Right Answers to the Wrong Questions?

A few weeks ago, I spoke to about 20 professionals attending a program about their future and the future of their organizations. I talked about tomorrow. They were more worried about today. I wanted to venture into tomorrow and look back to today. They just wanted to get through today. I discussed purpose: Why? They were more concerned about strategies and tactics: How? My metaphor was a blueprint. They wanted a to-do list. I was thinking effective (doing the right things). Their concern was efficient (doing things right). Leadership was my target. Management was their aim. I quoted Stephen Covey on leadership, “Begin with the end in mind,” because leaders focus on the horizon, a vision for the future. They were thinking management (“Begin with the beginning in mind"), because managers stare down at their desk, facing their challenges du jour and being constantly interrupted with issues about operations and people. THE MISTAKES WERE MINE! Not theirs. I misread my audience. I was there to discuss change management, to talk about solving problem and capitalizing on opportunities as we move from today through tomorrows. (Note the “s” on "tomorrows." You face a tomorrow every day – one at a time.) See also: The Entrepreneur as Leader and Manager   I should have realized that, as John Kotter put it, "management is still not leadership." He said: “In fact, management is a set of well-known processes, like planning, budgeting, structuring jobs, staffing jobs, measuring performance and problem-solving, which help an organization to predictably do what it knows how to do well. Management helps you to produce products and services as you have promised, of consistent quality, on budget, day after day, week after week. In organizations of any size and complexity, this is an enormously difficult task. We constantly underestimate how complex this task really is, especially if we are not in senior management jobs. So, management is crucial — but it's not leadership." He added: "Leadership is entirely different. It is associated with taking an organization into the future, finding opportunities that are coming at it faster and faster and successfully exploiting those opportunities. Leadership is about vision, about people buying in, about empowerment and, most of all, about producing useful change. Leadership is not about attributes; it's about behavior. And in an ever-faster-moving world, leadership is increasingly needed from more and more people, no matter where they are in a hierarchy. The notion that a few extraordinary people at the top can provide all the leadership needed today is ridiculous, and it's a recipe for failure.” Don’t repeat the mistakes I made with my audience. Be sure you know and understand the questions (both those being asked and those folks are afraid to ask) before you provide answers. Then make sure the answers you provide are correct and understood by the audience you serve. Communication is the negotiating of meaning. If the audience is not “catching” what you are “pitching” it might be well intended and thought provoking or ego or noise or a hope and a prayer but it is NOT COMMUNICATION! See also: The Need for Agile, Collaborative Leaders   As George Bernard Shaw stated so correctly, “The problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred.” Are you providing the right answer to the right questions? If not, start again!