I recently heard a fairly senior level executive speak about leadership and the state of things in his (the) organization to a group of employees. More times than I can count, she said, “Well, ‘this’ or ‘that’ would be a really good thing for us to do, but we just can’t agree on it.” Or, “Ya, you’re right (responding to an idea from the employees in the audience) that would be a good thing to do, but… (insert excuse here).
When should a leader or group of leaders ask: If it’s really a good idea and in the best interest of the organization why are we NOT doing it? Getting to the reasons we aren’t or won’t do it, might reveal some underlying patterns that need to change in order to create and sustain change in the future.