You are in the leadership team at a regular leadership meeting.
The agenda focuses on key results areas, and everyone is reporting on them.
However, you are aware that one of your peers is fudging data; another is making excuses for not having the data available, and another is declaring lower performing figures.
You are aware that those three peers are disengaged and seeking roles elsewhere.
You are performing in accordance with your key performance indicators and you declare them.
The chair of the meeting, your CEO, accepts all the information and asks everyone to improve results for the next meeting, explaining that the directors will be demanding reasons why the results are as they are.
You leave the meeting feeling frustrated.
You didn’t challenge anyone.
You didn’t challenge anyone because you were scared of damaging relationships and being seen as disruptive, competitive or glory-hunting.
You decide to focus on your own responsibilities and decide that ‘what goes around comes around’.
You actually aren’t confident in challenging respectfully yet effectively.
You don’t realise that there are respectful ways of helping your peers improve, if not by a challenge in the meeting, then later and one-on-one.
As this pattern continues you decide to start looking for a new role somewhere else.
Open robust respectful mature conversations amongst the leadership team are essential if the leadership team is to be effective.
The willingness and ability to hold each other accountable is critical.
The entire organisation feels the effect of whether this is working or not. They know more than you think, and lose respect for the entire leadership, including you into their judgement.
The skills of having challenging, helpful conversations are easy and rewarding to learn.
Decline occurs when an aware person decides to do nothing out of fear, bad habits or not knowing how.
What do you think?
