Getting Out of the Leadership Denial Zone!
Jo-Anne Niemann
Helping leaders realise their strategic goals comes with its own set of challenges and rewards. There's great inspiration that comes from a leader with a vision, a strategy, and a well executed implementation. However, there's little more disheartening than a leader with a vision that lacks a robust strategy or execution, and who redirects energy into creating the barrier of denial.
The barrier of denial is created by some leaders seeking to retreat to their happy place...the 'denial zone', rather than confront a failing strategy. It facilitates a blissful (although deluded) existence, blocking out the tough questions - the questions that link strategy to execution. The questions that need to be asked, in order for the strategy to succeed.
On the plus side, the denial zone doesn't discriminate...inviting leaders of all ages, genders, experience, cultural background, and education...it's a diverse and inclusive place. But be careful, the denial zone is also a dark place, demanding a strong barrier of denial to stay, growing like a pyramid scheme and encouraging leaders to lure others to join. Some escape in time, while others settle in for the long haul, looking for other forces to blame...the economy, the market, competition, employees, employers, the board...pretty well anyone or anything, but themselves.
Make no mistake, the barrier of denial is a brutal force that serves only to limit the potential of organisations and individuals...but it has a weak spot...the discipline of strategic questioning! Leaders who master the strategic questioning process, also mitigate the risk of denial.
A 2017 Harvard Business Review article by Paul Leinwand and Matthias Bäumler, 8 Tough Questions to Ask About Your Company’s Strategy, stresses the pitfalls of failing to ask, and answer key questions about your organisation's strategy, proposing that leaders 'build a culture of accountability around the most important strategic questions', using at least three ways:
building in a process for the executive team to discuss these fundamental questions
involving a larger part of the organization in a discussion on how the company is doing on strategy and execution
getting the board more involved...(because the board would have the long-term focus)
Those struggling to gain traction with their strategy may need to ask the hard questions. In terms of the types of questions to ask, Paul Leinwand and Matthias Bäumler, suggest eight questions to ask about your organisation's strategy, outlined in the exhibit below.
Creating a culture of accountability, then asking deliberate and purposeful questions, increases the likelihood of successfully executing an organisational strategy, and also reduces the risk of creating the barrier of denial. If you're leading an organisational strategy, remember to ask the tough questions that link strategy and its execution, after all, you don't really want to retreat to the denial zone, it's probably far too overcrowded to really enjoy!
About the Author: Jo-Anne Niemann.
Jo-Anne is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Change Builders Consulting, she specialises in Customised Learning & Development, Leadership & Career Coaching, Organisational Change, and Sustainability.
