A Hidden, Ugly Belief That Screws Up Change

A Hidden, Ugly Belief That Screws Up Change

Posted on 22. Aug, 2010 by in 1 Leadership, Change In Action, People & Change

Those who read my blog regularly know how passionate I am about helping leaders discover how to bring change to the business. I often advocate leadership practices that require collaboration with employees. Today, though, I’m taking a different approach. Today is about looking at you, the change leader.

You may be familiar with the famous Ghandi quote, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” One of my favorites. But, how do you be the change? Change starts with the leader. And you should start here:

Know your belief about people
Can people be trusted? Are you suspicious of people’s intentions? Do you trust people immediately? Perhaps you like people to challenge you? As a change leader, I want you to be clear on your belief about people. It infuses your leadership actions, your suggestions, even your openness to ideas. The trick with this is that you may need input from another person who will have a candid conversation with you. Let me share an example.

I worked with a manager who didn’t realize that he was suspicious of employees. He believed that they would do as little as possible if he wasn’t watching. So he would put into place processes that forced employees to account for their time. And when they didn’t follow the process they confirmed his suspicions. When his team was to go through a systems upgrade, he was not open to letting employees recommend ideas on how to improve processes. He believed that they would develop processes that would let them “slack off” or they would waste time developing new processes. His belief about people interfered with engaging employees in change. It caused a host of other issues: delayed schedules, rework, and frustrated employees. The manager’s employees “survived” the implementation. Many left to work in other units. He moved on to another company.

If your beliefs are of the suspicious nature, work with a trusted person to develop mitigating strategies to counter-balance them. I realize the contradiction in this. The actions you develop may make a difference for you, your employees, the company, and even customers.

So what has been your experience? Share them below.

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4 Responses to “A Hidden, Ugly Belief That Screws Up Change”

  1. Louise Altman

    23. Aug, 2010

    Hi Shawn
    Ok now you are on to one of our main mantras – beliefs!

    Everything we do, whether it is working with individuals or teams around conflict, leadership, generational differences or emotional intelligence, centers on beliefs.

    Beliefs run the show. They trigger feelings – and they drive behavior. People try to change first at the level of behavior – instead of looking to the root – the belief/s.

    We’ve worked with hundreds of managers who are concerned about improving performance (their own or those who work for them) and haven’t a clue about what beliefs are driving their actions.

    Unfortunately, we find that with the turmoil and stress of today’s workplace, negative beliefs are more prevalent than ever before. This is such an enormous barrier to real and sustainable change and a terrible drain on people’s energies. Your use of the word “infuse” to describe the role of beliefs is perfect – beliefs infuse what we see, how we feel and how we behave in all our interactions.

    Thanks for reinforcing the importance of beliefs!

    Best, Louise

    Reply to this comment

    • Shawn Murphy

      23. Aug, 2010

      Louise,
      I’m happy to do my part in reinforcing the importance of beliefs and how they play out in leadership acts.

      All the best,
      Shawn

      Reply to this comment

  2. Heather Stagl

    23. Aug, 2010

    Shawn,

    Great post! I have worked with managers who felt that their people were mischievous, lazy or dumb. As you pointed out, this false perspective becomes information that is used to make decisions that reinforce the same point of view.

    There is a fundamental truth underlying your post that I would like to point out: People do not become trustworthy based on their own acts alone. They become trustworthy when someone (like a manager) decides they are worth his or her trust, and bestow it on them accordingly.

    Heather

    Reply to this comment

    • Shawn Murphy

      23. Aug, 2010

      Hi Heather,
      Douglas McGregor wrote about Theory X and Y years back and it’s sense been considered “faulty.” My experience, though, is exactly what I wrote about and what you’ve experienced. And these experiences closely align with the underlying tenets of McGregor’s theory. Thank you for taking time to comment here.
      Cheers,
      Shawn

      Reply to this comment

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