I am guilty of stacking my dishes in the sink and leaving them there for hours. I fact-checked this with my boyfriend. He says it's less like hours and more like days, but that's not the point. The point is sometimes I don't finish the job until the stack has gotten high enough that it's peaking over the lip of the sink and my inner clean freak loses it. This charming habit developed when I was in college, and I had tons of excuses. "I'm running to class!" "What's one more dirty dish in the sink?" Or my favorite, "I think I can save time and water if I do them all together later."
Kriva sam što se u sudoperu skuplja posuđe i tamo stoji satima. Provjerila sam to s mojim dečkom. On tvrdi da se više radi o danima nego satima, ali nije u tome stvar. Stvar je u tome da ponekad završim posao tek kad ga se nakupi toliko da prelazi preko ruba sudopera, a moj unutarnji čistunac poludi. Ovu šarmantnu naviku sam razvila tijekom studija i imala sam tonu isprika. "Žurim na predavanja!" "To je samo jedan tanjur više u sudoperu!" I moj omiljeni: "Mislim da ću uštedjeti i vrijeme i vodu ako ih kasnije operem odjednom!"
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
But it's not like I needed those excuses, because nobody was calling me on it. I wish they had. I look back now and realize that every time I didn't put a dish in the dishwasher and finish what I started, it became more second nature to me, and I grew less likely to question why I was doing it. Today, I'm a 30-something, certified dirty-dish leaver, and breaking this habit is hard.
Nije da su mi te isprike trebale, jer ih nitko nije niti tražio. Da bar jest! Kad pogledam unatrag i prisjetim se da je, svaki put kad nisam stavila posuđe u perilicu i tako završila započeto, to postajalo dio mog ponašanja pa sam odrastala sve manje propitujući zašto to radim. Danas, kad imam više od 30 i ovlašteni sam ostavljač prljavog posuđa, teško je raskinuti s tom navikom.
So when I'm not at home avoiding the sink, I work with large, complex organizations on leadership transformation in times of change. My job is to work with the most senior leaders to examine how they lead today and establish habits better suited for the future. But what interests me more than senior leaders these days is what's going on with the junior ones. We call them "middle managers," but it's a term I wish we could change because what they are is our pipeline of future talent for the C-suite, and they are starting to leave their dishes in the sink. While organizations are hiring people like me to redevelop their senior leaders for the future, outdated leadership habits are forming right before our eyes among the middle managers who will one day take their place. We need middle managers and senior leaders to work together, because this is a big problem. Organizations are evolving rapidly, and they're counting on their future leaders to lead with more speed, flexibility, trust and cooperation than they do today.
Pa kad nisam kod kuće i izbjegavam sudoper, radim s velikim, složenim organizacijama na preoblikovanju vođenja u vremenu promjena. Moj je posao raditi s najvišim rukovodstvom, ispitati kako vode danas i postaviti odgovarajuće navike za budućnost. Ono što me ovih dana zanima puno više od višeg rukovodstva je što se događa s mlađim rukovodstvom. Zovemo ih "srednjim rukovodstvom", no taj naziv bih voljela promijeniti jer iz njih će izrasti budući članovi najvišeg rukovodstva, iako ostavljaju svoje posuđe u sudoperu. I dok organizacije zapošljavaju ljude poput mene da pripreme najviše rukovodstvo za budućnost, zastarjele navike rukovođenja se stvaraju pred našim očima među mladim ljudima koji će jednog dana zauzeti njihovo mjesto. Srednje i najviše rukovodstvo trebaju raditi zajedno jer je to velik problem. Organizacije se brzo razvijaju i računaju na svoje buduće voditelje da ih vode brže, prilagodljivije, s više povjerenja i suradnje nego danas.
I believe there is a window of time in the formative middle-manager years when we can lay the groundwork for that kind of leadership, but we're missing it. Why? Because our future leaders are learning from senior role models who just aren't ready to role model yet, much less change the systems that made them so successful. We need middle managers and senior leaders to work together to define a new way of leading and develop each other to rise to the occasion.
