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“With great power comes great responsibility.”

Leaders are endowed with great power and responsibility, making it challenging to lead a variety of stakeholders through critical changes. No leader possesses the ability to see into the future, which can be one of the most challenging parts of the job. After all, decision-making is about the available, yet incomplete information – past analysis, future predictions, behavior patterns, etc., communication, and feedback. When leaders change their minds and take a new direction, they are often accused of being weak and “flip-flopping” and seemingly unable to make a decision.

Because leaders hold much power, it can be difficult for stakeholders to understand when a leader evolves, changes their mind, opts for a new opinion, and charts a new course. Some will wonder: what happened? Why the change of mind? In these times, some may question if the leader is fickle, unreliable, and lacking the confidence for effective decision-making.

However, confident, resilient leaders can and do change their minds.

Stakeholders look to leaders to provide expert opinions, take a position, and chart a direction. How a leader acts as a gatekeeper to information will influence the attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, motivations, opinions, etc. The leader establishes the communication framework and serves as the role model for the entire organization.

Whether it’s exploring growth opportunities, seeking options to keep agile, or pivoting due to a crisis, leaders hold the future that determines an organization’s success or failure. Some leaders, despite high stakes, will rise and succeed. In contrast, others will face challenges that are difficult to navigate.

Here are six areas that may be valid reasons why leaders need to change an opinion:

1) High EQ Leaders Know How and When to Prioritize Employees
Studies show that a mere 4% of leaders know what’s happening in an organization. (1) Worse yet, problems are often not disclosed to senior leaders because teams fear that leaders are unwilling to make changes. Leaders need to prioritize their teams and employees, welcome employee participation, invite open communication and feedback, and seek ways to improve teamwork and morale.

Additionally, great leaders get to know employees as people, not just as workhorses. They will get to know what motivates each employee professionally – and personally. They will learn how to better coach and mentor based on individual style and personality type. And most importantly, emotionally intelligent leaders can use social skills, empathy, and self-awareness to motivate others and self-regulate when stress levels peak.

If leaders receive effective feedback, are open-minded, and see their organizations from a different perspective, they will look at why employee morale, productivity, and employee churn are as they truly are. This can lead to drastic changes in priorities and impact the workplace even if all changes can’t be made at once.

2) Courageous Leaders Keep an Open Mind and Ask Questions
People, processes, along with everything else, are constantly changing. Competitors are gaining or losing market share. New products, services, solutions, or even new alternatives are introduced with increasing frequency. New laws, updated regulations, revised policies, industry standards and best practices, and new techniques also impact how businesses operate. Even new talent can introduce concepts and see your organization through fresh eyes. A strong leader needs to keep an open mind to continuously learn and grow to benefit the organization and its people.

Daniel Khaneman, 2002 Nobel prize winner and author of Thinking, Fast and Slow, uses an interesting technique to keep his mind fresh. He encourages people to convince him that he’s wrong. He can hear different perspectives that challenge his thinking about the world, organization, the industry, people, processes, etc. (2) This principle can also be easily applied to leaders looking for feedback but who want to take the ego out of it and hear counter-arguments that may have some validity.

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, notably reads, often taking notes and even writing comments in the margins about ideas he finds interesting or things he disagrees with so he can investigate further. This allows him to keep learning and challenges his thinking. (3)

Fearless leadership means encouraging employees to be fearless about speaking up and modeling this behavior rather than making it a one-way street.

3) Effective Leaders Continuously Gather and Evaluate New Information
Let’s face it; cloud services, technology, surveys, and analytic data offer a plethora of data. While data can help learn about customers, employees, vendors, market trends, and more, it’s also critical to decision-making. Limited, outdated, incorrect, or even incomplete data may impact choices. Choices always have consequences, whether good, bad or simply neutral. However, updated data can provide new insights into current problems, identify new markets, solve unidentified issues, and improve customer satisfaction. It can also help resolve delays, build stronger vendor partner relationships, ensure promises are delivered and resolve conflicts between teams and stakeholders.

PRO-TIP:  Data comes from multiple sources. When there is data that conflicts with each other, investigate and scrape the bottom of the pot until there are clear answers. Often data can be vague, missing attributes may be seen through a certain perspective, there may be explanations, etc. Evaluating information from multiple viewpoints is a bit like detective work. But when time is spent (preferably the faster and more complete, the better) getting a full 3D image, decisions become much easier.

4) Responsible Leaders Use Many Perspectives to Define Impact
It’s not uncommon for organizations to evaluate Impact based on one or perhaps two perspectives. For example, employees may be evaluated on effectiveness and efficiency. However, efficient doesn’t always equate to effectiveness, nor vice versa.

Another common scenario is revenue growth versus stakeholder-centric measures. Desiring to control costs and maximize cost-benefit is not a flawed approach. However, there are times that leaders must evaluate the organization from a different perspective. Instead of asking, “How much is this costing us?” a good leader should ask questions: How productive is this versus its cost-benefit? Or how will this change impact stakeholder satisfaction?

Let’s use a real-world scenario to further illustrate:

Your organization needs to plan several critical meetings involving key stakeholders from various locations and traveling to multiple locations that require selection, vendor vetting, selection, etc. Yes, your staff may be able to handle planning an event locally or on a smaller scale. However, other factors to consider include increased awareness of health and safety, shortage of talent, rising costs, supply shortages, etc. These factors influence not only the capabilities and capacity of your team but will play into how attendees experience and judge the event. Therefore, more is at stake than merely ticking off an action item from a task list.

