We come equipped with highly effective psychological defence mechanisms to protect us from discomfort and anxiety.  Unchecked, they sabotage our effectiveness as managers.  The resultant reflex, over-learned behaviours, go undetected until we hunt for them specifically.  Robert Schaffer identifies four pervasive, subtle and crippling behaviour traps.

Trap 1:  Failing to set proper expectations

Have you ever announced a new direction without spelling out specifically what you expect to happen, who is responsible for what and when you expect delivery?  Or more insidiously, do you express expectations with an implied “if you possibly can…”?

Trap 2:  Excusing your staff from the pursuit of overall goals

Of course you want your people to focus on the work set out for them.  But do you allow your staff to delegate the integration of their work and their responsibility for supporting the performance of your organisation back up to you?

Trap 3:  Colluding with consultants

Do you require external the consultants to take responsibility for outcomes?  In this behaviour, focussing only on delivery and implementation of a product serves a dual purpose.  The consultant is protected from the anxiety of engaging at a deep level with the personalities and politics of your organisation.  And you have a convenient back-door.  If the project is a success you can claim kudos and if it is not you can say “Even the consultant could not get it to work”.

Trap 4:  The demand for new tools

We believe we are doing the best we can.  This is good because it allows us to persevere.  However we may be trapped in believing we need something new to improve performance.  What can you do right now that would boost your success, without a new program or system?  Maybe it is time to challenge your ego and gun for a significant improvement using only what you have.

So what are you going to do about all this?

The first step towards dealing with them is to recognise them.  Awareness gets us half way there.  Scan a few of your latest decisions and challenge yourself with each of these traps.  Where can you push yourself out of your comfort zone?

The second step is to design a pilot project to improve performance purely with what you have.  This experiment should conform to three criteria:

  • It should measurably improve performance.
  • The probability and impact of failure should be low.
  • It should be bounded closely enough to demonstrate an incontrovertible link between the new behaviours and the outcomes.

Breakthrough experiments provide solutions that can rapidly be multiplied through your organisation.  Are you ready to lead the next one?

From the article ‘four mistakes leaders keep making’ in the September 2010 issue of HBR.