Vjerujem da postoji vremenski prostor tijekom godina njihovog formiranja kad možemo postaviti temelje za takvu vrstu rukovođenja, ali nam on promiče. Zašto? Jer naši budući rukovoditelji uče iz primjera onih starijih koji im ne bi smjeli biti uzor, a još manje su spremni mijenjati sustav koji ih je učinio uspješnima. Srednje i najviše rukovodstvo trebaju raditi zajedno kako bi definirali nove načine vođenja te se međusobno razvijali i odgovorili na izazove.
One of my favorite senior clients -- we'll call her Jane -- is a poster child for what's old-fashioned in leadership today. She rose to her C-level position based on exceptional individual performance. Come hell or high water, Jane got the job done, and today, she leads like it. She is tough to please, she doesn't have a lot of time for things that's aren't mission-critical, and she really doesn't trust anyone's judgment more than her own.
Jedna od mojih najdražih klijentica -- recimo da se zove Jane -- je primjer kakvo je zastarjelo rukovođenje danas. Uspela se sve do najvišeg rukovodstva temeljem svojih osobnih uspjeha. Padale sjekire ili sjevale munje, Jane je svoj posao obavila pa i danas vodi na taj način. Teško joj je ugoditi, ima premalo vremena za stvari koje joj se ne čine kritičnima i još uvijek vjeruje jedino zaključcima koje je sama donijela.
Needless to say, Jane's in behavior boot camp. Those deeply ingrained habits are deeply inconsistent with where her organization is heading. The command-and-control behavior that she was once rewarded for just isn't going to work in a faster-moving, flatter, more digitally interconnected organization. What got her here won't get her there.
Jane je sada na režimu promjene ponašanja. Te duboko usađene navike su duboko povezane s time kuda njena organizacija smjera. Sustav naredbi i kontrola zbog kojih je nekad bila nagrađena ne daje rezultat u prilagodljivoj organizaciji s manje hijerarhije i više digitalne povezanosti. Što ju je dovelo dovde, neće je dovesti i tamo.
But I want to talk about John, a supertalented, up-and-coming manager who works for Jane, because her habits are rubbing off on him. Recently, he and I were strategizing about a decision we needed to put in front of the CEO, Jane's boss, and the rest of Jane's peers. He said to me, "Liz, you're not going to like this, but the way decisions get made around here is with a bunch of meetings before the meeting." I counted. That was going to mean eight one-on-ones, exec by exec, to make sure each one of them was individually on board enough that things would go smoothly in the actual meeting. He promised, "It's not how we'll do things in the future, but it's how we have to do them today."
Želim vam pričati i o Johnu, iznimno talentiranom rukovoditelju u dolasku koji radi za Jane i čije ga navike prilično žuljaju. Nedavno smo on i ja radili strategiju kako direktora, Janeinog šefa, i njene kolege upoznati s jednom odlukom. Rekao mi je: "Liz, ovo ti se neće svidjeti jer se način na koji se ovdje donose odluke temelji na puno sastanaka prije glavnog sastanka". Brojala sam. To bi značilo 8 pojedinačnih sastanaka sa svakim članom najvišeg rukovodstva kako bismo bili sigurni da je svaki od njih suglasan da će odluka bila pozitivna na glavnom sastanku. Obećao je: "To nije način na koji ćemo donositi odluke u budućnosti, ali ih danas donosimo tako."
John wasn't wrong on either count. Meetings before the meeting are a necessary evil in his company today, and I didn't like it at all. Sure, it was going to be inefficient and annoying, but what bothered me most was his confidence that it's not how they'll do things in the future. How could he be sure? Who was going to change it and when, if it wasn't him and now? What would the trigger be? And when it happened, would he even know how to have effective meetings without pre-meetings? He was confidently implying that when he's the boss, he'll change the rules and do things differently, but all I could see were dishes stacking in the sink and a guy with a lot of good excuses. Worse, a guy who might be out of a job one day because he learned too late how to lead in the organizations of tomorrow.
