Tampering with tradition, common practice and “we have always done things this way” is fraught with complications. Unwillingness to delve into that difficult area is a recipe for change “failure”. How then as the executive owner do you place yourself into the fire?
- Acknowledge your own tie to organizational traditions
- Do the same for others
- Use external influence to gauge, address, and if necessary, overcome
A senior leader, by the time they have risen in the organization, has acknowledged tradition and followed the status quo for years. It is impossible to get the letter prefixes (VP, SVP, CEO etc.) without this. So sorry but you are tainted. That is your first acknowledgment. Now decide how often that approach facilitated end states and organizational improvement instead of or more than your own climb. If you can do that honestly your in a position to move to bullet two.
In connection with the initiative you are planning, how have the potential stakeholders dealt with this need to follow precedent and informal rules? Were they weighted toward individual gain or business objectives? Did they balance the two for success as one, and one of many? Understanding this will help you to collaborate, leverage and support your stakeholders. Applying the knowledge will help you to get to the holy grail of change, matching individual effort to the big picture. Remember though you too are a little tainted so this is a difficult exercise. Enter bullet three.
A good external consultant will know how to call out precedence as an acknowledgement and an area to address. If they are a trusted advisor they will do this for your role in a way that helps you gauge helpful or not helpful tradition. If you do it well together you model for others.
You may be pleasantly surprised at the receptivity to peel off the status quo to reveal possibilities.
