Leadership
This is just one example of the behaviours - and then stories – that shape people’s perceptions about how they ‘get on’ in your organisation. There will be many more: some will be a bigger issue than a ‘long hours’ culture and some may be more sinister.
So what should you do?
I'm not going to suggest you now go and challenge what's going on in your organisation. You may be up for the fight but my savvy recommendation would be to pick your battles.
What I am suggesting is that you do some thorough investigation within your organisation and ask some tough questions about what people will be seeing from leaders – and then introduce your answers into your programs.
What are your leaders doing and why are they doing it?
Don't necessarily challenge them on it - you're writing a program, not your death warrant. Understand the dynamics of senior leadership and don't just paint and share the ideal picture. It's complex.
There are politics at play and there's a way to work within it and stay true to yourself – as well as ‘get things done’.
How do people get on in your organisation?
Identify the rewarded behaviours and share these with your developing leaders. This is all likely to be organisationally specific and difficult to do but then you'll take your program off-the-page, creating numerous 'a-ha' moments and developing leaders to lead in your organisation. Helping them to truly understand what successful leaders do in your organisation will help far more than espousing the latest leadership ‘thinking’.
In short, don't only task your emerging leaders with changing the terrain... Give them an accurate map to navigate the terrain they occupy.
David is former-Director of Talent, Learning & OD for The Walt Disney Company EMEA. David left Disney, to pursue a passion for positively impacting the learning profession by launching WeCommend.com.
The aim of WeCommend is to improve transparency and openness in the L&D provider market – making it easier for in-company L&D professionals to search and discover providers who are recommended by their clients in other companies.
http://www.wecommend.com