Conscientious leaders as questions like:

  • Does it make sense to hire an agency to do meeting planning because they have the network connections, are familiar with destinations, have a more substantial negotiating power, and staffing capabilities with minimal need for training?
  • Or, does it make more sense to assign meeting planning responsibilities to an employee, in addition to regular job duties, even if productivity temporarily declines?
  • Which is the better option based on the very specific needs and goals of our organization?

When analyzing the vast scenarios with conflicting perspectives, specific projects need to be prioritized based on what drives the organization and has the best outcome for all stakeholders.

5) Resilient Leaders Improve Agility and Speed
Employees desire comfort, and when things are going as planned, it can be easy to get into the rhythmical processes of the workplace. However, customers and other stakeholders expect speed and adaptability when a crisis happens, or a new problem arises. They want instant answers, fast resolutions, fresh ideas, and innovative solutions. These desires mean organizations must be agile and ready for the next change. (In some cases, organizations should anticipate what stakeholders need or want before it is even requested!)

Additionally, leaders will also question their own beliefs over time, especially when viewing them through the lens of the “status quo.” The status quo often requires evaluating the structure of the organization, what a failure to change has the potential to cost (whether it’s lost opportunities, rising costs, needs that weren’t addressed, etc.), and comparing how much value pivoting at the right time will bring to the organization.

One of the best leaders who used this technique was Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon. Early on, Amazon’s core business model was selling physical books. When e-readers became available, forecasting data indicated that Amazon’s core product model would suffer. Instead of seeking new ways to compete, Amazon began offering e-books despite these directly competing against its core product of physical books. This quick pivot by Bezos resulted in Amazon leading the e-book market today. (4)

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many industries were challenged by shutdowns and mandates. The meetings, incentive travel, conferences, and events (MICE) industry was one of the industries significantly impacted. It had to adapt to meet clients’ needs despite safety regulations, social distancing, and mandates. Some leaders in the MICE industry worked with smaller local events, focusing on attendee safety to pivot to meet demands. Others utilized technology to explore virtual and hybrid options to expand participation in a contact-free environment. While virtual and hybrid events can never replace in-person, face-to-face interactions, and travel experiences, they did fill a void that was necessary at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The result: Despite consistently placing attention on the health and safety of attendees, the MICE industry learned more and increased safety protocols. Leaders who rarely used virtual meetings learned to use them. And leaders who didn’t recognize the value of in-person events soon realized how essential they were to their business and stakeholders. Upon reflection, there will be a demand for various events and participation via multiple methods. However, agile leaders and others value even more face-to-face events. They will prioritize them primarily based on stakeholder feedback, success, and long-term Impact.

6) Confident Leaders are Self-Reflective and Emphasize Organization Objectives
When leaders fear being wrong or their ego prevents them from taking action (including but not limited to changing their minds), this can negatively affect the organization. Whether “right” or “wrong,” decision-making comes with leadership roles. Leaders can be more subjective by stepping back from the personal aspects of leadership and viewing the objectives through a “what’s best for the organization” lens. Often this means asking tough personal questions such as:

  • Am I curious enough to “dig to the bottom of the pot” to find out what’s really going on? And when I identify the problem, will I actually take action?
  • Is this the current direction right for the organization? Do I need to evolve my mindset/vision/mission-based on new information?
  • Am I willing to admit to being wrong or having a limited vision for the sake of the organization prospering?
  • Am I listening to my teams and employees when they offer constructive feedback? Or is there feedback I’m not receiving because, for whatever reason, my employees fear offering it?
  • Am I really open to feedback, or do I come across as grumpy, resentful, or argumentative? When I offer constructive feedback, am I mirroring the kind of feedback I would like to receive (both positive and negative in nature?)
  • Are we as profitable and productive as we think we are? Or are we just looking at the data we want to consider?
  • What issues am I ignoring or making excuses for when I need to evaluate if I may be contributing to the problem?
  • Am I present as a leader? And by being “present,” am I willing to get into the trenches with my employees from time to time to see the workplace from their perspective? Am I willing to jump in and be directed by someone else (with specific expertise I lack) when the organization needs help, or do I lock myself away and ask others to find solutions?
  • Do I seek to blame others when I need to take responsibility for my choices, and there are negative consequences? Am I willing to let others shine in the spotlight and give credit where credit is due? Do I demonstrate appreciation daily? Do I acknowledge when someone else’s great idea becomes a great success?

It’s important to note that strong and courageous leadership is about self-reflection and a willingness to re-evaluate and listen to valuable, constructive feedback. Influential leaders take the time to deliberate and, after careful consideration, change their minds if needed.

Some leaders are more concerned about their image, power, and reputation than their responsibilities to their organization, employees, and other stakeholders. They want to be seen as a powerful leader. But as former CEO of Herman Miller Max DePree once said, ” The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.” (5)

Confident, resilient leaders can and do change their minds. Much like a goldfish with growth restricted by the size of an aquarium, both organizations and leaders can only improve when they have the space to do so.

Discover more inspiring ideas for exciting experiences that boost morale and engage your people. Contact Gavel International for details.

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SOURCES

  1. https://blog.bonus.ly/giving-feedback-to-manager
  2. https://qz.com/598998/how-changing-your-mind-makes-you-a-better-leader/
  3. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/22/bill-gates-reddit-ama-reading-habit-that-is-key-to-my-learning-.html
  4. https://qz.com/598998/how-changing-your-mind-makes-you-a-better-leader/
  5. https://www.hermanmiller.com/stories/why-magazine/max-de-pree/

 

Jeff Richards
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