John je bio sasvim u pravu. Sastanci prije sastanka danas su nužno zlo u njegovom poduzeću, a meni se to nije svidjelo. To će svakako biti nedjelotvorno i dosadno, a mene je još više brinulo njegovo uvjerenje da će ubuduće sve biti drugačije. Kako može biti siguran? Tko će to promijeniti i kada, ako neće on i sada? Što će biti okidač? A kad se dogodi, hoće li uopće znati kako održati djelotvoran sastanak bez onih pripremnih? Uvjerljivo je natuknuo da će, kad on bude šef, promijeniti pravila i raditi stvari drugačije. Jedino što sam ja vidjela je bila hrpa posuđa u sudoperu i osobu s puno opravdanja. Još gore, to je osoba koja će jednom, možda, ostati bez posla jer je prekasno naučio kako voditi u organizacijama budućnosti.
These stories really get to me when it's the fast-track, high-potential managers like John because they're probably the most capable of making waves and redefining how leaders lead from the inside. But what we find is that they're often doing the best job at not rocking the boat and challenging the system because they're trying to impress and make life easier on the senior leaders who will promote them. As someone who also likes to get promoted, I can hardly blame him. It's a catch-22. But they're also so self-assured that they'll be able to change their behavior once they've earned the authority to do things differently, and that is a trap. Because if I've learned anything from working with Jane, it's that when that day comes, John will wonder how he could possibly do anything differently in his high-stakes, high-pressure executive job without risking his own success and the organization's, and he'll wish it didn't feel so safe and so easy to keep doing things the way they've always been done.
Takve me situacije pogađaju jer dolaze od rukovoditelja u usponu, s velikim potencijalom, poput Johna, koji su, vjerojatno, najsposobniji pomaknuti stvari s mrtve točke i nanovo definirati kako rukovoditelji vode iznutra. Ono što najčešće nalazimo je da je njihov najvažniji posao spriječiti ljuljanje broda i iskušavanje sustava jer pokušavaju ostaviti dojam i učiniti svoj život s visokim rukovoditeljima lakšim kako bi napredovali. Kako i ja volim napredovati, teško mi ih je optuživati. To je kvaka 22. Oni su istovremeno toliko sigurni da će moći promijeniti svoje ponašanje jednom kad zasluže autoritet da stvari rade drugačije i tu je zamka. Jer, ako sam išta naučila radeći s Jane, jest da će se, jednom kad taj dan dođe, John čuditi kako bi mogao drugačije raditi svoj posao s visokim ulozima i pod velikim pritiskom bez rizika za vlastiti uspjeh i uspjeh organizacije, i željet će da nije tako sigurno i jednostavno nastaviti raditi stvari kako se rade oduvijek.
So the leadership development expert in me asks: How can we better intervene in the formative years of our soon-to-be senior leaders? How can we use the fact that John and his peers want to take charge of their professional destinies and get them ready to lead the organizations of the future, rather than let them succumb to the catch-22 that will perfectly prepare them to lead the organizations of the past? We'll have to start by coming to terms with a very real paradox, which is this: the best form of learning happens on the job -- not in a classroom, not via e-modules. And the two things we rely on to shape on-the-job learning are role models and work environments. And as we just talked about, our role models are in behavior boot camp right now, and our work environments are undergoing unprecedented disruption. We are systematically changing just about everything about how organizations work, but by and large, still measuring and rewarding behavior based on old metrics, because changing those systems takes time. So, if we can't fully count on role models or the system right now, it's on John to not miss this critical development window. Yes, he'll need Jane's help to do it, but the responsibility is his because the risks are actually his. Either he inherits an organization that is failing because of stubbornly old-fashioned leadership, or he himself fails to build the capabilities to lead one that transformed while he was playing it safe.
