Some argue that human resources should own organizational effectiveness, but my partner and I very much disagree. Senior leadership should own organizational effectiveness, for several key reasons.
Organizational culture drives most of the organizational behavior. And culture is formed and maintained neither by what HR policies are in place, by the organization’s stated values, nor by what trainings and initiatives are rolled out, but rather, by what you as senior leaders pay attention to. Whether policies and trainings are influential is determined by what you allow or don’t allow, what you pay attention to or don't, the qualities of those hired and promoted, whether your words and deeds are congruent with those qualities, and whom you hold accountable for what. Organizational effectiveness initiatives, when not first owned by senior leadership, inevitably lead to cynicism, frustration and wasted opportunities.
Here’s an example to illustrate why.
My partner and I once led a large-scale leadership development program. Participants were engaged and excited. They were learning and integrating new ways of leading and seeing positive changes that further motivated them. But they also expressed consistent concerns that led them to ask us to share two thoughts with senior leadership that they didn’t feel safe sharing directly.
The first was: “We love leading this way, creating contexts rich in real collaboration and imbued with safety and trust, where diverse perspectives are encouraged and then integrated. We understand that complex issues have no one right answer, and it’s vital to encourage different perspectives. We see the power of appropriate leadership vulnerability, where we have the courage to say we don’t have all the answers and need the help of our teams. We understand that leading in times of increasing VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) and rapid change demands a different way for leaders to think and then act. We embrace this.”
Then came the second thought. “But, senior leadership, we need you to lead the way. We need you to be in front of this, to actively show your support by what you do, what you don’t do, and what you pay attention to. We particularly need you to model these behaviors, holding yourselves and others accountable for leading this way. We need you to step back and ask your own strengths and challenges in leading this way so you can shift the culture towards greater effectiveness. We don’t understand why you act in ways that are contrary to our stated leadership values, why you promote and give attention to people who aren’t aligned with them, nor why you allow leadership behaviors that are contrary to these values. The result is that we don’t feel the full freedom or permission to lead in the way we want and need to match the challenges we face.”
Does this sound familiar?
Before senior leadership can delegate any part of organizational effectiveness to HR, they first need to model and take appropriate ownership for achieving successful results. As you’ve just seen, there are several important pieces.
The first piece, after deciding on the overall strategy for organizational effectiveness, is leading robust, safe, and open discussions — engaging on multiple levels — on the current strengths and challenges for making those changes. Plans are then needed to build on the strengths and address the challenges as much as possible, including ways to measure success.
The second piece is committing to shift the culture by actively and consistently paying attention to what will support the change. For example, we know a leadership team that steps back monthly and asks just this question: "What are we doing to reinforce desired changes and what are we doing, often inadvertently, that’s getting in the way?" When you take the perspective of others in the organization, knowing that they’re closely watching what you do and say, what do you do or say that’s supportive of these changes, and what’s not consistent?
The third piece is committing to personal and collective reflection on whether senior leaders are walking the talk. Are you modeling what you say is important? How do you know that? Are you open to getting feedback from each other and from those in your organization about this? Are you supporting and then holding other leaders accountable to lead in this way? To whom do you give power, influence and authority? Whom do you promote?
Organizational culture is also defined by what’s tolerated. Do you turn your back on "high performers" who are disrespectful or even bullying? When you see behavior that’s contrary to the current direction, do you ask what in the culture/context is supporting or driving that behavior?
If you want a coaching culture, are you actively building and demonstrating coaching skills? Are you holding yourself and others accountable? How do you know if the next level of leadership is doing the same?
If senior leadership is actively and consistently engaged in these activities — not just as a “one-off” but on a regular basis — the active involvement of HR is needed both in helping to build the strategies and then to carry them out. HR’s congruent guidance and support are crucial. HR also needs to examine its own practices and processes to see to what extent it is consistent or inconsistent with the current direction (e.g., hiring and performance management processes).
With that said, unless you first do what we've described here, the “new initiative” will just be another catalyst for cynicism, frustration and eye-rolling.
