Inspecting the Expected

I love looking at HGTV shows. It’s interesting to watch the variety of homes people purchase and their excitement to describe how they’ll use the new space. In some cases, they want a “move in ready” place where they don’t have to do a thing. The layout and basic décor should already suit their style.  In other cases, they want a blank palette where they can move walls, change the paint and flooring, update the kitchen and bathroom to “make it their own.”

More unsettling though is when their excitement over their new home is interrupted by a friendly inspector with bad news. Close examination uncovers things like termites, asbestos, water or mold damage, cracks in the foundation, roof leakage, faulty electrical wiring, old plumbing…the list goes on.  The cost for repairs eats into the homeowner’s savings or impacts their renovation budget.

The surface of the structure looked great to untrained eyes, but expert eyes identified serious infrastructure problems. Absent the inspection, recognition that it was crumbing from the inside would be delayed, but eventually come to light as some component of the house failed.

For any home to avoid such a fate, it requires preventive maintenance for every aspect of the structure, periodic inspections, fixing problems promptly, understanding the environmental threats (high winds, tornadoes, soil composition) and investing money to keep it up to code.

Organizational Infrastructure

The same thing can happen in our organizations. On the surface, there may be great press reviews, robust stock prices, and a strong appeal to customers. But in some cases, a peek under the surface can reveal concerns about the infrastructure. Are the sales sustainable? What risk factors might impact consumer confidence or interrupt the supply chain? Are there concerns about product quality?

Examples of organizations with infrastructure issues are easily identifiable these days. Twitter and Elon Musk are currently in a battle over the value of the company, in part because of a question about the real number of subscribers versus the number of fake accounts. Meanwhile the stock price, revenues, employee morale and retention are down.1

The now defunct company Theranos promoted their widely hailed new technology for conducting blood tests, until it was discovered that the equipment didn’t really work. Now both founders have been convicted of fraud. And Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft was grounded after two planes crashed killing over 345 people due to design and flight system issues.

Other instances of a compromised infrastructure are equally serious, yet not always as obvious. Each is unbelievably costly to stakeholders and the general public. And most can be avoided by proactively making decisions to anticipate and minimize risks, apply preventive maintenance, and operate based on values of honesty and truth.

Leadership Infrastructure

The same opportunities exist in the infrastructure of our leadership. Whether observing a team or a singular person, outsiders may see great results, positive connections with employees and stakeholders, and collaborative activities.

But sometimes, when you peel back the cover you find toxic behaviors, core capabilities that are missing, and poor team dynamics that reveal a different story. Leaders may lack self-awareness of the impact of their behaviors or prioritize their position and perception of power that accompanies it. This focus on self over the team can result in higher attrition or disengagement, team members whose capabilities aren’t well developed, unnecessary conflict, poor performance and more.

Inspecting The Expected

So how do you know if your organizations and leaders are really performing as they appear to be? You should inspect what you expect.

Like an audit process, some people fear inspections because of what they might find, or they think its micromanaging. But inspections are simply a feedback mechanism. They merely reflect and describe what’s going on. And to the extent that problems, gaps, or issues exist, the quicker they’re identified, the quicker they can be remediated, repaired, and corrected to minimize financial, reputational, and operational risks for the organization and the leadership. Absent that, any infrastructure issues will only be exacerbated with time, at which point the negative impact will be greater.

The better perspective on inspections is that they’re a means to proactively embrace values, behaviors and processes that keep organizations and their leaders functioning at optimal levels. This creates a culture that affirms desired standards and such inspections become an opportunity to confirm these expectations.

Creating Expectations

There are three keys to creating the right expectations.

  1. Establish standards for organizations and leaders based on specific values and behaviors, government and industry regulations, and stakeholder needs.
  2. Develop leaders with the understanding, knowledge, and skill sets to meet these standards through training, coaching, mentoring, facilitated learning, and challenging assignments.
  3. Assess progress to the standards through regular audits, reports, metrics, 360 feedback processes, engagement surveys, observations.

The bottom line is that you will establish trust both internally and externally that the organization is what it says it is, and that it will keep its brand promise to all stakeholders.

  1. https://www.yahoo.com/video/falling-morale-staff-departures-struggling-112826985.html

Copyright 2022 Priscilla Archangel
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