PVLD is in the process of developing a new Strategic Plan with the coaching and support of business consultant Patty Minor. Among other things, Patty is teaching us to cast a critical (in the best sense of the term) eye on everything we do, and to have the courage to "call out" things that need to be changed or stopped. It's not an easy process, especially in a management team that wants to be "nice". We're learning that "nice "isn't such a good thing when it is a way of avoiding difficult issues or conversations, and that a truly strong team is one that finds ways to improve across organizational boundaries...even when that means delivering constructive feedback to your colleagues or your boss.
With thoughts about this learning process on my mind, I found two blog posts that I read over the last couple of days particularly relevent.
The first, Never avoid the yuck from the Slow Leadership blog is a wonderful articulation of how important it is for leaders to confront the "yuck" (the stuff you'd rather avoid knowing about) if we, and our organizations, are going to grow and improve. I found the three questions posed by the author at the end of the post very helpful...especially the second one!
- What issues in your workplace are you trying to pretend don’t exist?
- What questions do you really, really not want to hear the answers to? Go ask them!
- Do you want to run a ‘stupidest thing we do around here’ competition?
This morning I read this post on my friend Fran Pullara's Sacred Ordinary blog. I had never heard of Michael Josephson until I read Fran's post, but his essay "It's Not Easy" really struck a chord in light of the work the PVLD leadership team is doing. It's about the challenge of being a person of integrity and character, but it's also true for organizations... and also talks about the importance of being honest with ourselves and others.
It's not easy, but it sure is worth the effort.
He's right...it's not easy, but it is definitely worthwhile
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