The Left Hand, Right Hand Civil War

An expression rears its head when talking about organisation dysfunctions:
“It’s like the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing!”
Haha, yes, very amusing.
Like all suffering, it’s funnier when it doesn’t happen to us.
But, honestly? The way many organisations run, they’d kill to be in that situation.
Forget not knowing what the other is doing – often, they know all too well. And they’re tearing each other apart over it.
Many people have stories about organisational silos going to war, squabbling over a limited pool of resources. Obliviousness sounds great compared to that.
But even that beats the destructive tension of frontline employees versus the C-suite.
Combine that with silos and it’s no longer an organisation – it’s a great big ball of conflict.
Okay, okay. Calling this a civil war might be an exaggeration.
But it can be just as destructive as one.
It’s pretty clear that healthy organisations don’t function like this.
There’s a world of difference between creative tension – healthy rivalries that inspire your people to work at their best – and destructive tension.
When colleagues work against colleagues, and senior leaders work against frontline employees, it’s a recipe for disaster.
You’d think something so catastrophic would quickly end any organisation. And yet, strategic disconnect is the norm, not the exception.
The problem is two-fold:
Employees at all levels tend to be poor communicators, and
They think they aren’t.
Senior leaders hold town halls meetings, have an open door policy and talk with the occasional subordinate. This is in between meeting after meeting, and planning session after planning session, so it feels like all they do is communicate.
But it takes more than this to really get your people.
Imagine you had a half hour conversation with someone once per month. Even if you’re amazing at communicating, do you think they’d know what’s going on with you? Sure, they could recall a few superficial details about your life… but would they understand your struggles and challenges?
Would you trust them to know how to help you?
Probably not, right?
Even if this was enough… well, the vast majority of your organisation won’t even get this. Most would kill for one short meeting a month with you.
This disconnect goes both ways. While you won’t understand all the challenges facing your organisation, your employees won’t understand your priorities either.
Not unless you spend a thousand percent of your time meeting with them, and somehow still accomplishing all your strategic objectives.
Real communication seems impossible.
But it’s not – not with the right culture in place.
If everyone is aligned to the organisation’s purpose, then everyone understands your goals. Of course they do – after all, they share them.
When the different parts of the organisation pull in different ways, though?
Well, it takes a lot of work to get your messages across.
Effort well spent, but it’s a problem worth fixing.

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