← Leading Organizations That Matter
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Ray Spadoni
Foreign welcome to Leading Organizations that Matter, a podcast about leadership and how we find impact, meaning and joy in our work. I'm your host Ray Spadoni, and today's topic is Licking Our Wounds versus Learning from Our Mistakes. It's wise to own the consequences of our own decision making. If we don't, then we are going to make poor decisions and fail to improve. Consider this to be the precise opposite of the growth mindset. I sometimes work with leaders and organizations that are grappling with a sense of diminished accountability in these places. Managers will describe a corporate culture where rules are not enforced, strong performance is not sufficiently rewarded, and toxic behaviors are infrequently rooted out or punished. In these places, I'm afraid that actions speak much more loudly than words. I believe that one of the key causes of such a phenomenon is that leaders are conflict avoidant, a point I mention in my book about organizations going through change in great detail. Also, there may be leaders who benefit from that problem, and so they're going to be loathe to actually fix it. One exercise I like to recommend is one that's drawn from other traditions, including religious, and that is to conduct a review of the day. That is a formal evaluation that includes answering questions such as such as 1 what went right? 2 what went wrong? And 3 what would we do differently next time? Ideally, this would be an open discussion among all those involved in the process as well as those most impacted by the outcome. But here's the fine line, and it can be a very, very fine line. These exercise cannot devolve into either a blame game or or worse, a licking our wounds gripe session. The facilitator of a process such as this has to guard against finger pointing and blaming and usually just describing the guardrails up front, bringing this to everyone's attention. Usually that suffices. But in some organizational cultures, typically the most damaged ones, more force will be required. In my experience, preventing this is actually quite doable. But the scenario I worry most about has to do with self pity and the open airing of woe is us laments. In these situations, participants will recount all the obstacles, conflicts, and unavoidable barriers that they faced. It's human nature to point out the struggles for sure, and there should be a formal acknowledgment of those problems that did come up. But cultures keen on wound licking will never focus appropriately on growth and learning. This is a big problem in organizations that are failing because the victim mindset can become a dominant one and ultimately prevent bold and creative solutions from emerging. Those good ideas are all too frequently buried underneath a heavy pile of tears and frustrations. When projects go sideways, there's time for a healthy dose of healing, and that does include allowing folks to vent about the challenges. But active learning requires a willingness to rise above the challenges. If you're a leader and you're trying to climb out of a deep well of pity with your group, try asking these questions in this sequence. Number one what are the top three things that happened which negatively impacted the project and which we did not anticipate? Okay, that's the place where you're going to allow some venting. Just make sure you time limit it and then be prepared to move on when necessary. So that's the first question. What are the top three things that happened which negatively impacted the project and which we did not anticipate? That's important that you don't get stuck there and stay there, but that you continue on to the second question, which is could we have anticipated those? Third, how could we have reacted differently to them? And four what can we do next time to prevent or plan for surprises? This progression, as I mentioned, does allow for a small bit of wound licking, but it transitions into a learning orientation quickly. You may also want to consider bringing in a third party or an external resource to help facilitate such a process, as some who are involved in it might feel more comfortable speaking honestly to a relative stranger, a perceived unbiased expert. Additionally, that person may be more experienced in navigating the fine line described here. In any event, better organizations will capitalize on opportunities to grow, learn, and improve, and the completion of a major organizational initiative is the perfect time and place to do so. Thanks for listening. Leaving a positive review and letting others know about this podcast will help a great deal. My mission is to help empower organizations that matter by supporting those who lead them. I offer coaching, mentoring, and consulting services. You can learn more about me and my work@race bodoni.com.