It's a vinyl fence, not very high, but insurmountable for Harry. I call to him because the fence ends about 20 feet behind me, and if he sees that, he'll be able to cross the meadow to reach his master.

Harry runs the other way. I don't take it personally — he's almost panicked.

After about three bounds, he changes his mind, and runs back past me. I figure, well, he'll be OK, and I continue on my way.

Even when an elegant
solution would almost
certainly work, a
simpler fix can
be more effectiveBut then I realize that the meadow is fenced on the other side, and worse, there's a stretch of high weeds, poison ivy, marsh and brambles that he'll have to get through. Oh well, I think, not my problem. I continue on my way.

Soon Harry appears about ten feet in front of me, in the meadow, on the other side of the fence. Now he's trying to get out, and he's even more panicked than before. I call to him, and lift the bottom of the fence for him to scoot under. He considers it.

If he accepts, he'll be able to run around the meadow and reach his master. But he doesn't understand that. To Harry, I seem to be leading in the wrong direction.

In the midst of his internal debate, his master calls again. Harry makes a decision. He turns and runs across the meadow toward his master — and the bramble patch. He halts at its edge, unsure. His master calls again. He dives into the brambles, and as he reaches the far fence, his master raises it as I did, and Harry scoots through, tail wagging furiously. His master waves to me, I wave back, and all is well again in our little universe.

Sometimes the solution you can communicate clearly is the only one that will work.  Top    Next Issue

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More articles on Organizational Change:

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Probably the most widely used tactic of persuasion, "What's In It For Me," or WIIFM, can be toxic to an organization. There's a much healthier approach that provides a competitive advantage to organizations that use it.

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On Beginnings

A new year has begun, and I'm contemplating beginnings. Beginnings can inspire, and sometimes lead to letdown when our hopes or expectations aren't met. How can we handle beginnings more powerfully?

See also Organizational Change and Effective Communication at Work for more related articles.

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On 14 December 1911, four men led by Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. Thirty-five days later, Robert F. Scott and four others followed. Amundsen had won the race to the pole. Amundsen's party returned to base on 26 January 1912. Scott's party perished. As historical drama, why this happened is interesting enough, but to project managers, the story is fascinating. Lessons abound. Read more about this program. Here are some upcoming dates for this program:

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Organizational Politics for People Who Hate Politics

Have you ever felt powerless to implement an important new idea? Have you ever been "blind-sided" at a meeting? Have you ever lost two good employees because you could find no way to keep them from attacking each other? These are some of the issues of organizational politics. Many of us have become enmeshed in them from time to time, but we've also known some people who seem to be able to engage and prosper. How is that done? We'll inventory the challenges of organizational politics, and provide tools for anticipating and addressing them. The focus of this program is practical — attendees learn concrete techniques for dealing with the problems that arise in workplace politics, while keeping their integrity intact. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

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Managing Virtual Teams for Real Results

Managing global or dispersed teams is challenging — miscommunications, misunderstandings, and interpersonal conflict all thrive in the typical environment of the distributed team. And they're even more common in global teams, because of time-zone offsets and language and cultural differences. We'll inventory the challenges distributed and global teams face, and provide tools for anticipating and addressing them. The focus of this program is practical — attendees will learn concrete techniques for preventing and dealing with the problems that accompany global and distributed teams. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

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Person-to-Person Communications: Models and Applications

When we talk, listen, send or read emails, read or write memos, or when we leave or listen to voice mail messages, we're communicating person-to-person. And whenever we communicate person-to-person, we risk being misunderstood, offending others, feeling hurt, and being confused. There are so many ways for things to go wrong that we could never learn how to fix all the problems. A more effective approach avoids problems altogether, or at least minimizes their occurrence. In this very interactive program we'll explain — and show you how to use — a model of inter-personal communications that can help you stay out of the ditch. We'll place particular emphasis on a very tricky situation — saying no to power. In those moments of intense involvement, when we're most likely to slip, you'll have a new tool to use to keep things constructive. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

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Person-to-Person Communication for Project Managers

When we talk, listen, send or read emails, read or write memos, or when we leave or listen to voice mail messages, we're communicating person-to-person. And whenever we communicate person-to-person, we risk being misunderstood, offending others, feeling hurt, and being confused. There are so many ways for things to go wrong that we could never learn how to fix all the problems. A more effective approach avoids problems altogether, or at least minimizes their occurrence. In this very interactive program you'll learn a model of inter-personal communications that can help you stay out of the ditch. In those moments of intense involvement, when we're most likely to slip, you'll have a new tool to use to keep things constructive. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

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The Race to the South Pole: Lessons in Risk Management for Leaders

On 14 December 1911, four men led by Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. Thirty-five days later, Robert F. Scott and four others followed. Amundsen had won the race to the pole. Amundsen's party returned to base on 26 January 1912. Scott's party perished. As historical drama, why this happened is interesting enough. But to organizational leaders and project managers, the story is fascinating. We'll use the history of this event to explore lessons in risk management and its application to organizational efforts. A fascinating and refreshing look at risk management from the vantage point of history. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

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The Organizational Politics of Risk Management

Organizational politics presents a risk not often accounted for by risk models. It creates one of the many components of risk management risk — the risk that the risk management process itself is inadequate. Political considerations can lead to risk products that seem acceptable but which are fatally flawed; or worse, the risk products are plainly unserviceable, but everyone chooses not to acknowledge the problem. In this program we'll examine how organizational politics influences risk management, and discuss several measures for mitigating its effects. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

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