Babs’ starter list on what is holding public and nonprofit sector organizations back from being great.
In 2001, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t, by Jim Collins hit the bookstores and most likely the hands of an executive director, municipal CAO, school superintendent, health authority CEO, chief librarian, or management consultant near you. Never mind that it was big around the C-suites of misguided corporations such as Fannie Mae and is, in more judgmental circles, cited as a rationale for the unleashing of a level of unethical greed reminiscent of past robber barons, it was also sloppy in its research, arguments, and presentation and was never intended for the public and non-profit sectors.
Collins recognized the last point and so followed up in 2005 with Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great. Some say it was to redeem the greed his previous work rationalized; work that he says was misunderstood and misused. When I received a copy of the monograph (without the 2001 Good to Great) in 2006 as a “welcome to librarianship gift”, I was intrigued and wondered if this is what I was going to be part of — good organizations that wanted to be great.
But this isn’t a post about the book, it’s about stuck organizations and leaders so if you aren’t familiar with the book, and are wondering what the hedgehog has to do with all this, there are plenty of summaries on the internet like this one published on Medium.
Ten Years Later
Ten years later as I completed my MBA, Collins was being eclipsed by what I would call more engaging and credible folks. Simon Sinek’s TED talk (yeah, the book too) Start with Why, How Great Leaders Inspire Action was still after five years the “must watch” (yeah, and read) for those, like me, with a passion (strong word Babs) for leadership and organizational development, with Brené Brown and the power of vulnerability as the icing on the cake. Along with them, we have had a myriad of other brilliant researchers (hello Amy Edmondson) and thinkers give us highly applicable ideas, processes, and practices that build on decades of peer-reviewed research, case studies, and the latest findings in areas such as neuroscience and psychology. Collins’ classic with its hedgehog fable and Level 5 Leadership, as common sense as they are, kind of pales in comparison.
Twenty Years Later
Twenty years later, as in now, I’m gobsmacked (I’m exaggerating for effect and because I like the word) as I review my work with good leaders and good organizations who come to me because they want to be great and rightly fear that they are working in a climate that has not only abandoned great, but is becoming normalized to mediocrity.
Critically, these leaders and organizations are stuck in broken systems where their:
- Approach to communications and relationship building in and outside of the organization has damaged trust and confidence.
- Resistance to innovation (it is more than a word!), psychological safety (a practice so misunderstood it’s mind-boggling), and professional discipline and grit (leadership is a privileged responsibility, quit whinging about it) has resulted in ho-hum services that put the organization’s funding, partnerships, and community impact at risk.
- Leadership and management development programs (big thoughts on this here) are failing to deliver on not only what is needed tomorrow, but needed right now, immediately, today; thoughtful, vision focused, mission aligned, values driven, strategic, problem-solving leaders capable of big thinking, political and financial savviness, and pragmatic planning and implementation.
What Signals a Broken System?
From my recent work, here’s the starter list:
- Avoiding the reality of social, economic, or technological change. A big one right now is AI. I might have jumped the gun some years ago in asking clients about the state of their AI internal discussions, strategic and operational plans, and policy, but I am floored to find myself with clients who are still avoiding the topic because they personally don’t like AI. Doesn’t matter if they don’t like it; it’s here, the staff are using it without parameters or appropriate tools and in ways that bring risk to the organization (oh my goodness, the privacy and security issues), and if the organization is, lets say, a library, there is an INCREDIBLE responsibility to supporting their community navigating AI and all its risks and benefits while continuing to provide spaces, programs, and resources for connecting and celebrating human endeavours. Hats off to all the libraries, like Toronto Public Library, Fraser Valley Regional Library, and Moose Jaw Public Library, for doing so. (How We Talk About AI)
- Addressing funding challenges with hope disguised as advocacy rather than a data analysis backed plan.
- Having plenty of data but making quick judgements based on assumptions and biases while being slow on meaningful decisions and actions.
- Reports that start and end with jargon and with nothing substantive in the middle. A recent example was a report infatuated with the word “innovation” from the very first sentence and carried on with lots of non-information about “innovative plans”, “innovative frameworks”, and innovative services” led by “innovative people” and in the end was all about something as non-innovative as upgrading the internal scheduling software. Take a look at your reports; yeah, sorry to be the one to point it out.
- Risk aversion rather than assessment and mitigation. Sure, stability and caution have their place, like in the finance, HR, and other compliance departments, but if it’s the driver, then check the rearview mirror for the “mediocrity ahead” sign.
- Leadership teams that manage rather than solve problems. I don’t need to spell this one out, you know it.
- Inward focus — all about us, not the community. I’m known for being old-school in my organizational assessments as I walk around in my “I heart Edgar Schein” t-shirt (kidding, but only sort of as I’d like one of those) poking at artifacts, behaviours, espoused values, and assumptions. If an organization says that it’s all about community but I see more “look at us” than “look at the community” in their strategic plan and annual reports, I’m going to call them on it (kindly and with a process for change). Hey Toronto, thanks for joining me on a tour of communication artifacts this morning!
- Two (sometimes more) vastly different beliefs about the organization. One held by the leadership team and the other by everyone else as though they aren’t working together — oh wait a sec, they aren’t.
- Leadership teams that resist asking for feedback from each other or from those they lead. They are leading from a place of fear and that leads to a useless and awful culture of compliance.
- Complaining. Just stop doing it. Leadership is about being self-aware, disciplined, and doing the right thing, no matter how hard it is, at the right time. (Finish Sisu and Gravy Train).
There is so much more I could spell out here, but you don’t need me to tell you what is keeping you awake at 2AM, what is and isn’t happening in your costly leadership team meetings, that your management structure and organization aren’t delivering, or that your board and funders are asking uncomfortable but spot on questions.
But you do need me to tell you that I can help you do things differently so that you can go from good (which is the path to mediocrity) to great.
Back to Jim Collins and the Hedgehog
Collins’ work is more than a little trite and over-simplistic, but it has stuck around. Even in my own work where my favourite bit of business jargon — unique value proposition — lives large I can see the hedgehog as I encourage leaders and organizations to know what they do, do it well (and by well I mean ethically, strategically, and joyfully) and build in processes and structures that make room for engagement, problem solving, creativity, and innovation (the real kind) for great culture, services, spaces, relationships, and impact.
Giving credit where credit is due, Collins popularized the idea and the importance of moving from good to great. I’m here for that.
Babs
Babs at babskelly.ca
PS: Substack has rolled out a service in partnership with Pangram for more transparency regarding AI written or assisted posts (Against Claudefishing). Cool beans! You have my promise that I do not use AI for my newsletter. This newsletter is where I share my curiosities, observations, thinking, and personal insights and connect with you. The brilliance, misunderstandings, and em dashes are all mine.
Photo by Sylvie Brindley on Unsplash.