When the Debate Becomes TOO Intense and Personal!

I attended your presentation on Modeling Culture to Become an Employer of Choice in a Down Economy at the Northeast Human Resources Association (NEHRA) Conference last month.

My question is really not about being an EOC. It is about something more fundamental - making choices that will not bankrupt our company!

I frequently find myself stuck between two camps in my company - the savers and the spenders. One faction wants to hunker down and preserve our cash by keeping expenses low. Others think this is an opportune time to take market share from rivals and grow. I find myself locked in the middle of this drama as we try to navigate the tightrope of how much to cut and how much to grow.

A few years ago we burned through cash chasing growth. We ramped up quickly and for a while during that time we had many sleepless nights worrying over our ability to make payroll. We were fortunate that eventually our calculated risk proved to be the right thing to do. So with that scare in our history and questions about the future of the market, the debates are getting personal and very intense!

I thought that an adaptation of one of the tools you explained – the Implications Wheel – might be useful to break the logjam and make the discussion less personal. If you agree, how would you apply it? If not, what else might you suggest?

Thank you for your email and your comments during our recent telephone conversation.

The Implications Wheel is a great tool for identifying potential consequences of a change, such as cutbacks or additions. It is one of the tools that will help move the discussion from being so personal to one which deals more with certainty and fact – or at least educated hunches!

However, I think the use of the tool is a bit premature because there is a more fundamental issue here that is not being addressed: What is the future that leaders believe is speeding toward them?

To answer this question, I would suggest starting with the Blueprint tool we discussed in the presentation. This tool provides a structure for people to articulate what we call the “projected future,” as well as the current state of the company, and the actions and stakeholder involvement that will move it forward.

The projected future is the future that people currently believe is going to happen. It is what all of their actions, decisions, worries, fears, etc. are directed toward or against. It is a vision that people in the organization are trying to create – or the one that people try to steer the enterprise away from-- if it looks disastrous from their perspective. Sometimes these reactions occur simultaneously – a bit like two people trying to paddle the same canoe in different directions and getting nowhere quickly.

A discussion about the future as you and other leaders see it is critical. If you use the Blueprint structure, there does not have to be a lot of detail initially – the view from 40,000 feet is OK as a starting point. I suggest you hold off completing the middle section of the blueprint – the actions required to move the company from the current state to the future state – until you all go through the “Competitive Destruction” exercise we discussed.

In Competitive Destruction, leaders break into teams and plot to competitively destroy the company. It is a fun, engaging and exciting exercise. The discussions that flow from this exercise usually involve conversations rich with clever plots and plans that identify a company's weak points. This typically will move even the most argumentative people to a common perspective designed to shore up the weak points as well as build on strengths.

You will find that this common perspective – the new projected future – can be the most powerful tool in your tool belt when you get a majority of your people aligned to it. Their actions will fall in line with what you are all up for creating.

There are other tools, such as Affinity Diagramming that help a group identify and prioritize actions. This does not eliminate the need for a good, thorough set of financial projections with clear operational milestones tied to financial results – this is where the detail for the aligned future in the blueprint comes in.

A company cannot save its way to growth. However, any plans tied to a future that has people paddling in different directions is a plan for failure.

Good luck! As we discussed, I will be pleased to review the agenda with you.

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