Pa stručnjak za razvoj rukovođenja u meni pita: Kako se možemo umiješati tijekom tih formativnih godina naših još-malo-pa najviših rukovoditelja? Kako možemo koristiti činjenicu da John i njegove kolege žele preuzeti svoje profesionalne sudbine u svoje ruke i pripremiti ih da vode organizacije budućnosti, umjesto da ih pustimo da podlegnu kvaki 22 koja će ih savršeno pripremiti da vode organizacije prošlosti? Najprije ćemo se morati priviknuti na proturječnost koja tvrdi da je najbolji oblik učenja tijekom rada, ne u učionici, niti putem e-školovanja. Dvije stvari na kojima temeljimo naše učenje na poslu su naši uzori i radna okolina. Upravo sam pričala o primjeru u kojem preodgajamo naše uzore, a naša radna okolina prolazi kroz dosad neviđeno remećenje. Mi sustavno mijenjamo gotovo sve načine na koje organizacija djeluje, ali u najvećem broju slučajeva još uvijek mjerimo i nagrađujemo ponašanja temeljena na starim vrijednostima, jer promjena tih sustava zahtijeva vrijeme. Ako u ovom trenutku želimo zaista računati na uzore ili sustave, onda John ne smije propustiti kritično vrijeme razvoja. Da, pritom će mu trebati Janeina pomoć, no odgovornost je njegova, jer rizik koji treba preuzeti je njegov. Ili će naslijediti organizaciju koja tone zbog tvrdoglavog zadržavanja zastarjelog rukovođenja, ili će on sam propustiti izgraditi sposobnosti da preoblikuje dok je igrao na sigurno.
So now the question is, where does John start? If I were John, I'd ask to start flying the plane. For my 13th birthday, my grandpa, a former Navy pilot, gave me the gift of being able to fly a very small plane. Once we were safely airborne, the pilot turned over the controls, folded his hands, and he let me fly. It was totally terrifying. It was exhilarating, but it was also on-the-job learning with a safety net. And because it was real, I really learned how to do it myself. Likewise, in the workplace, every meeting to be led, every decision to be made can be a practice flight for someone who could really use the learning experience and the chance to figure out how to do it their own way. So instead of caving, John needs to knock on Jane's door, propose a creative strategy for having the meeting without the eight pre-meetings, show her he's thought through the trade-offs and ask for her support to do it differently.
Zato je sad pitanje, gdje da John počne? Kad bih ja bila John, počela bih učiti pilotirati. Za 13. rođendan moj djed, bivši mornarički pilot, poklonio mi je mogućnost upravljanja vrlo malim zrakoplovom. U trenutku kad smo bili visoko u zraku, pilot mi je prepustio kontrole, prekrižio ruke i pustio me da letim. Bilo je potpuno zastrašujuće. Bilo je uzbudljivo i to je bio primjer učenja na poslu sa zaštitnom mrežom. I zato što je bilo stvarno, naučila sam kako to raditi samostalno. Slično je i na poslu. Svaki sastanak koji trebate voditi, svaka odluka koju trebate donijeti može biti vježbenički let za nekog tko bi zaista mogao koristiti stečeno iskustvo i priliku da osmisli kako to učiniti na svoj način. Tako John, umjesto skrivanja, treba pokucati na Janeina vrata, predložiti kreativnu strategiju za održavanje sastanka bez onih osam pripremnih, pokazati joj što će dobiti zauzvrat i tražiti je podršku da može raditi drugačije.
This isn't going to be easy for Jane. Not only does she need to trust John, she needs to accept that with a little bit of room to try his hand at leading, John will inevitably start leading in some ways that are far more John than Jane. And this won't be an indictment of her. Rather, it will be individualism. It will be progress. And it might even be a chance for Jane to learn a thing or two to take her own leadership game to the next level.
To neće biti lagano za Jane. Osim što treba vjerovati Johnu, ona treba dozvoliti i određeni rizik prepuštajući mu rukovođenje. John će sigurno početi rukovoditi na određene načine koji su puno više njegovi nego njeni. To neće biti okrivljavanje. To će biti individualnost. To će biti napredak. To će, možda, biti prilika da Jane nauči nešto novo kako bi svoj način rukovođenja pomakla na višu razinu.
I work with another senior client who summed up this dilemma beautifully when we were talking about why he and his peers haven't empowered the folks below them with more decision rights. He said, "We haven't done it because we just don't trust that they're going to make the right decisions. But then again, how could they? We've just never given them decisions to practice with." So I'm not advocating that Jane hands over the controls and folds her hands indefinitely, but what I am saying is that if she doesn't engineer learning and practice right into John's day today, he'll never be able to do what she does, much less do it any differently than she does it.
