I’ve noticed that sometimes the biggest problem in an organisation is not that too little is being done, but that a lot is being done, but nothing is changing. Things are done, discussed, initiated, planned etc.
And yet there is no real change, other than people getting tired. It’s as if something is done all the time, but the same problem comes back after a while.
It seems to me that this is one of the invisible pitfalls of governance today – when something doesn’t work, the natural reaction is to do more. For example, to have another discussion, to reach another agreement, to create or “renew” another process.
Isn’t that human and also benevolent. But sometimes it just creates more activity around what hasn’t really been seen yet. It’s better to just do it than to actually see that there are deeper problems underneath the operationalisation.
Not all problems disappear with a little more effort. Problems persist because underneath there is something that hasn’t yet been formulated, noticed or seen through to the end.
For example, the steering group avoids real conflict because everyone’s personal confidence is not strong enough, there is more control than mature clarity, and people adapt to superficial messages but do not get to the heart of the matter because somewhere deep down it is not important enough to them.
In this case, it is not a lack of action, but of deeper vision, or rather the courage to look at all. For me, this is where the more mature part of leadership begins. Perhaps not the question of what else to do, but the question of what keeps the same problem alive.
It seems to me that, for the most part, organisations don’t need more leadership, clearer accountabilities, roles and other such pragmatic toolbox spin. They are necessary, but they only work to a certain extent. For the most part, in today’s AI era, leadership only begins with a capital “A” when the Leader has the courage, the skill, the will, the fortitude to look deeper and ask the uncomfortable questions about what our problems really want to show that we haven’t looked at yet. If we had all the honesty and courage on this team, what would we say or look at…. or do.
