There once were two famous companies that joined
together to form a new organization. The leaders in
charge of the merger hoped to transform the two
wonderfully different and diverse organizations into a
new more powerful, creative and productive one.
Though filled with enthusiasm and excitement, the
newly created giant was beset with fear of the
unknown and an unwillingness to drop the baggage of
the past.
That double vision of the future spread to employees
at all levels of the new organization, leading them to
old patterns of behavior. They began blaming one
another for problems instead of standing
accountable. They became uncooperative, and a
sense of paranoia and fear of failure infected the
new organization.
These rumblings opened the door to employees
doing things the way they used to be done. Power,
politics, pettiness, envy and status drove a wedge
into what was potentially a great organizational
marriage.
This is a sad and puzzling, though not surprising,
tale.
What is keeping us from working in or running the
kind of organization we all really want? Why do our
best intentions seem to be undercut or thwarted by
seemingly invisible or even unacknowledged forces?
It is as if we allow an “Organizational
Unconsciousness” to grow and to determine what will
happen to the organization, its customers and its
employees.
The vision, mission, values and guiding principles of
a new organization must be solid and embraced at all
levels. We must, in our respective roles, attempt to
live out each of them or “walk the talk.”
To do so, that vision must be clear for us and all
those who work with us. It must be shared, believed
and trusted deep within the organization. If not, the
unconsciousness and double vision will win out.
As a leader, you must vocally and ethically call out
and challenge that which destroys what your
organization promises, stands for or attempts to
deliver to its customers and employees. You must
challenge anyone who is not living out the mission,
vision and values; you must hold them
accountable.
The best place to start is with you. Look for
contradictions between what you say and believe
and what your actions reveal. If you find you have
double vision, seek a new perspective, adjust your
attitude or, if all else fails, seek a new environment
where the contradiction and double vision go
away.
If you seek clarification when you don’t understand,
challenge when you know something is wrong, and
accentuate the positive, you can eliminate double
vision and offer a clearer, more promising view of the
future for yourself and those around you.
