Insecure Organizations
Everyone deals with insecurity.
A lot of my work with individual leaders, and sometimes groups, digs into the ways that insecurity undermines our leadership and what we can do about it.
Some of the most impressive leaders I know, people who are highly accomplished and deservedly confident, also open up to me about long term self-doubt, fears, and the dismaying sense of not being good enough. It’s universal.
We don’t eliminate insecurity, we learn to live with it, but not let it be in control.
In the last several months I’ve been noticing another type of insecurity: organizational insecurity. This is a culture in which there is a shared sense of being inadequate, unappreciated, or inferior. Like personal insecurity it has some benefits when it’s motivating improvement, but it can be so damaging when it becomes too central to decision making.
Organizational insecurity shows up in lots of ways:
-Relentless Hustle: We are always running from behind and need to outwork our problems. Burning out our people because we don’t truly believe we can make our mark in healthy ways.
-Competitive Comparison: Being more focussed on our performance relative to others in our field than our accomplishments in achieving our true Reason. Often accompanied by private (or even public) critique of other organizations, especially those more prominent than we are.
-Distracting Distinctives: When our “uniqueness” is exaggerated or obsessed over beyond any practical benefit. This overemphasis often leads to losing sight of the more central things we do that others do also, and prevents beneficial partnership.
-Misplaced Loyalty: We become more committed to our organization, or our leaders, than to the cause we are really about. Brand and personality become the priority and impact is undervalued.
-Irrational Risk: Whether this means being absurdly ambitious or totally tentative, an ability to properly evaluate and engage with opportunities is a sign that fear has too much sway. Sustainable confidence is able to measure risk and anticipate the range of consequences wisely.
-Urgency Obsession: Our need to prove our worth immediately causes us to insist on short term results instead of lasting impact. We lose perspective and take short cuts that don’t pay off in the end.
Every organization needs some degree of insecurity to avoid becoming complacent. Improvement starts with dissatisfaction. But when it becomes a part of our shared personality it becomes a distraction that prevents us from doing what matters most.
Organizations that have come out of seasons of desperation are vulnerable to not recognizing when they are no longer under imminent threat and no longer need, or benefit from, that kind of urgency.
There are many things that can help us move into a more rooted and sustainable culture. Having solid measurement and evaluation processes that show meaningful results helps. Being well connected to other organizations in our field with whom we share best practices is a positive sign. And developing the skill of celebration at all levels of the organization can prevent the temptation to always focus on what isn’t going well that insecurity thrives on.
But, more than anything else, actively reminding ourselves of our core organizational convictions matters. Keep the Vision/Mission/Values (or Dream/Path/Promise) front and centre so you don’t get stuck in internal concern and navel gazing. Tell stories of what you’re really about and make that the focus of your attention.
Hold your cause tightly and your organization loosely; because having them reversed is a sure path to becoming ineffective and not having any fun.