Radim s još jednim visokim rukovoditeljem koji je prekrasno sažeo ovu dvojbu kad smo razgovarali zašto on i njegove kolege nisu osnažili srednje rukovoditelje dajući im više prava na odlučivanje. Rekao je: "Nismo to učinili jer nismo vjerovali da će donijeti ispravne odluke. A s druge strane, kako bi i mogli? Nikad im nismo dozvolili da vježbaju donošenje odluka." Dakle, ne zastupam mogućnost da Jane prepusti mogućnost odlučivanja i prekriženih ruku gleda oko sebe. Ono što govorim je da, ako već danas ne uključi učenje i praksu u Johnov dnevni raspored, on neće biti sposoban raditi to što radi ona, niti će moći to raditi drugačije nego što to ona radi.
Finally, since we're going to be pushing both of them outside their comfort zones, we need some outside coaches to make sure this isn't a case of the blind leading the blind. But what if instead of using coaches to coach each one of them to individually be more effective, we started coaching the interactions between them? If I could wave my magic wand, I would have coaches sitting in the occasional team meeting of Jane and her direct reports, debriefing solely on how well they cooperated that day. I would put a coach in the periodic feedback session between Jane and John, and just like a couples' therapist coaches on communication, they would offer advice and observations on how that conversation can go better in the future. Was Jane simply reinforcing what Jane would have done? Or was Jane really helping John think through what to do for the organization? That is seriously hard mentorship to provide, and even the best leaders need help doing it, which is why we need more coaches coaching more leaders, more in real time versus any one leader behind closed doors.
Na kraju, s obzirom na to da ćemo ih izgurati iz njihove zone udobnosti, trebat će vanjske savjetnike kako bismo ih zaštitili od mogućnosti da slijepac vodi slijepca. No, što ako umjesto korištenja savjetnika da ih savjetuju kako da budu djelotvorniji, počnemo upravljati načinom na koji surađuju? Kad bih mogla zamahnuti čarobnim štapićem, postavila bih savjetnike da povremeno sjede na sastancima koje Jane ima s članovima svog tima i daju im informacije o tome jesu li dobro surađivali taj dan. Povremeno bih priključila savjetnika tijekom razgovora Jane i Johna i baš poput bračnog savjetnika savjetuje ih kako komunicirati, nudi im savjet i pogled na to kako bi razgovor mogao biti bolji u budućnosti. Inzistira li Jane na onome što bi ona učinila? Ili zaista pomaže Johnu da promisli što treba učiniti s organizacijom? Takav oblik učenja je teško provesti jer i najbolji rukovoditelji pritom trebaju pomoć pa zato trebamo više savjetnika koji savjetuju više rukovoditelja i više u stvarnom vremenu, umjesto da se rukovoditelj zatvori u svoj ured.
Around 20 years ago, Warren Buffet gave a school lecture in which he said, "The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they're too heavy to be broken." I couldn't agree more, and I see it happening with our future leaders in training. Can we and they be doing more to build their leadership capabilities while they're still open, eager and not too far gone down a path of bad habits we totally saw coming?
Prije otprilike 20 godina, Warren Buffet je održao predavanje u školi, tijekom kojeg je rekao: "Lanci navika su prelagani da bismo ih osjetili dok ne postanu prečvrsti da ih raskinemo." Potpuno se slažem s njim. Vidim na treninzima da se to događa s našim budućim voditeljima. Možemo li svi učiniti više na izgradnji njihovih rukovoditeljskih sposobnosti dok su još spremni, voljni i nisu krenuli putem loših navika za koje smo znali da su prijetnja?
I wish my college roommates and I called each other out back then for the dishes. It would have been so much easier to nip that habit in the bud than it is to change it today. But I still believe in a future for myself full of gleaming sinks and busy dishwashers, and so we're working on it, every day, together, moment to moment, one dirty dish at a time.
Žalim što cimeri i ja nismo češće jedni druge upozoravali na posuđe. Bilo bi puno lakše odbaciti tu naviku u začetku nego što je to danas. No, još uvijek vjerujem u svoju budućnost punu svjetlucavih sudopera te uključenih perilica i nastavljamo raditi na tome svaki dan, zajedno, trenutak po trenutak, posudu po posudu.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)