I can see how finding the right partner would be difficult, and how your
potential partner's assessment of the organization as "F.U.B.A.R" (%#&*@# up
beyond all recognition) would lead you away from her. At this year's National
OD Network Conference, I was sitting in a session in which one internal
consultant was sharing her disillusionment with her organization's leadership.
I was struck by how passionately the whole group of internal and external OD
practitioners joined in an "ain't they awful" tune about the incompetence of
their respective executive teams.
To my mind, if we want to create change in an organization, we have at all
costs to avoid being seen as a "cultist" or as an outsider who sees leadership
as "blind," "egotistical," "self-serving," or any number of other (hugely
unfair) labels that are typically cast upon the "them in power" in our business
lives. Whether or not you make such assessments of your leaders, the moment
you get cast yourself as a "cultist," your leaders will assume your assessments
of them follow such themes.
I hope you and any partner you might find are still able to understand your
executive team in terms of what they think they are trying to accomplish and
understand that, if they are making mistakes, they are not doing it because
they are ["fill in the blank"] but because they've taken the information they
have and made what, at the time, seemed like the best decision. If the
organization appears "F.U.B.A.R.," as your friend assessed, it is probably
suffering from a Beer Game-like series of mistakes and attempted corrections.
But in my experience, as soon as I reject the potential of leadership to
correct past mistakes, I make it near impossible to participate in affecting
change in that organization.
Again, best wishes on moving forward!
Marilyn Darling
mdarling@warren.med.harvard.edu
In response to Art Kleiner's comments, Christopher said:
"I'm affraid I've become the "cultist". People do think I am evangelical and
have started to back away from me fearing my "strange and foriegn" beliefs on
leadership and management. To top it all off, I bought and distributed ten
copies of Margret Wheatley's "Leadership and the New Science" I AM THE
DEVIL!!!!!!
"I definitely agree with what is said about needing a "partner". I read the
quote on "finding a partner" in the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook several weeks
ago and thought that I had found just the right person. Unfortunately, the
person I chose is far more disillusioned with the organization than I am and
is very negative about any movement forward on the concept of L-O. She used
the term "F.U.B.A.R." (%#&*@# up beyond all recognition) to describe our
leadership and the organization in general.
"Finding the right partner to help champion a cause such as L-O, or anything
else worthwhile, is as hard as finding a partner in life. I'm affraid there
may not be the right person where I work. Thanks for the words of
encouragement."
Christopher A. Canfield
CAC6@aol.com