So enjoyed reading Jan's posts about personal experiences with dealing
with honesty in the organizations as a consultant.
Two things "jumped" out:
a. The common human experience of finding individuals fearful for
standing up for themselves and backing down when someone else has the
courage to say that there is a pink elephant in the room. (Albeit, darned
snowstorm got in the way to managing the message. . . but y'know, when
speaking for someone else, one has to take a chance that the message won't
might not be delivered or received the way it can do the most good).
b. Again, readiness, readiness, readiness is a critical dimension to
making any change. Just can't go in and expect to get a fine lawn when
one hasn't prepared the soil and watered the seed. (And even, then, the
lawn might not come up. . . but the chances are greater than if one
doesn't do some preparation!) The leader who threw you guys out wasn't
ready to hear from either you or the middle managers; perhaps never would
have. But, if the middle managers could learn to speak up for themselves!
It's like teaching them to fish not giving them the fish.
Sandy
--"Sandy Wells" <sjwells@earthlink.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>