{"id":342,"date":"2019-04-01T13:37:09","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T13:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/i2aa.com\/?p=342"},"modified":"2019-06-18T15:17:01","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T15:17:01","slug":"how-to-untangle-a-thorny-problem-that-persists-despite-the-best-efforts-of-your-leadership-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i2aa.com\/how-to-untangle-a-thorny-problem-that-persists-despite-the-best-efforts-of-your-leadership-team\/","title":{"rendered":"How to untangle a thorny problem that persists despite the best efforts of your leadership team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Situation: <\/strong>The senior vice president of a government contracting firm needed help in solving what appeared to be an unsolvable situation. He had recently learned that one of the teams had been completely ignoring critical terms of large contracts and instead was using ad hoc procedures that were completely out of compliance.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Needless to say, the director responsible for the team was frantic. He recognized how out of hand the situation had become but he was stymied as to how to rectify it. A variety of solutions had been tried over the past year but all had been ineffective. Employees had resorted to hiding requisitions for documentation in the bottom of file cabinets. Emails were flying back and forth with more than 30 people cc\u2019d at a time. People were terrified of losing their jobs and even worse, the situation was ripe for cover up which of course could lead to horrible legal consequences. The VP asked if I could help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The challenge: <\/strong>In my first meeting the challenge became clear: they needed a solution that would untangle the problem – with integrity – while preserving the company\u2019s relationship with its customers. This was a tough task because the team and the broader organization were currently in defense mode. The director needed help to change the team\u2019s mindset from one of reactive fear to an atmosphere in which the team would feel safe enough to disclose the root causes and collaborate on creating a lasting solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution:<\/strong> The SVP and his director needed a plan that would navigate to a resolution by avoiding a focus on blame, creating an atmosphere of trust, and engaging the creative problem-solving capacities of the people who were actually involved in implementing the solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I knew that it was essential that the team be viewed as more than an advisory task force. I asked the SVP and his director if they would entrust the team to come up with a solution that the company would commit to implementing (assuming of course that it was reasonably feasible). They agreed. There is nothing more demoralizing in this type of situation than to be part of a group that \u201cadvises\u201d with no real authority or responsibility. In order for the solution to be truly effective and accurately implemented, the team needed to be responsible for developing and executing the solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We started by bringing in out-of-town team members for face-to-face meetings. I then coached the group using a structure that is based on inquiry and eliminates \u2018shoot from the hip\u2019 reactions. Although everyone felt great pressure to resolve this quickly, we needed to start by doing the opposite – slow down the process to increase reflection and creativity. This served to reduce confrontation and grandstanding. It was deceptively simple but counter-intuitive to the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result:<\/strong> The group developed a solution for the immediate \u201chair on fire\u201d situation (i.e., critical documents being shoved in the bottom of the file drawer) and implemented processes to prevent a recurrence of behavior that got them into this situation in the first place. Not only were the short- and long-term problems solved, but the directors had gone through a \u201cteam building\u201d experience that increased dedication to the organization and to each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key takeaways for leaders:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n