Revelation

In our experience it happens just a little too often.

A new appointee to a senior role is about to arrive. The hopes of the organisation, or of part of it, are pinned upon this appointment.

All will be well once they are here. Look what they have done elsewhere – if we just appoint her/him then we will turn things around.

Salvation.

Is this real? Is this realistic? Is this setting up the new appointee, or the business, for success or for failure?

Are those expectations precisely the kind of interference which would get in the way of most people? Is it really ever the case that one person can change everything?

For what we believe to be true is that the route to organisational change is not through salvation … although some careful appointments, including a new CEO, may be part of it.

It is through revelation.

By which we mean something like “the act of revealing or communicating organisational truth”. And this takes time, there is no quick fix. It requires careful exploration, appreciative enquiry, debate, challenge, soul-searching.

It can be aided by an external catalyst (we’re happy to play that part) but it is, in its essence, an organisation and its leaders choosing to look very hard at themselves and to devise then drive actions which will deliver fundamental change.

So we say: be wary of salvation. Be aware of the need for revelation.