Watching our blind spots


No week can pass without us sighting an example of a business that has closed or is obviously struggling. Whether it is a government organization like a local council or an insurance giant who has negated its obligations to its shareholders and customers, the examples are endless. The fact is, businesses do not have a great track record of adapting to change.

Of course, it is not just the medium to large organizations that struggle in winning the knowledge game; small businesses struggle as well. Just think about your local shops , restaurant or industrial precinct and count how many businesses have changed in the last twelve months. Each business no doubt would have a story to tell. In most cases, although they may not wish to admit it, absence of know-how or being blind to impending change may be the root cause.

A close family friend is a very successful artist who runs an art gallery in an inner city area. He recently told me this story of his attempt to build on the business but devote more time to painting. To do this he appointed a full-time gallery manager to manage the retail side of the business. In time he became curious that given the high turnover of artwork the profitability of the business did not seem to be improving. He asked his accountant to have a closer look at the daily transactions. To his horror he discovered that over $40 000 went missing in a classic white- collar crime. Needless to say, when confronted the gallery manager left without a trace. My friend immediately recruited a new gallery manager but this time better checks and procedures, including daily reporting of transactions and regular conversations on building the potential of the business, were employed. Together the working relationship has much more potential for success. Blind spots such as these are notoriously common in businesses.

But blind spots may not always result in direct financial losses. The outcome could be lost or unfulfilled potential because the talent and capabilities of people are lying dormant or hidden. Organizations such as Honeywell, Microsoft, Body Shop, Lend Lease Corporation, Ernst and Young and Buckman Laboratories are companies that have a track record of investing in their people by building systems that nurture and develop a winning strategy. The result is a much quicker response rate, higher agility and adaptability to the customer.

The key to overcoming blind spots is first to recognize the danger of overconfidence and arrogance by encouraging greater honesty, disclosure and transparency. As Bill Catucci from AT & T in Canada says, ˜In the past, the person reporting an unfavourable number was lonely and isolated. Now, I want people to admit to shortfalls and have everyone else respond, How can we help? This is an entirely new management model for the company.

In this new model of leadership managers must support a different code of behaviours. First, they must set up safe spaces in the business for people to have deep conversations on issues that they feel passionate about. This must be done without them being constrained by hierarchy, ego and status. People must feel safe to be able to share their frustration, explore unresolved issues and dig for the truth. These exchanges must be undertaken in an environment of humility and humbleness. Trying to look smart or fine is not a formula for winning the knowledge game.

Second, people must be prepared to coach and facilitate rather than trying to be the star. From experience, managers can be both a friend and a foe when it comes to finding smarter solutions. For example, a government client of mine had a serious backlog of requests for a new home loan initiative. When I was called in to help it became obvious very quickly that much of the initiative of the team was being stomped on by a highly motivated manager. At the initial meeting when another member of the team raised a possible solution the manager quickly discredited it, thereby killing off any flow of ideas. It was obvious that the current dynamics could not continue. On this occasion we took the pressure off this person, a subject matter expert, by asking the person to be a coach rather than a judge. The good news was that the manager played their new role beautifully and all of a sudden new natural leaders and problem-solvers emerged. Within a short time the backlog problem was solved .

Finally, business must be prepared to broaden its view of the world and marketplace , and be more receptive to explore the unknown or, even, the unspeakable. One of my most vivid memories of a blind spot was a consulting project I undertook at the Australian Navy Supply Centre in Sydney. In the early 1990s I was asked to conduct a series of managing change training programmes. At the time there was strong rumour that the head office would soon be closed down, privatized or relocated . When I raised this scenario at the site many of the managers and team leaders saw it as totally unrealistic . They labelled it ˜consultant spook . Their view of reality was very different. They said, ˜why would the government touch something that is not broke? Well only a few years later the unthinkable happened . The operation was relocated to other sites throughout Australia and many of the staff took redundancy packages. Now, where many large warehouses and offices once stood is a large open space being converted to an apartment complex. For me the greatest lesson in this experience was the importance of thinking outside the square as often as possible.




Winning the Knowledge Game. Smarter Learning for Business Excellence
Winning the Knowledge Game. Smarter Learning for Business Excellence
ISBN: 750658096
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 129

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