Yahoo News How to bust business barriers – a guide for leaders
Identify whether it's a structural, procedural or attitudinal barrier, tackle the root cause rather than the symptom, and find a sustainable solution to solve it.
In all aspects of our lives we encounter obstacles – even more so in business leadership positions, where our role is to continually increase productivity and revenue.
Part of that role is to encourage others to navigate around those barriers, whether they're financial, organisational or something else.
It's about getting staff to think differently and helping them to identify how more can be done with less. Given the speed of innovation,
and the current climate of uncertainty, navigating these obstacles is really important.
But how can leaders identify, address and remove them? Here are three steps that will set you on the right path.
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1. Identify your barriers
The first step is to understand what you're dealing with: identify the barrier that requires attention. There are lots of different types of obstable that you will need to navigate – structural, procedural, attitudinal, and those related to skills and knowledge. Remember that they don't work in isolation.
Structural barriers could be something physical, such as how the office space is designed. Or it could be less tangible, such as the business's management structure. Procedural barriers concern current processes or procedures, such as a HR process that's out of date and forcing people to work in a way that's not efficient or useful.
For many, attitudinal will be the biggest and most challenging barrier to tackle. This is about biases, stereotypes and perceptions, for example, a belief that people aren't productive if they work from anywhere other than the office.
Finally, the skills and knowledge barrier is where people are generally unaware of how something could be done differently to the way in which they have been shown or taught.
2. Address the symptoms and root cause
Once you have identified the type of barrier that you're dealing with, ensure that you tackle the root cause rather than the symptom.
The root cause is a key issue, or reason, why a symptom is evident, while the symptom is an indicator that a problem exists.
As leaders, we don’t have all the answers, but it's our role to enable others to find the solutions
For example, a symptom may be that people don’t have enough time to focus on delivering their objectives. But the root cause may be that meetings aren't run effectively; that they take far too long; or that there are too many of them.
Identifying and tackling the root cause will stop the symptoms from emerging.
Now it's time to involve others in creating solutions. To do this effectively, share your thoughts about the barrier, or barriers, with the people you work with. Ask them for their point of view and get their suggestions about how you could work differently to remove the obstacle. As leaders, we don’t have all the answers, but it's our role to enable others to find the solutions.
Bring a wide range of people into the discussion so that you gain lots of different perspectives – and really encourage people to think differently about the issue. Not every idea will be implemented, but stifling creativity won't bring anything new and innovative to the table.
3. Create sustainable change
Once you have a range of options and ideas on the table, conduct the sustainability test by asking three simple but effective questions.
Does the solution tackle the root cause? If it tackles the symptom, discard it; it won’t be a sustainable solution.
Does the solution make life easier? If it doesn’t, then why would people change what they're already doing?
Is the solution actionable? A great idea is just that, unless you can set a clear map of what needs to be done differently and how to achieve it.
Many attempts to do something differently, and to become more productive, fall by the wayside – they may be well intended, but have no impact.
And remember that this won't be easy; getting people to think differently and do things in ways that they may never have done in the past will not come without its own challenges.
Charlotte Sweeney OBE is an author, founder and director of
Charlotte Sweeney Associates – this is an edited extract from her book, Inclusive Leadership, co-authored by Fleur Bothwick
