Stephen Dando
Group HR Director, Reuters
If you are espousing a certain approach in the organization, it is quite important that when people manifestly operate outside of that, that you find ways of saying something about it; calling it to account, if you like.
Easier said than done. I was leading the HR and organizational aspects of a major change program. This was a change program that affected quite a number of different countries and businesses within the total business. We were completely reengineering the processes that held those businesses together. It required a number of small business units to, in a sense, surrender some of their autonomy, their decision making and so on, for the greater good of the organization; and not all of them were particularly happy to do that.
The senior team that was responsible for this whole part of the organization was made up of the different bits. There were a lot of political behaviors going on among [the team members], who were fighting their own corners. When I look back on it now, it is quite clear that what we should have done, because we could see it happening, was embolden the chief executive and one or two other people to declare that there was something going on, and to deal with the behaviors rather than working around them.
If you experience someone who is clearly behaving in a way that is out of step with whatever it might be -- the values, if you’ve got a declared set of values, or some other expectation about how people do things -- it is very important to deal with that at an individual level, to find a way of noticing with that individual what’s happening.
Find a way of talking about it. What is difficult about that for most people is that when you’re confronting someone in that way, however sensitively, they will quite naturally be very defensive; so it is a difficult conversation to have. For that reason, in my experience, most people will duck that most of the time, because people will tend to argue and disagree with quite a lot of what’s being said.
One of the things that you can do to make that a better conversation is to talk about it in terms of how it leaves you feeling, and what you’re experiencing in terms of that person’s behavior, rather than in the ways we often talk about these things.
If we generalize and talk about the impact he or she might be having for other people, or for the effectiveness of the organization or something, then it is very easy for that person to disagree. That’s a perspective and that person may agree or disagree, but if one is willing to bring it back to one’s personal experience, that’s not something that you can disagree with. If I say to you, “Look, there’s something about the way that you’re dealing with something, talking to me, relating to me, whatever it might be; and here’s the experience that that’s having for me and here’s how I feel about this. Whatever you might want to say, you can’t really disagree with how I’m feeling.” I think that can be quite effective.
TAKEAWAYS
- People often become territorial and resistant to change when faced with massive upheaval, particularly if they believe it will lead to diminished responsibility.
- Behaviors that go against company strategy must be dealt with directly, rather than worked around.
- During a tough conversation people will often get defensive, so control the situation and maintain a level of calm by preparing your main points in advance.
- To improve a difficult situation, discuss how the individual’s behavior is making you feel.
Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Press. Excerpts from Lessons Learned: Straight Talk from the World's Top Business Leaders: Managing Conflict. Copyright 2008 Fifty Lessons Limited. All rights reserved.