Wednesday, September 9, 2015

MANAGEMENT/ LEADERSHIP SPECIAL ............. Killing the Ego


Killing the Ego


Every leader talks of wanting an open organisation.
But it's tough having employees question every decision you make

Jim Whitehurst's first brush with an open organisation was when he
 interviewed with Red Hat for the CEO post. “I had separate meetings
 with both the CEO and  our general counsel and those conversations
showed me that working at Red Hat  would be different than anything
I had done before.There wasn't a traditional hierarchy, no special treatment
 for leaders at least not the kind that you might find at most other companies.
 They just wanted to meet and get to know me rather  than try to impress
or court me,“ says Whitehurst, president and CEO, Red Hat.
 This also made him realise that at Red Hat, the world's leading provider
 of open  source software solutions, meritocracy was key. This was eight
 years ago.
Whitehurst has now put down his observations and learnings over the
 years into  a book, The Open Organization: Igniting Passion and Performance.
 In addition  to Red Hat, the book also goes inside companies like Zappos,
Pixar and Starbucks,  to understand how to successfully create and navigate
 an open organisation. Whitehurst's early days at Red Hat were focused on
 unlearning most things he  knew about managing, and learning to listen and
 making himself accountable  to everyone in the company. “Just because I
 had the title of CEO didn't mean I had earned everyone's trust and respect,
“ he says. This came down to little  things like realizing how being dressed
 differently from everyone else (in a  button down shirt and pressed khakis)
 was creating an invisible barrier around him. The very next day he switched
 to jeans and a casual shirt.
“It was a lesson in how formality and visual cues can become significant
 Barriers  to collaboration because they can make you seem unapproachable.
 That doesn't work in an open organisation,“ he says.
According to Whitehurst, because open organisations require far fewer
 top down  controls, they tend to act quicker and breed employee engagement.
 “If you no longer rely on conventional top-down management hierarchies
 To  solve problems, you need to encourage and empower the members of
 your organisation to solve their own issues.“
This is similar to open source communities where there is no leader who
 Is  officially in charge. Instead, people are charged with making decisions
 based on the input they receive from the group.
The more accountable you are to your peers, the more aware you'd be about
 The  impact of your decisions and actions. As a result, people often end up
 Working  out issues among themselves rather than bumping them up the
hierarchy.
“An open organisation is focused on driving innovation and keeping ahead
 Of  the trends in the market ­ not devoting scarce people-power to missteps
 better left for peers to solve. Too many organisations tend to get sucked down
 into  creating policies and procedures aimed at quelling misbehavior, which
 is truly a waste of a talented person's time and energy,“ he says.
Given the economic environment most businesses operate in today,
 Whitehurst points out that an open framework can go a long way in boosting
 innovation and creativity. Decision making though, can be a tedious process.
 When decisions are handed down from above, a lack of commitment and
follow through often result. That's why an open organisation strives for change
 management to happen during the decision process, not during execution.
 We've learned that to bring about changes in our organisation, it's not enough
to simply try and sell our associates on a decision after it has been made,“
he says. The focus instead is bringing on ownership in the changes needed by
 involving people in the decision making process.
He admits it can be a frustrating and time consumer process, at times even
 infuriating. “As a leader, it challenges your ego ­ it is not fun to have people
question, question, and question every decision you make. So why do it?
The simple answer is because it leads to better decisions, better engagement,
 better execution, and ultimately better results,“ says Whitehurst.
The other challenge for Whitehurst was to get used to the constant debates
 that took place. This was something he had rarely encountered in his earlier
 jobs with Delta and BCG, and he was used to not being confronted if
 someone  disagreed with him. Not so at Red Hat. “I quickly learned that
 you can't get the  best creativity, initiative or effort from the members of an
 open organisation by saying, “Go do this.“ The best ideas happen when
 teams hash things out.
I've had engineers at Red Hat publicly challenge my decisions.
These challenges  are typically quite respectful and well thought out, and
 rarely cross the line.
But publicly and openly disagreeing is part of how Red Hat works,
 and I'm convinced that we get better answers as a result,“ he says.
 Over time, he's come to enjoy this style of debating and arguing with
people to solve hard and complex issues. “I love to argue -not maliciously
 -but in a healthy way where both sides  are heard.
I love to stir up a good debate, and sometimes think of myself as
Red Hat's head debater,“ says Whitehurst.
His advice to leaders looking to build an open organisation is simple.
 Proactively  invite feedback and thank those who give you constructive
or negative feedback.
 “It is a gift, and particularly as a leader or manager, if you react
defensively, You are unlikely to get it again,“ he cautions. The other
 important thing is to  spark the organisation to action.
It's important to be clear when outlining goals and targets.
If you are too precise, you may turn people off or end up giving them too
 Much  direction. At the same time, if you make the goals too broad,
 you might not  inspire any action whatsoever --or be left with utter chaos
with people running off in multiple directions at the same time.
The trick lies in creating enough structure around the organisation's
 actions without creating too much. “The art lies in finding the balance,“
 he signs off.
By Priyanka Sangani
CDET 4sep15

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