The story goes that once upon a time, in a distant land, an emperor who liked clothes so much that he would have spent everything he had on his clothes.
One day, two merchant thieves came to that land and found a way to trick the emperor and take large sums of money. They told him that they make expensive, sophisticated, special clothes that fools can’t see. The emperor fell prey to the illusion of having unseen clothes and agreed to those thieves to weave his clothes. The people around him did not dare to say that they did not see anything of what the impostors were ‘weaving’ for fear that they might be judged as fools, unsuitable for their place in the kingdom. So they pretended to see great clothes, poured out all sorts of words of praise to the king, which he listened to with great joy.
When the time came for the king to parade in his invisible clothes, everyone hailed the grandeur and brilliance of his clothes. Only one child had the courage to see what was obvious: the emperor was naked. The voice of innocence was heard and the whole kingdom resounded: the king is naked!
Sounds familiar? Have you encountered such situations before?
Certainly, there are similar behaviors in organizations.
The higher someone in the organization is, the more likely they are to be surrounded by people who tell them what they want to hear. The greater the weaknesses of the leader, as the emperor had for the clothes, the easier it will be for others to find ways to juggle them to their advantage, so as to make their lives easier.
Fortunately, there is also a man of integrity, one who says his point assertively, who shows exactly how things are. Sometimes it is marginalized by those concerned with praising; other times by the boss himself, who is too blinded by his own ego and the ‘sand castles’ built around those who play the strings. With any luck, the one who shows the reality ends up being listened to. But it takes a long time, there are associated risks: good people leave the company, the results are declining, the credibility of the management team is questioned.
What to do?
I will draw a parallel with the theater. In the plays, all the kings had a madman, a person who had immunity. The king’s madman has the right to tell him anything, his majesty is not upset.
The role of the king’s madman (or the child in the story of the naked emperor) can be taken by a coach, a mentor, a person who has a high level of credibility and who has the audacity to tell the head of the company, the leader, what for others in the company it may seem unspeakable.
A good coach, mentor, has the moral responsibility to walk with a metaphorical mirror to him, so as to show the leader his parts of the shadow. When they understand, accepts these parts, works to bring them to consciousness and master them, they will be less exposed, vulnerable, insecure.
A client, CEO of a large company, recently told me that she always had a coach who accompanied her in the mandates she had, gave her different perspectives, confirmed or refuted some assumptions. She did not always have the same coach, different periods require different perspectives.
On the other hand, I hear about people in leadership positions who say they don’t have time for coaching. They do not have time to stop to reflect, analyze, hear other opinions, questions, perspectives. I wonder how we can appreciate the time needed to be with the team if we ourselves do not find an hour a month in which to stop and have a conversation about what we do, what works and what would take us to another level.
Another client of mine told me today that many times, precisely in the coaching sessions, in conversation, the solutions came to her, that she learned to stop and look from other perspectives this year in which we worked together.
Then, I would recommend that the leader should be on a continuous journey of self-discovery, development. All our lives we can learn something new, we can change our perspectives. If we want to, of course.
Association with various clubs, associations, can be another idea: there we meet other people with similar responsibilities, concerns like ours, we can hear other perspectives or test our own thoughts, assumptions;
An exercise that seems simple but is difficult to do is to listen more. Nature has endowed us with two ears and a mouth: to use our hearing more than our speech. We will surely find out a lot. This requires patience, trust in the other, the belief that any interaction is useful to us.
Another suggestion is to say ‘Yes, and that means …’, instead of ‘Yes, but’ or ‘No’;
Books, about management, fiction, biographies are always a source of inspiration
Walking with a friend and various discussions, including what bothers us, can help us put our minds in order and practice listening;
I would suggest that leaders hire young people who have that ‘healthy disrespect’ towards their boss; but also someone with a lot of experience, who does not compete with them, to advise them, as we saw in the movie ‘The Intern’;
It is essential for an organization to have a culture of open feedback, in which people are not afraid to express their opinion; I would recommend Amy Edmondson’s book ‘The Fearless Organization’ here.
I do not claim an exhaustive list. However, if we take into consideration some of these suggestions, perhaps we take a small step towards a better organizational culture, in which the emperor’s clothes are appreciated when they really look good and corrected when necessary.
Via: Forbes