The Assignment

Charles and Blake agreed on a time and place for their first meeting, two hours before Blake’s next leadership team meeting. He wanted to give Charles a little more context before he met the team.

During their meeting, Blake did a great job establishing the facts as he understood them, acknowledging he was still fairly new. Blake and Charles both understood they were operating on numerous assumptions at this point. Part of Charles’s role would be to validate or dismiss these and try to determine what was really happening in the organization.

“This was very helpful,” Charles said. “You answered most of my questions.”

“Yeah, but I think I said, ‘I don’t know’ a lot.” Both men laughed.

“Agreed. But it’s always good to know what you don’t know. The truth is always better than a bad assumption.”

“Are you ready to meet my team?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Oh, one more thing, I have scheduled another meeting after this one for us.”

“Okay, who will we meet?”

“Your team.”

“I didn’t know I had a team,” Charles grinned.

“The team Sally led before her departure. As the interim head of HR, they’re yours.”

“Is Sally’s replacement in the group?”

The truth is always better
than a bad assumption.

“Don’t know. I just assumed you would need some help turning this place around.”

“No pressure there,” Charles smiled.

As Blake’s team began to gather in the conference room, he introduced Charles to each one but didn’t explain his role. After everyone arrived, Blake officially began the meeting.

“Good morning! I hope you had a fantastic weekend. I usually like to begin meetings with some personal join-up time, but this morning, let’s focus on a professional update.

“Each of you met Charles when you arrived. He is one of the finest HR professionals on the planet. He and I have known each other for years. When Sally left, I decided to invite Charles to help us. He will be serving as our interim HR leader. Ultimately, he’ll also help us find Sally’s replacement. Let’s jump-start Charles’s time with us by telling him a little about what each of you do.”

The next hour flew by. Charles took copious notes as one by one the members of the team shared their stories. People love to talk about themselves, so this time proved extremely valuable for both Blake and Charles.

Then, Blake turned to Charles and said, “Why don’t you tell them about some of your work?” Blake had been purposeful in not taking the conversation into personal topics during this first meeting. He didn’t want to put any undue pressure on Charles to share his story, for which Charles was very appreciative. Instead, he told about the work he and his team had completed at his previous company and his most recent work on a global scale.

When Charles was finished, Blake added, “And, Charles has been recognized as a global thought leader on leadership development by numerous groups. In addition to the work for his firm, he is a sought-after speaker and he’s also written a couple of books. He probably wouldn’t tell you that part.” Blake smiled. “Thanks for your willingness to help us.”

“My pleasure,” Charles said.

“Now, regarding our agenda for today. I know I’m new here, but based on our previous meetings and numerous individual conversations, I’ve reached one conclusion, and it’s where I’ve asked Charles to start. We need a leadership culture.” Blake stopped to let that sink in a moment.

Becky looked around the table and, as usual, was the first to speak,

“What does that mean, exactly?”

Blake went to the board and wrote as he spoke:

Blake turned to the group and said, “We want more and better leaders.”

Charles was trying to read the room for reactions as the men and women at the table sat there staring at the whiteboard.

“Thoughts? Reactions?” Blake asked.

“Why would we want that? We already have leaders. We are the leaders. Why do we want any more?” Amanda asked.

“Well, there are numerous reasons,” Charles said. “We can improve our performance and be better positioned to create the future we desire. The only thing limiting our future is the number of leaders we can develop. It will also help when leaders transition—like Sally.”

Blake jumped in, “Exactly. The reason we don’t appear to have anyone to take Sally’s place is that we don’t have a culture that is focused on building leaders.”

“What do you mean by ‘culture’?” Tim asked.

Blake turned to Charles. “Why don’t you answer this one?”

“Sure. A culture is nothing more than the sum of the habits of the people. Culture is not what you want it to be—it is what people do on a regular basis. So, if you routinely and systematically develop leaders, it is part of your culture.

“What about the surplus idea? Seems wasteful to me,” Amanda added.

Blake added, “That’s the test. If you have a surplus, the process is working. If you don’t have a surplus, you have a shortfall. The shortfall is what we want to eliminate.”

“Where do we begin?” Becky asked hesitantly. Again, Blake looked at Charles. He took the handoff.

“Well, the good news first: Building a leadership culture is doable. It will require some time and diligence on our part, but much of the design work can be executed by the HR professionals on Sally’s former team.”

“So, we can delegate this?” Amanda was suggesting more than asking.

“Not exactly; sorry if I got your hopes up.” Charles chuckled; no one else did. “Building a leadership culture will need to be one of your strategic priorities for the foreseeable future. It won’t happen without your direct involvement and support.”

“What do we do?” Bill asked.

“Today, we’re going to do a simple exercise to kick off our work.” Charles distributed 3 × 5 cards and asked each member of the team to write the organization’s definition of leadership on the card and pass it back in.

Three minutes later, Charles collected the cards and read each one aloud—an eye-opening experience for the group. Some of the definitions were really good; others were downright confusing. When he finished reading the last card, Charles addressed the group.

“These are all wonderful definitions of leadership,” he said, exaggerating just a little. “What do you notice about them?”

Becky said, “They are all very different.”

“Yes, and that’s our first issue. What problems do you think this could create for us as an organization?”

Charles captured the team’s comments:

“To create a leadership culture, we must forge a common definition of leadership. If we all operate with different definitions, we’ll never reach our full potential,” Charles said.

“So . . . ?” Tim asked.

“Our first step is to work on a common definition,” Charles said.

“Who’s the ‘our’ in that statement?” Amanda asked.

“My next meeting is with Sally’s former team. Defining our leadership point of view will be the first item on the agenda. We’ll come back with a recommendation.”

“Any questions?” Blake asked. Although there were many, no one wanted to offer them in the moment. Hearing no response, Blake said, “Thanks for your support as we move forward. This is going to help us in the short run and for years to come. Thanks to you, Charles, for helping us work through these important issues.”