How are You Going to Get There?

Leadership Coaching with Mel Brown

Sometime back while having breakfast at a professional conference, I had a probation director stop by my table and ask if he could join me for breakfast. I, of course, responded, “Please do.”

After he had placed his order and we exchanged a few pleasantries, he took a sip of his coffee, paused for a moment and said, “Can I ask you a question?” I nodded my head and responded, “Sure, what’s your question?”

He pointed out that he was well aware of the emphasis I place on an organization having a vision (a clear picture of where you want the organization to be at some point in the future) and said, “I understand that the vision tells everyone in the organization where the organization is going and we have developed a vision. If you were me, what would your next step be?”

I explained to him that helping an organization accomplish its vision and fulfilling its purpose is analogous to planning a trip and pointed out that when you plan a trip you need to know not only where you are going, but you also need to know your starting point.

To illustrate my point, I shared with him that a number of years ago I was asked to do a series of workshops for the Heartland Juvenile Services Association. Since this was before the Internet made planning a trip so easy, I called my travel agency, gave the agent the dates I needed to travel and asked her to book me a flight to Omaha. Nebraska.

Shortly after completing that call, I received a request to speak to the Louisiana Governor’s Conference on Juvenile Justice. I called my travel agent and informed her that I needed to book a flight to New Orleans the second half of the same week I was going to be in Omaha. After a few moments of silence, she asked, “On the flight to New Orleans, are you going to be flying from Houston or Omaha?”

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The Need for Balance Between Leadership and Management

Leadership Coaching with Mel Brown

Recently, I was contacted by an organizational administrator who said that he needed to talk to me about leadership development. I went to his office at the appointed time. He began to ask me questions about issues related to dealing with managing and appraising employee performance and making the organization run more effectively and efficiently.
I responded, “Those aren’t leadership issues. Those are management issues.”
I wish I had a nickel for every time during the years I have spent studying organizations, leading and managing organizations and in serving as an organizational consultant that I heard someone use the words “management” and “leadership” interchangeably.
I had begun to think that maybe there was something wrong with me because the confusion between the two bothered me so much. Then I chanced upon an article entitled “Management Is (Still) Not Leadership” by Leadership guru John Kotter, the former Professor of Leadership at Harvard Business School and current Chief Innovation Officer at Kotter International.

Equip Individuals and Organizations to Accomplish Their Visions

Leadership Coaching with Mel Brown

Last month’s column began with me pointing out that one of the things which I have learned over my years as an organizational consultant attempting to equip individuals and organizations to accomplish their visions, missions, and goals, is that every organization has what is commonly referred to as “an elephant in the room.”

For the purpose of our discussion we adopted the definition provided by Wikipedia.com which said “the term refers to a question, problem, solution, or controversial issue that is obvious, but which is ignored by a group of people, generally because it causes embarrassment or is taboo. The idiom can imply a value judgment that the issue ought to be discussed openly, or it can simply be an acknowledgment that the issue is there and not going to go away by itself.”

In discussing how to deal with the elephant in the room we pointed out that there are times when the elephant is present in a group situation and, at other times, it might be with an individual person and that each of these requires a different approach.
elephant-in-the-room.

If you are a manager wanting more information about how to deal with the elephant in the room, continue reading below. If you are not a manager and want to know what you can do about the elephant in the room in your organization, go to last months article.

Elephant in the Room

Leadership Coaching with Mel Brown

Don’t Ignore the Elephant in the Room

One of the things which I have learned over my years as an organizational consultant attempting to equip individuals and organizations to accomplish their visions, missions, and goals, is that every organization has what is commonly referred to as “an elephant in the room.”

What is an Elephant in the Room?

Exactly what is meant by the term, “elephant in the room”? According, to Wikipedia.com, “the term refers to a question, problem, solution, or controversial issue that is obvious, but which is is_there_elephantignored by a group of people, generally because it causes embarrassment or is taboo. The idiom can imply a value judgment that the issue ought to be discussed openly, or it can simply be an acknowledgment that the issue is there and not going to go away by itself.” For the sake of our discussion, let’s break down the specifics as to what that means. The word “elephant” suggests that the issue or problem is so big and so heavy that no one wants to confront it or try to move it. By virtue of its size, it takes up space, energy, time and productivity. The phrase “in the room” suggests that the issue is so large that no one can help but notice it. Since it is in the middle of the room, it means that people have purposely avoided it, walked around it, and pretended it is not there rather than deal with it.